Wingtips Sept./Oct. 2002

Central Texas Airport Study to Begin

Thanks to a recent grant from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), we will soon be ready to undertake a site feasibility/selection study for a new state airport to serve the Central Texas region. As I mentioned in the July 2001 edition of Wingtips, during the last session of the Texas Legislature, legislation was passed directing the Texas Department of Transportation to establish a state airport in Central Texas that is open to the general public. The site feasibility/selection study is the first step, hopefully leading to the establishment of this new airport. The study is expected to begin soon after October 1st and will take approximately eighteen months to complete. The public will be invited to participate in this effort through a number of public meetings that will be held during the study.

Avoid Those Prohibited/Restricted Areas

We continue to see reports of pilots inadvertently violating prohibited or temporary flight restriction areas. As the temporary flight restriction areas are not shown on FAA charts, it is incumbent upon all pilots to ensure that they check NOTAMS, Notices to Airmen, prior to flight. Other excellent sources are Internet sites aopa.org and eaa.org. Both sites provide a current up-to-date listing of restricted areas. Certainly, by now, every Texas pilot and aircraft owner should be aware of prohibited area P-49 in Crawford, Texas protecting President Bush’s ranch. However, you may not know that the protected airspace, normally from the surface up to 3000 feet for a diameter of 3 miles, is expanded when the President is in residence and certain other times by temporary flight restriction from the surface up to 10,000 feet for a diameter of 10 miles. Violation of prohibited or restricted areas will likely result in a new experience of formation flying with an Air Force fighter; and will likely be followed by a long serious conversation with the Federal Aviation Administration. Even worse, these violations provide ammunition to those who would limit the freedom of general aviation flight operations in the “interest” of thwarting terrorism. Let’s all try and do our part to protect general aviation operations.

Security Information Advisory Reminder for GA Pilots

The following advisory was recently received from the FAA.

“The U.S. Government continues to receive indications that extremist individuals are planning additional terrorist operations against U.S. and Western interests within the U.S. and overseas. Such operations, possibly involving civil and GA aircraft, could be conducted whenever attack preparations are complete and operations are in place. The TSA has no creditable information concerning specific targets, timing, or methods of attack. However. the aviation community should observe good physical security for aircraft and facilities and be continuously alert for suspicious persons, activities, and operations around airports.”

We must remain vigilant and report suspicious activity to law enforcement officials.

• Abilene Regional Airport – New airport manager, Dan Weber, P.O. Box 60, Abilene, TX 79604, 915/676-6368.
• Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport – Larry Brown, Acting Airport Director, 700 S. Minnesota Avenue, Brownsville, TX 78521, 956/542-4373.
• Gainesville Municipal Airport – New airport manager, Matthew (Mat) Quick, 2300 Airport Drive, Gainesville, TX 76240, 940/668-4565.
• McKinney Municipal Airport- New airport manager, Kenneth F. Wiegand, P.O. Box 517, McKinney, TX 75070, 972/562-4214.
• Mount Pleasant Regional Airport – New airport manager, Paul Henderson, 501 Mike Hall Parkway, Mount Pleasant, TX 75455, 903/575-4020.
• Pleasanton Municipal Airport – New airport manager, William Lamb, P.O. Box 209, Pleasanton, TX 78064, 830/569-3867.

The Texas Hall of Fame honors Texans who have made outstanding contributions to the development, growth, or preservation of aviation. The Class of 2002 inductees are: Tony Bingelis, a leader in homebuilt aviation technology; Dr. James Henry (Red) Duke, founder and medical director of Life Flight Operations; Dr. George H. Lane, a participant in developing formation tactics with the 8-26 Marauder during WWII; Lloyd Parker Nolen, father of the Warbird Preservation Movement and founder of the Confederate Air Force; and Jeana Yeager, who established the first nonstop, unrefueled around the world flight record with partner Dick Rutan.

The Texas Aviation Hall of Fame is proud to honor the five new members for induction during the 5th Annual Texas Aviation Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Gala to be held on November 8, 2002.

