IS THE (low cost flights) TIME RIGHT - AIRCRAFT OWNERSHIP
No commentsBy gennew05
In the hours and days immediately following the tragic attacks on America of 9/11, there was much speculation about the effects on the general aviation industry. While the events of September 11, 2001 have had a significant impact on the economy as a whole, sales of personal aircraft in Michigan have experienced a surprising boost. Certainly, the convenience of personal transportation has played a major role in this increase as airport lines and security have become more time consuming. The reduction of flights resulting from the airline cost-cutting have limited flexibility for the business person and affected the productivity of companies relying on commercial transportation.
These factors alone cant explain surge of people joining the flying community for more than just pleasure. Rebates, low and 0% interest rates, training allowances, and yes, even the IRS played a role in creating an environment that has introduced more people to the benefits of aircraft ownership and had an effect similar to that seen after the passage of the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1995.
The IRS is here to help you? Well, believe it or not, a new tax law passed earlier this year represents a renewed attempt by our nations leaders to jumpstart the economic recovery. The bill applies to new airplanes acquired after September 10, 2001, and before September 11, 2004, and provides tax savings from economic stimulus provisions included in the Internal Revenue Code designed to encourage investment in capital assets. Visit your local airport and youre sure to see plenty of forty and fifty year old aircraft operating for both business and pleasure. Even prior to the new tax law, Congress recognized that capital investment is an important part of our economy, and therefore allowed a five year depreciation of these assets. To further encourage investments, they do not require the depreciation to be spread evenly over the five years, but through a concept know as double declining balance, greatly accelerate depreciation during the first two years of ownership. Now with the additional incentives of 30% bonus depreciation on new airplanes, tax deferral opportunities are greatly expanded.
So how might a business person benefit from these new changes? First of all, the impact of these depreciation changes greatly reduce net cash investment for the purchase of a new airplane. Specifically, an operator in the 40% tax bracket who can successfully write off his aircraft ownership expense may have no cash investment in the airplane during the first four years. Additionally, when properly structured, many taxpayers have an opportunity to convert personal use into business use. The Internal revenue code provides an optional method of taxing an individual for personal use of an aircraft which many times amounts to less than 10% of the actual deductions flowing from the investment. Consult your tax professional prior to purchasing your new airplane or ask your Aircraft Dealer for the name of an Aviation Tax Specialist to set up your purchasing entity.
And you say youre not a pilot? Local aircraft dealers like Suburban Aviation, Inc. in Lambertville, Michigan will actually teach you to fly your new airplane and even reimburse your expenses when you purchase a new Cessna airplane from them. Most of todays pilots learned to fly in a Cessna airplane and the majority of these pilots continue to experience the freedom and flexibility that flight offers in one of Cessnas many single engine models. For 75 years, Cessna has been the leader in general aviation aircraft providing a safe and reliable alternative to commercial airlines and the automobile.
So if your business can benefit from improved efficiency and tax savings, why not consider a company airplane? There are few tax saving opportunities as effective as fully depreciating an aircraft on a five year accelerated basis, and with todays interest rate environment, a well-structured transaction often results in little or no after tax cash flow holding costs during the early years of ownership. Of course, arriving at your meeting on time and with all your luggage can also be pretty convincing!
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Steps To Take The Coast Guard Aviation Program
By Victor Epand
The following are opinions from soldiers regarding the Coast Guard Aviation program: “My questions are kind of difficult. I’ve talked to many different recruiters, and retirees. My goal is to fly in the coast guard, I want to fly Jayhawks or dolphins prefibly, but I will really fly anything and work my way there. I am very interested in joining CSPI, but I am not sure if my school qualifies. I think the minority rate is close, and I hope it does.”
“I planned on CSPI, OCS, and then blue 21 if I can. I also wanted to know the chances of becoming a pilot are, and what path there is the most efficient. Also, would joining another branch of the military, and then going direct commission into flight be easier. And if so what branch would be the best.”
“Take your education more seriously than you take your grammar and you may go somewhere. Flying is serious business, steps cannot be overlooked, (like the absence of caps and punctuation)… many people read these interviews, keep it squared away. You have to get selected to two programs if you go through another branch first (the first service then the second). Plus flying in the other services isn’t exactly a cake walk. Additionally, you may get stuck in a stop loss and not be allowed to leave the other service. So easy is not a word I would use.”
“Don’t you all think that it would be easier given our young lads experience, to get into say, Army aviation as a warrant than the CG aviator program? When I was in, if you were a pilot in another branch of service, it was a lot easier to get into CG Aviation. Course things change. Look at the information on CSPI. To find out if your school qualifies for CSPI. When you follow the link you will find out Embry Riddle does not meet the minimum 25% minority requirement. I don’t remember CSPI having a minority minimum for the program. I would double check on that, the website might be wrong.”
“When I was attending Riddle (99-03) I was in the CG reserves and I personally know two people that where accepted into the CSPI program. Well, only about 40% of CG aviators are prior aviators so 60% are home grown CG. So by numbers alone, you have a better shot going the CG route. Additionally, the DCAs are competing against other pilots and there are very few boards a year. One or two only so again, define easy. Any way you go it is difficult, just a different barrier to face.”
“CSPI does not guarantee Flight School. Only Blue 21 and Avcad (for Active Duty Members) do. Blue 21 is a different route to get accepted to OCS and guaranteed Aviation. You cannot go from CSPI to OCS and then Blue 21. You would have to apply for CSPI, attend OCS, and then submit a request to Flight School. Or you could just apply to Blue 21, but you would have to change to a school with a 25% minority population. There is also AVCAD for Active Duty Members. I am not quite sure how it works, but if you Google “Coast Guard OCS Portal” there is information on that message board about AVCAD.”
“You should look into the Army Warrant Officer Program. They have a 6 year commitment after Flight School, and you may be able to lateral over to the Coast Guard after you complete your six year commitment and until you are age 34. I believe the Navy may also have a Warrant Officer Program, but it might be for Active Duty members only. You can learn a lot more by looking around military.com, the OCS Portal, and even the USCG website.”
Victor Epand is an expert consultant for http://www.WarGear.info/. WarGear.info carries the best selection of military clothing, war gear, and combat accessories on the market.
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Thursday, July 31st, 2008 at 11:04 pm and is filed under aviation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.