News

The ORBAA Board is proud to announce the 2024 Student Opportunity and Scholarship awards. Recipient bios can be found here!

This year features two new awards: a Citation SIC Type Rating courtesy of Flight Safety International and an ATP-CTP Course courtesy of CAE. We thank FSI and CAE for their generosity and continued commitment to the future of Business Aviation, especially in Ohio. We see only increased opportunity & partnership for years ahead.

The ORBAA board also thanks you, the membership, for your contributions & participation in the annual golf outing that allowed this year’s Scholarship pool to exceed any year prior. For that very reason, ORBAA was able to grant an award to every student interviewee this year, in recognition of the extraordinary strength of the group. We are also proud to announce that, thanks to your generosity, we were able to raise over $24,000 for the Scholarship Fund.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU NEXT YEAR ON AUGUST 7, 2025 at Stonewater!

The Ohio Regional Aviation Association (ORBAA) hosted their second Regional Roundtable event of 2024 at Lane Aviation in Columbus, OH on May 23, 2024. The focus of the discussion was centered around our Advocacy pillar and coordinated by ORBAA’s Vice President and Advocacy Chair, Mike Christie of Global Jet Capital.

Around 50 members joined the event. Kristie Greco Johnson from the National Business Aviation Association highlighted the wins for business aviation in the FAA reauthorization and emphasized the importance of being active in promoting the economic impact, charitable activities and climate leadership of the business aviation community in light of recent press for climate activists and politics of envy. Matt Schnelle from the Ohio Aviation Association highlighted their efforts to support continued safe and efficient use of Ohio Airports through better funding and legislation.

In addition, attendees received updates on ORBAA’s own advocacy efforts Progress towards a fly-away exemption from sales tax for aircraft sales (planes would need to leave OH in a certain time period) continues slowly.  A roundtable discussion followed the presentations covering various airport and industry topics of concern by members.  Concerns regarding recent changes at Lunken Airport including lack of customs clearance and runway changes were raised.

The event concluded with a social gathering at Edison Brewery.  To get more involved with ORBAA’s Advocacy efforts contact us at info@orbaa.org.

Our third and final Regional Roundtable event of 2024 will occur on June 20 in Cleveland. Registration is open and can be completed on the ORBAA site: ORBAA - ORBAA Roundtable: Cleveland.

 

Good afternoon Fellow ORBAA Members-

On behalf of the board of directors I hope you’re having an enjoyable winter season in the Buckeye State! The board has been busy preparing for this upcoming year and we look forward to seeing you all throughout the state. As we talked during the ORBAA Annual event in November, we continue to try and provide events and opportunities to connect with each other as we look to support and grow in this incredible industry.

This spring, look for Regional Roundtable events in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland. We are finalizing dates for these events and will pass along the full list in the next few weeks. These events are designed to foster connection and camaraderie in our local metro areas, along with providing a forum for discussion and education.

I’m happy to announce our ORBAA Golf Outing will be occurring August 8 in Cleveland, with the hangar party the night before. Please save the date!

We will also be hosting another ORBAA Annual Meeting in Columbus in November, with many more details to come.

If you’re interested in helping with or sponsoring our upcoming events please give me a shout at mjsmith@scopeair.com.

2024 is shaping up to be an excellent year, and I look forward to celebrating our communities, our state, and our industry together!

-Mike (and the ORBAA Board!)

The board election process concluded last Friday, please welcome your 2024 board members:

President

Mike Smith Scope Aircraft Finance

Vice President

Mike Christie Global Jet Capital

Dispatcher (FKA Secretary)

Lauren Siplivy QS Partners

Treasurer

Kirkey & Company-  Contract Treasurer

At-Large Board Members

Ryan Avery Nationwide Insurance

Marie Crow Cleveland Jet Center

Deena Sullivan Corporate Wings

Elliott Taub Cardinal Health

George Whitehead Procter & Gamble

A special thank you to our board members who are rolling off including Evelyn Merkle, Jerry Eichenberger, and Rick St. Onge. We would not have been able to do it without your service!

We wish you a happy and enjoyable holiday season and look forward to continuing to help Business Aviation thrive and grow in the state of Ohio in 2024!

ORBAA completed a successful Annual Conference at the Nationwide Hotel and Conference Center on November 16, 2023. Over 80 attendees from our industry received compensation & industry updates, learned more on sustainability, and what changes to expect with our Ohio airports and airspace in regards to funding and future air mobility, respectively.

Additionally, ORBAA hosted our first Director/Chief Pilot roundtable this week. Flight department Leaders around the state were able to meet in person to discuss shared challenges and opportunities privately.

ORBAA remains committed to finding unique ways that we can continue to connect, grow, and thrive in the business aviation industry in the state of Ohio, and we look forward to a successful 2024 as we continue to enhance our offerings. A big THANK YOU to our sponsors who help make such events possible.