The spirit of the late Tony Bingelis, noted homebuilding authority and EAA Sport Aviation columnist, will be honored through an inaugural Tony Bingelis Award sponsored by EAA and the EAA Homebuilt Council. The Tony Bingelis Award will recognize significant contributions to the education and encouragement of aircraft projects to fellow EAA members, the promotion of aviation safety and for maintaining the values of EAA. Up to two award recipients will be honored at an annual ceremony held at the EAA Aviation Center in Oshkosh, Wisconsin during EAA’s annual AirVenture. Tony Bingelis had the remarkable ability to present technical subject matter in terms an ordinary person could understand. Known and admired throughout the international aviation community, his monthly “Sportplane Builder” column in EAA’s Sport Aviation magazine and series of how-to books became a “bible” for homebuilders.

General Benjamin O. Davis Jr.

General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. who broke color barriers and shattered racial myths as the commander of the Tuskegee Airmen, the pioneering black fighter pilots of World War II, died July 4 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Davis was 89 and had Alzheimer’s disease.

The son of the Army’s first black general, Benjamin Davis Sr., Davis was the first black cadet to graduate from West Point in the 20th century and one of the first black pilots in the military. His leadership of America’s only all-black air unit of World War II helped speed the integration of the Air Force, and in 1954, he became the first black Air Force general. As the leader of dozens of missions, Davis was highly decorated, receiving the Silver Star for a strafing run into Austria and the Distinguished Flying Cross for a bomber escort mission to Munich. He retired from the military in 1970 and later supervised the federal sky marshal program that was designed to quell a rash of airliner hijackings. At the time he left the Air Force as a lieutenant general, wearing three stars, he was the senior black officer in the armed forces. In 1998, President Clinton awarded Davis his fourth star.

Charles P. “Chas” Harral

Popular speaker, pilot examiner, and flight instructor, Charles P. “Chas” Harrel, died June 27 in San Antonio, Texas; he was 62.

Harral safely logged more than 13,000 hours of flight time, gave 9,000 hours of flight instruction, and administered more than 5,000 flight tests for pilot certificates and ratings. He owned and operated a P-51 Mustang and was type-rated in the P-38 Lightning. Harral taught hundreds of aviation safety courses across the United States including many Flight Instructor Refresher Clinics (FIRC) for the AOPA Air Safety Foundation. A memorial Web site has been launched in his honor. See www.aviationspeakers.com/speakers/c-harral.htm

Walter Lee Jones

Walter “Wally” Lee Jones, a crew member on the last flight of the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the first atom bomb on Japan during WWII, died in San Antonio on June 16; he was 73.

Born in Vanceboro, North Carolina in 1929, Jones developed a love of flying at an early age. While working in the tobacco fields as a young man, he watched planes fly by often and which eventually propelled him to join the Air Force. He had a real passion for flying and had a love of planes.

Jones served as an Air Force navigator on B-52s from 1946-1949 and was a retired Kelly Air Force Base civil servant employee. 9 The fully assembled Enola Gay-named after the mother of Colonel Paul Tibbetts, the pilot on the August 6, 1945 Hiroshima mission-restored by the Smithsonian experts, will be on permanent display at the museum’s new Dulles annex when it opens in late 2003. Jones would be proud of Enola Gay’s final resting place!

Gladys Mae Morrison

Gladys Mae Morrison was inducted into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame on May 4, 2002; and on this day she died at age 74 from an inoperable brain tumor.

Morrison’s aviation saga began in 1947 when she received her private license and then earned her instrument, commercial and Airline Transport Pilot (ATP). In 1950, she became a Charter Pilot and went on to become the first woman licensed by the State of California to crop dust with 450hp Stearmans where she had to teach the pilots she hired to pass the Agricultural Department test. During her crop-dusting days, she met and later married one of the crop-dusters, Jim Morrison.

After being the trail blazing aviation professional in California, Morrison returned to her home state of Arizona to fly. In 1982, adding to her already impressive string of accomplishments, she became Arizona’s Flight Instructor of the Year. She was also awarded in 1982 the FAA’s National Flight Instructor of the Year. The National Association of Flight Instructors further honored her as Flight Instructor of the Year. As a charter member of the 99s, Women in Aviation, Morrison gave much of her time to preserving the history of aviation as it fits the needs of the next generation of women pilots starting their careers. She provided educational talks to junior and high school students on careers in aviation. She was a special woman and will be missed!

