Friday News Roundup: Lawmakers Support BARR Program

Lawmakers continue to back continuation of the full Block Aircraft Registration Request program, which enables private aircraft owners to request that their tail number be withheld from real-time flight tracking programs, reports the Weekly of Business Aviation (subscribers only).

No surprise here - NATA is part of the aviation crowd opposed to President Obama's proposed $100 ATC fee.  "Last Friday, a gentleman from Iowa picked up on a new process recently announced by the White House that allows citizens of this great country to petition the White House on a specific issue," writes VP Eric Byer in his Inside Washington blog.  The site is We The People, and NATA has set up a petition against the ATC fee.

Good news: Cirrus Aircraft celebrates the delivery of its 5000th aircraft, reports AMT.  The bad news: the company owes the city of Grand Forks about $221,000 in building lease payments, according to the Air Capital Insider blog.

The the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) is looking for a new Director General, reports the Arabian Aerospace blog.   The person will replace Don Spruston, who is leaving at the end of 2011.

AL.com profiles the prospects for Alabama's growing aviation industry.  Mike Sims of GE Aviation lauds the state's reputation as his company builds an engine coatings plant in Auburn that will eventually create around 400 jobs.

The AircraftPost.com blog writes on When Maintenance and Retrofit Costs Exceed Value.  Jetwhine profiles North Dakota aviation.  And the Golf Hotel Whiskey blog posts on the The top 5 aviation uses for the iPad.

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