If you have any feedback or ideas on events and content, or would be interested in lending a hand in the new year, please reach out to info@orbaa.org.

ORBAA hosted another successful Regional Roundtable in Cleveland on May 18. Speaking to membership was Mike Emmerich and Arnie Wolfe from the FAASTeam Cleveland FSDO. Not only did we discuss general safety concepts but we also covered some of the fundamentals of a robust SMS program. Several members participated in the conversation where we covered several aspects of business and general aviation. Both the Roundtable and post-roundtable happy hour were graciously sponsored by The Cleveland Jet Center.

We look forward to continuing the Roundtable series in the future. We hope you’re able to join us for our Columbus social event on June 30 at Edison Brewing: ORBAA - Events

If you’re interested in helping us plan future Roundtable or other ORBAA events, please reach out to the Board at info@orbaa.org.

On June 16-18, the Columbus Air Show will occur at Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus: Columbus Air Show . As part of the airshow, a Columbus non-profit, Home for Families (Home for Families), will be running the parking for the event and is looking for volunteers between June 14-18, including set up and traffic management related opportunities. The HFF group would appreciate any assistance ORBAA members are able to provide. If interested please reach out to Mike Smith at mjsmith@scopeair.com, and he will connect you with HFF to sign up for a time. We appreciate your support!

On April 26 ORBAA’s first Regional Roundtable of 2023 occurred in Cincinnati. Thanks to our gracious host, EJM, industry representatives from across the state and beyond were able to connect and discuss the pressing issues related to all things talent and human resources. Along with panelists Allison Moser from EJM, Amy Higgins from Park National Bank, and George Whitehead from P&G, the attendees shared in a true roundtable discussion of ideas, challenges, and opportunities with each other. Immediately following the roundtable, several ORBAA members joined together at Local Post to continue the conversation. 

The Cincinnati Regional Roundtable is an example of ORBAA’s continued efforts to connect business aviation in Ohio, and create opportunities for members to learn from and help each other grow. The next Regional Roundtable will be on May 18 in Cleveland hosted by Cleveland Jet Center. We hope to see you there!

First, I would like to thank Christian Pancake, Jerry Eichenberger, and Alaina Joseph for volunteering to help as we try to build out our advocacy capability.  As a volunteer organization, it takes many hands to keep things moving forward. 

Currently, we are focused on leveraging ties with like-minded organizations and starting to develop relationships with key people in state government.  We have started a joint monthly call with NBAA, Ohio Aviation Association (OAA) and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).  These three partners have dedicated paid staff who track legislative issues at local, state and federal levels.  They keep us educated on current legislation and regulations.   Currently, OAA is working to increase funding for airports at the state level to $20 million annually up from $7.2 Million (read more here on details and how you can help). Later this year, OAA and AOPA will be working on protecting airport access from encroachment of local development. 

We are working on setting up meetings with the Chair (Zanesville airport), Vice Chair (Springfield- Beckley airport) and Ranking member of the Ohio House Aviation Committee to develop a relationship with the state legislature.  The district for the Ranking Member is adjacent to Lunken Field.  If you have a passion for advocacy and are based at Lunken, Zanesville or Springfield-Beckley; please reach out to us and we will include you in any meeting we get set up.  After that we will be looking to map the districts of other committee members to airports where our members work and look for help for local point people interested in getting to know representatives with influence over state level aviation issues.   

If you would like to help out, have questions or want us to consider working on a particular issue, please email us at advocacy@orbaa.org.

Thank you,

Mike Christie

ORBAA Advocacy Chair

Hello fellow ORBAA members! On behalf of the entire ORBAA Board, I hope your 2023 is off to a great start and you’re successfully and safely completing “winter operations”. The ORBAA Board kicked off this year with a board meeting on January 19th, welcoming new board members Elliott Taub and Lauren Siplivy. After a successful 2022 we look to further expand the opportunities to connect and grow together all around the state of Ohio. We’ll soon be sending save the dates for spring and summer events near Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, as well as our annual golf outing and the return of ORBAA Annual in the fall. Our Scholarship efforts continue to grow and thrive, which was further supported by full board approval to double our individual scholarship award from $2,500 to $5,000. The scholarship application window will open this week. As the old adage goes, ‘many hands make light work’. ORBAA’s efforts are only fully realized when we have the hands and brains of folks from all across the state helping us move forward. If you have thoughts to share or interest in helping with any of our committee or event work this year, please let us know. From university outreach, developing our current workforce, sharing best practices and beyond, we want to hear what’s important to you! I wish you a safe and enjoyable winter, and look forward to seeing you in the spring! Mike Smith President, ORBAA mjsmith@scopeair.com