By Bill Gunn
Aviation Division

There is a new tool available to the flying community: Flight Information Services Data Link or FISDL. FISDL encompasses several data link systems providing information to and from the cockpit.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has contracted to provide FAA-funded FISDL. This is a two-vendor contract similar to the Direct User Access Terminal (DUATS) contract. The two vendors, Honeywell Bendix King (www.bendixking.com) and ARNAV (www.amav.com) provide services via Very High Frequency (VHF) ground transmitters on frequencies in the 136.425 to 136.500 range. Currently, text information is provided at no cost and graphic information, such as the Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD), is provided for a fee. The pilot, however, has to purchase on-board equipment to receive and process the signal. To date, the ground transmission sites are in Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Abilene, Dallas / Fort Worth, Lubbock and Amarillo. Sites are installed, but not yet operating in Fort Stockton and El Paso. Additional sites are planned to give complete coverage for the state. There are other vendors, such as Echo Flight (www.echoflight.com) and Control Vision (www.controlvision.com) that provide FISDL via satellite transmission. These services are all direct contract to the customer and are fee-based.

The information potentially available is impressive. Text and graphics for weather, terrain, special-use airspace, instrument approach overlays and traffic conflict resolution are available now. This system has been available since the late 1990’s, but has not become widespread due to cost or area coverage limitations. Competition and the popularity of cockpit multifunction displays associated with Global Positioning System (GPS) should lower costs and make cockpit radar (and other useful services) available to any aircraft. Keep watching.

The ADMA Scholarship Fund has recently awarded Julie Crowell, who is pursuing a career in aviation, with its annual scholarship award of $1000.

Julie Crowell is a graduate of the University of North Texas (Denton, Texas). She is currently enrolled at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, Texas, studying for the Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic License as well as an associate’s degree in Aviation Maintenance. Crowell has worked in general aviation for over three years, and is currently employed as an apprentice mechanic for Johnson Aircraft Services, Inc. She hopes one day to earn her Master of Aviation Science through Embry-Riddle University and begin teaching in an A&P Program.

The ADMA Aviation Education and Youth Committee, which serves as the Fund’s Board of Directors, selects recipients based on their coursework, essays, letters of recommendation, and financial need.

