This year's annual NBAA convention, held in late September in Atlanta, included a number of emissions-related developments and news items:

·    Avantair, the Florida-based fractional operator of the Avanti P.180 turboprop aircraft, announced that it was providing each of its 300 fractional owners with carbon offsets for the next 5 hours of their aircraft use. This step complements the positioning by Avantair and Piaggio (the manufacturer of the Avanti) that its aircraft are already the most "green" of the fractional options due to its fuel-efficient turboprop engines. These messages are also being spread in national advertising in publications such as the Wall Street Journal.

·    In its booth, Eclipse Aviation promoted the "green factor" of its twin engine VLJ. The company touted low emissions and noise from the 500's P&W engines, reductions in hazardous materials in the manufacturing process, and recyclability of materials used in the aircraft itself.

·    Marion Blakey, FAA Administrator at the time, discussed US participation in the Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduced Emissions (AIRE). This program initially is focusing on how various countries can cooperate to make aircraft operations more fuel efficient, especially in route planning and timing for crossing the Atlantic ocean.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) held its 36th Assembly in late September in Montreal. Many reports, statements, and papers were presented on the topic of the impact of aviation on the climate. (See "Item 17: Environmental Protection"). The concluding press release from the Assembly, titled "IACO Commits to Aggressive Action on Aircraft Emissions". This press release includes the statement "Market-based options are valuable tools for addressing aircraft emissions", it would appear that carbon offsetting will play an important role in evolving international policies.  However, the action taken by the ICAO was not as aggressive as representatives from the European Union and European Civil Aviation Conference had sought. These parties had campaigned for a near-term, mandatory carbon trading scheme that would include the power to regulate emissions from aircraft flying into one country even if that flight originated in and was operated by a carrier based in another country.

NetJets announced that for its European operation, beginning October 1, 2007,  all new clients, and existing clients who renew their contracts, will be carbon neutral through the purchasing of carbon offsets.  Since clients are on 5 year contracts, this means that, in Europe NetJets will be 100% carbon neutral by 2012.

In mid-October, at the World Air Transport Forum in Cannes, France, Giovanni Bisignani, Director General and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) proclaimed "Airlines are leading the debate on environment with a vision to become carbon neutral in the medium-term and zero carbon emissions in the long term. We are setting the benchmark on environmental performance for other industries to follow."  He outlined a four part program for reducing aircraft emissions and called for more aggressive actions by European countries to modernize European air traffic control systems.

At a press briefing in late October, the US Air Force announced its goal of having its entire fleet to be capable of using a blend of 50/50 synthetic fuels by 2011.  Initially, the synthetic fraction would be derived from coal.  While this development will not itself impact the CO2 released by the aircraft, it could provide a foundation for better understanding the issues of using bio-derived synthetic fuels in turbine aircraft.

At the annual AOPA Convention in Hartford in October, Cessna Aircraft announced a new version of the venerable 172 featuring a Thielert diesel engine. While specific fuel consumption numbers were not announced, it is commonly reported that diesel engines use about 30% less fuel (hence produce 30% less CO2) than comparable gasoline engines.  Production is expected in mid-2008.

The August 20, 2007 issue of Aviation Week and Space Technology was a special double edition that focused on the "greening" of aviation due to climate change concerns.  This issue included articles on a variety of topics ranging from emissions trading to new engine technology.  The technology articles were especially interesting as they described the sweeping developments in store for the next generations of turbine engines. It is interesting that these next-generation engines, such as geared turbofan (GTF) and "open rotor" designs, look more like turboprop engines as they seek to improve propulsion efficiency over the traditional ducted fan. One of the lead editorials pointed out that as pressures increase to deal with aircraft CO2 emissions, it will be more economical for aircraft operators to buy offset credits from land-based CO2 reduction programs than to meet ever increasingly strict standards for aircraft themselves.

Personal stories. A few weeks ago, we were offloading our Piper Malibu at PDX when a fellow pilot came over and asked if he could look inside our plane.  As he was getting out of the plane, he asked about the Carbon Neutral Plane decal that we have applied near the entry door. When we described the program, his reaction was, "This is a great idea. How do I sign up for my Cirrus?"  I'm sure many of you have similar stories that you'd like to share. If so, send them along to us so we can include them in this section.

Renewing for 2008. As you know, memberships expire at the end of the calendar year. So that we do not receive all of the renewal applications the last few days of the year, we are offering a discount on 2008 memberships at $100 per year for personal memberships for which the renewal material is received on or before December 15, 2007. This will give us time to process your renewals before the end of the year.  For participants in the Personal Aircraft program, we will be accepting Visa and Master Cards this year.

If you see news items that you think should be included in our next newsletter, forward them to: newsletter@carbonneutralplane.com