Political campaign charter aircraft, tariffs and the aerospace industry, Boeings NGAD fighter contract, the adaptive cycle engines to power it, corrosion issues on A220 jetliners, the shutdown of Heathrow, and the resilience of airports to power outages.

Jonathan Tasler is Vice President at Advanced Aviation Team. He manages charter aircraft for political campaigns and high-net-worth VIPs. We learn what is involved in transporting presidential and other political candidates, and Jonathan tells us some interesting stories.

Jonathan describes how he ensures that a political campaign charter is flown safely to the intended destination on time. We learn that the charter requirements can change as a campaign progresses and presumptive candidates emerge. For example, larger dedicated planes with special campaign livery can become necessary.

Jonathan explains how critical it is that candidates do not miss major events. Sometimes he even arranges backup planes and standby crews. We also discover why some charter airlines don’t want to be involved in political campaigns and others are happy to be part of a campaign. Jonathan also tells us about campaign security and how the Secret Service may participate in some flights.

Jonathan is a veteran of political campaign charters. He grew up in the industry as his father coordinated all the charters for the Bush/Quayle campaign. Over the years, Jonathan has worked with both Republicans and Democrats, including George W. Bush, John Kerry, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, and many others. He coordinated aircraft charters for a major party candidate in every US Presidential Campaign cycle since the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2000.

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Some political campaign charter incidents:

John Edwards’ Campaign Plane Makes Emergency Landing – John Edwards’ Boeing 727-200 had to make an emergency landing after a press member’s battery exploded in the overhead bins.

Ann Romney’s Plane Makes Emergency Landing – Ann Romney had electrical fire and smoke in the cabin of Challenger 600 and made an emergency landing in DEN.

John Kerry’s Boeing 757-200 developed a crack in the windshield in flight. This subsequently developed into a complete spiderweb.

Obama plane incident could have been disaster – Barack Obama onboard Midwest Airlines MD81 had control surface issues after an inflatable slide opened in flight.

‘Several failures’ led to 2016 plane crash with Vice President Mike Pence, investigation says – Mike Pence’s Eastern Airlines B737 overran the runway at LGA. (Not an Advanced Aviation Team contract.)

The aerospace industry is concerned that tariffs on aluminum and steel will raise manufacturing costs. There is particular concern about tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products since the North American aerospace supply chain is highly integrated. At a recent investor conference, Boeing’s chief financial officer said the direct effects of the tariffs on Boeing would be limited, however, they could impact companies further down the aerospace supply chain. Those suppliers have struggled with material and labor shortages. Kevin Michaels, a past guest and a managing director of the AeroDynamic Advisory consulting firm, said the tariffs could raise costs for the aerospace industry by about $5 billion annually.

The U.S. Air Force has awarded the contract to develop the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter. Lockheed Martin competed with Boeing for the F-47 sixth-generation fighter, while Northrop Grumman dropped out of the competition in 2023. The Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) contract is thought to be worth about $20 billion.

Video: Deep Intel on the F-47 Sixth Generation Strike/Fighter

Related:

Corrosion was found on some passenger seat fittings and wing components, including the wing-to-body fairing. A220 operator Delta Air Lines told CBS News that some passenger seat fittings will require additional inspection and lubrication.

Delta says the airline “has a sophisticated aircraft maintenance apparatus that is always-on and has many layers to ensure that every aircraft in our fleet is safe to fly by meeting or exceeding standards governed by our regulators.  There is broad consensus by our technical experts that these issues aren’t surprising especially for a new, clean-sheet aircraft and pose no major concerns.”

Related: A Look into airBaltic’s MRO at Riga Airport

A fire at an electrical substation three miles away shut down the airport. Thousands of flights were flights grounded, diverted to other airports, or turned back. Authorities have said there was no indication of foul play. A counterintelligence unit initially conducted the investigation, but it has shifted to the London Fire Brigade. According to the Brigade, the fire was fueled by 25,000 liters of cooling oil.

Heathrow Airport’s chief executive told BBC that Heathrow does have backup power stations, they are “not designed to power the entire airport.” NBC News reported that British tabloids suggest Russia may be involved, but there is no official evidence.

The GAO’s Aug 29, 2023 report states: “Twenty-four of the 30 commercial service airports that responded to GAO’s survey and interviews reported experiencing a total of 321 electrical power outages—i.e., an unplanned loss of power lasting 5 minutes or longer—from 2015 through 2022. Eleven of these airports reported having six or more outages over this 8-year period. Airports reported that these outages affected a range of airport operations and equipment. Not all responding airports were able to provide detailed information about their outages, and some provided estimates about affected activities.”

“Selected airports reported taking several actions to improve the electrical power resilience of their airports, including (1) conducting electrical infrastructure assessments, (2) undertaking projects to improve electrical infrastructure, and (3) installing equipment to generate additional backup power. For example, 40 of the 41 airports GAO interviewed reported planning or completing an infrastructure project to increase electrical power resilience. Of these, four airports reported installing microgrids. Such microgrid systems are capable of independently generating, distributing, and storing power.”

The FAA is administering new and expanded grant programs and issuing guidance to support airports’ electrical resilience efforts. For example:

A pilot on a SAS Connect flight from Oslo to Manchester has been fined after failing to maintain continuous radio communication with NATS. A security incident was declared and two RAF Typhoons intercepted the aircraft.

A United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai had to divert to San Francisco after one of the pilots realized he had left his passport at home. Once on the ground, it became clear that the crew wouldn’t have enough hours to legally work for such a long flight, so the passengers had to be deplaned while United went on the hunt for an entirely new crew of pilots and flight attendants. With the delay, the crew wouldn’t have enough hours left so the passengers deplaned while United looked for a fresh crew.

Max Flight, our Main(e) Man Micah, Max Trescott, David Vanderhoof, and Rob Mark.