• AUSTIN-BERGSTROM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – The Texas Department of Public Safety’s Chief of Criminal Law Enforcement will be ABIA’s new Federal Security Director (FSD). U.S. Transporation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta announced in July that Michael D. Scott will oversee the U.S. Transporation Security Administration’s takeover of airport screening at ABIA by November. [see the following related capsule]
• SAN ANGELO REGIONAL AIRPORT & ABILENE REGIONAL AIRPORT – Arb Rylant began his new job as Federal Security Director (FSD) for both airports in August. Rylant has been San Angelo’s Airport Director since 1996 and resigned to become an FSD. He is a retired U.S. Navy pilot who is still an active general aviation pilot. Rylant is expected to supervise 50-70 federal employees who will screen passengers and baggage at the two airports. The screenings began in September.
• AUSTIN-BERGSTROM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – Southwest Airlines recently recognized Its operations at ABIA as being the best of its 59-airpot system for 2001. The decision was based on several factors, including customer feedback on service worker productivity, ramp services and operations. Southwest’s 180 Austin employees oversee 49 daily departures. In 2001, the Austin station handled more than 16,000 departures carrying more than 2 million passengers. The Austin station also moved more than 11 million pounds of cargo and mail last year.
• AMERICAN EAGLE. a subsidiary of American Airlines, announced an upgrade in the airplanes flying from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport to Laredo and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. On the Baton Rouge route, American Eagle is replacing two of its five daily flights with 44-seat Embraer ERJ 140 regional Jets. Similarly, two of the five flights to Laredo will also now be on regional jets. The remaining three flights on each route will continue to be served by Saab turboprop aircraft. American Eagle’s 264-airplane fleet now includes more than 130 regional jets. The new airplanes have larger overhead bins, a closet for hanging bags and a larger bathroom
• BIG SPRING McMAHON-WRINKLE AIRPARK (HANGAR 25)- Nelda Reagan, airport manager, who oversaw the building of the new terminal during her nine and a half years of service resigned her position in June. Reagan cited a desire to relax and focus her attention on her son, an Army sergeant serving in Afghanistan. Good luck Nelda … we will miss you at TAC each year!
• DALLAS/FORT WORTH AIRPORT – Preliminary figures released in July by Airports Council International (ACI) indicated that D/FW Airport retained its strong ranking as the third-busiest airport in the world. The figures noted that D/FW recorded 783,546 flight operations in 2001 – third behind the Chicago O’Hare and Atlanta Hartsfield airport. Numbers of passengers are different from flight operations, and D/FW slipped there slightly to sixth in the world. D/FW was down 9 percent from the previous year, with 55.150,689 passengers. However, airport executives hope to return to 2001 passenger levels by the spring of next year, and those numbers should jump in 2005, when a new international terminal comes on line. The success of D/FW is generally credited with the long and sustained economic growth of the Metroplex. Success at the airport means success for the region.
• EL PASO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – Sue Critz recently renewed her Master Instructor designation. Critz is an independent flight school operator at ELP where she specializes in primary, instrument, advanced and avionics training. To help put this achievement in its proper perspective, there are approximately 81,000 CFls in the United States. Fewer than three hundred of them have achieved that distinction thus far. The last seven national Flight Instructors of the Year were Master CFls while Critz is one of only 13 Texas aviation educators who have earned this prestigious “Master” title. Congratulations, Sue!
• DALLAS/FORT WORTH AIRPORT – Due to heavy traffic demand in May by ethnic Mexicans visiting family and relatives. Aero Mexico added a third Mexico City flight according to Juan Brothers, district manager in Dallas for the Mexico City based airline. AeroMexico which serves 43 cities Mexico and has 12 U.S. gateways is back to about 90 percent of its pre-September 11 traffic. Its morning and afternoon flights out of D/FW airport are running more than 70 percent full, while the new evening flight is already about 45 percent full. “It’s improving steadily and we’re happy with it. . .it’s ramping up … and this flight wasn’t supposed to come on until spring 2003, but the demand was here.” said Brothers.
• GEORGETOWN MUNICIPAL AIRPORT – Scott & While Memorial Hospital recently relocated its medical helicopter to Georgetown from Taylor’s [airport] pad. The medical helicopter typically flies four to five times a day. With the expansion of Scott & White’s business in Georgetown, including the construction of a new facility in Round Rock, it is expected that another flight will be added in the near future.
• HOUSTON-CONTINENTAL AIRLINES – Continental announced in June a multi-year marketing partnership with NFL-Houston Texans signing on as its “official airline.” The agreement includes cooperative advertising and joint marketing, promotions, in-stadium signage and other hospitality opportunities: including charter flight services for the team’s travel throughout the season.
• HOUSTON-CONTINENTAL AIRLINES – Continental will initiate daily nonstop flights between Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Villahermosa, Mexico in December 2002, pending government approval. The new Continental Express service aboard the latest version of Embraer’s fast, quiet 50-passenger ERJ-145 ExpressJet, will feature Spanish-speaking flight attendants, as do most Continental flights to Mexican and Latin American destinations. Bilingual customer service representatives will be available to assist passengers at ticket counters and departure/arrival gates.
• LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, San Antonio – The Air Forces 341st Training Squadron oversees the bomb-sniffing dog training program for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), created by Congress after the September 11 attacks to ramp up safety at the nation’s airports. Dogs go through a pre-training period before being matched with a human trainee at Lackland, and together they learn how to find bombs craftily stashed in luggage, buildings, airplanes and elsewhere.
• LUBBOCK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – “Silent Wings Museum” opens on October 19, at the site where South Plains Army Air Field was in 1943. The collection features gliders from WWII and the museum commemorates the glider’s role in the war. The museum is owned and operated by Lubbock Aviation Administration: the museum director is Joe Hays and museum curator is Roben Tidwell.
• NEW BRAUNFELS MUNICIPAL AIRPORT – The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Southwest Regional Fly-In will be moving to New Braunfels on the third weekend in May 2003. This year’s fly-in was held in Abilene on September. Originally, the fly-in began in Georgetown in 1964 by Tony Bingelis and his chapter 187 from Austin. It later moved to Kerrville and then to Abilene.
• SMALL COMMUNITY AIR SERVICE DEVELOPMENT PILOT PROGRAM – U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta recently announced grants to 40 communities in 38 states under this new program that helps small communities enhance their airline services. The grants, totaling $20 million, will help the communities address their local air service problems, such as high fares and insufficient levels of service. Grant awards go to Texas airports: Abilene Regional Airport ($85,010) and Beaumont/Port Arthur, Southwest Texas Regional Airport ($510,000).
• STATE OF TEXAS – John Campbell. Spinks Airport, was selected to represent Texas and fly the Texas State Flag in August to New York in connection with “Flight Across America.” The flag Campbell carried was awarded to the State of New York to honor the victims of 9/11.
• TEXAS-FOREIGN TRADE ZONES – Fort Worth Meacham Internation Airport and Dallas Executive Airport have obtained status as foreign trade zones under an extension of the zone in place at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The status, granted in May under the Foreign Trade Zones Act of 1934, allow manufacturers to bring in parts or materials from foreign sources without paying duty and to incorporate them into products using U.S. parts. If the finished product enters the U.S., companies pay duty on the value of the foreign content only.
• TEXAS PILOTS HOST U.S. ULTRALIGHT PILOTS ASSOCIATION (USPA) – Kudos to Floyd McClennahan who drummed up local merchant support to make U.S. Ultralight Pilots Association (USPA) members feel welcome at their July meeting m
  Port Aransas, Mustang Beach!
• U.S. TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT · Marion C. Blakey, current chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, has been nominated to replace former FAA Administrator Jane Garvey. Blakely has held numerous positions in the federal government. General aviation leaders are pleased with this nomination.

Aircraft and the Texas Sales and Use Tax

By The Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts, Carole Keeton Rylander
Tax Help: 1-800-252-5555 or www.window.state.tx.us

The Texas State Comptroller’s Office currently has a program in place that utilizes Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data to identify aircraft that are based in Texas to determine if taxes might be due. The following tax bulletin specifically addresses taxability issues that pertain to the purchase of an aircraft. This bulletin can also be accessed at www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxpubs/tx94_ 168.html.

Sales Tax

Sales of aircraft within Texas are subject to state and local sales taxes. Taxes are based on the sales price, which does not include the value of any aircraft taken as a trade-in on the purchase.

Local sales tax rates vary throughout the state, from zero up to 2 percent. City and county taxes are based upon the location of the seller ‘s place of business, while transit authority taxes are based upon the location where the customer takes delivery of the aircraft. More information on local taxes can be found in A Guide to Local Sales and Use Taxes (#96-I08), and a list of local taxing jurisdictions is in Texas Sales Tax Rates (#96-132), available on the Comptroller’s Web site at http://www.window. state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxpubs/taxpubs.html.

Use Tax

Sales of aircraft outside of Texas are subject to state and local use taxes if an aircraft is brought into Texas within one year of its purchase. Local use tax rates also vary throughout the state but are based upon the location where the aircraft is hangared. The owner may pay use tax on a regular sales tax report form, by contacting one of the Comptroller’s local field offices, or by calling 1-800-688-6829, extension 5-9884.

Some factors to be considered in determining whether an aircraft is hangared in Texas include:

• the owner owns or leases hangar space in Texas;
• the aircraft is subject to local property taxes; and
• the owner states to the Federal Aviation Administration, an insurer, or any taxing authority that the aircraft is stored in Texas.

No use tax is due if the aircraft is hangared outside Texas and more than 50 percent of its use is outside the state. To determine percentage of use within the state, the Comptroller will consider flight time in Texas, including the portion of interstate flights in Texas airspace as shown by applicable flight, engine, passenger, airframe, and other logs and records.

Charters

Chartering an aircraft – leasing or renting an aircraft with pilot or crew – is a non-taxable transportation service. Charters are not subject to sales or use taxes, even if the charge for the aircraft is stated separately from other charges, so long as the pilot or crew remains under the supervision and control of the aircraft’s owner. The company providing the charter service may owe sales or use tax, however, when purchasing aircraft used to provide the non-taxable transportation service.

Fractional Ownership

The purchase of an interest in an aircraft may be taxable.

No tax is due if the interest is part of a fractional aircraft program where the sponsor/seller places several aircraft in a lease exchange pool under the control of a management company. Such interest is considered a non-taxable transportation service since the management company provides all flight crews, maintenance, and administrative services required to operate the aircraft. The sponsor/seller cannot purchase aircraft used in the program tax-free for resale.

Tax is due, however, if the co-owners either fly the aircraft themselves or directly hire and fire the flight crew.

Exemptions

No sales and use tax is due if the aircraft is purchased, leased, or rented by a:

• licensed and certificated carrier. The carrier must be authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate as a common or contract carrier and use the aircraft exclusively to transport persons or property for hire in the regular course of business.
• flight school. Flight instructor; or student. The school, instructor, or student must use the aircraft exclusively for FAA-approved flight instruction.
• person for use and registration in another state or nation before any use in Texas. At the time of sale, both the seller and the purchaser must sign an exemption certificate, form O 1-907, available online at http://window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxforms/01-forms.html.

Training in the aircraft in Texas and then flying the aircraft out of state does not constitute use in Texas.

• foreign government

A person who claims an exemption should issue a completed exemption certificate to the seller to document that no tax is due on the sale.

An owner renting or leasing aircraft must have a sales tax permit in order to purchase the aircraft tax-free for resale. If the owner rents or leases an aircraft to a lessee who claims an exemption, the owner must accept and keep a completed exemption certificate to document the fact that no tax is due on the lease or rental.

A person who claims an exemption and then uses an aircraft for a non-exempt purpose must remit use tax based on the fair market rental value for the period of non-exempt use. The person may choose to cease paying tax on the fair market rental value at any time and instead pay the sales tax on the original purchase price, without credit for any taxes previously paid.

Exemptions as Occasional Sale

The purchase of an aircraft may also be exempt if it is purchased from a non-permitted seller who makes an occasional sale. An “occasional sale” is one made by a person who does not habitually engage in the business of selling taxable items and who sells two items during a twelve-month period. To document the exemption, a purchaser should ask the seller to sign an affidavit, a copy of which is Appendix I.

Occasional sale exemptions do not apply to leases and rentals and cannot be used by anyone who has a sales tax permit.

Exemption as an Identifiable Segment of a Business

The purchase of an aircraft may be exempt from sales or use tax if prior to the sale of the aircraft the income and expenses attributable to the aircraft could be separately established from the books of account or record. “Income” is revenue generated by the aircraft, and “expenses” means those operating expenses incurred in providing the aircraft rental or service.

The purchaser and seller must keep records to document such an exemption.

Maintenance and Repair

Labor charges to repair, remodel, maintain, or restore an aircraft are not taxable. For example, a labor charge to replace a tire or avionics on an aircraft is not subject to sales tax.

When a repairman bills a single charge for parts and labor, the repairman should not collect sales tax from the customer. The repairman should pay tax, however, when buying the parts from his supplier.

If the invoice separates charges for labor and parts, the repairman should collect tax on the parts. There is no sales tax on the labor charges. When buying parts from its supplier, the repairman may give a resale certificate in lieu of paying sales tax.

A repairman who performs services under an extended warranty must collect sales tax on charges for any parts. No sales tax is due on parts furnished by a manufacturer for repairs under a manufacturer’s warranty.

Tax is due on consumable supplies, tools, and equipment (not incorporated into the aircraft) used in repairs for customers other than certificated carriers or flight schools. The person making repairs should pay tax to its supplier and may not collect tax from customers on any charges for these items.

No sales tax is due on parts for aircraft exempt from sales tax. (See Exemptions, above.) In other words, there is no tax due on parts, machinery, tools, supplies or equipment for aircraft used by licensed carriers or flight schools exclusively for exempt purposes. The exemption covers such things as air cargo containers that are secured or attached to the aircraft while in flight, radar equipment or other electronic devices used for navigational or communications purposes, food carts, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, seats, battery chargers, and diagnostic equipment. The exemption does not apply. however, to machinery, tools, and equipment that support the overall aviation operation, such as baggage loading and handling, garbage and other waste disposal, and booking reservations.

Repair of Jet Turbines

No tax is due on machinery, equipment, or replacement parts and accessories with a useful life of more than six months used in the overhaul or repair of jet turbine aircraft engines. The exemption covers aluminum oxide, nitric acid, and sodium cyanide used in electrochemical plating, as well as electricity or natural gas used in the off-wing processing, overhaul or repair of a jet turbine engine or its parts for a licensed and certificated carrier.