Brookhaven Supervisor Mark Lesko takes a clinical approach to the town's monetary struggles with Brookhaven Calabro Airport — which is projected to lose a soaring amount in 2012.

"It's one thing to know how to run an airport. It's another thing to know how to make money running an airport," Lesko said.

There hasn't been a lot of good news about Long Island MacArthur Airport lately. Passenger traffic is down, and Southwest Airlines, the airport's major carrier, has no immediate plans to expand at the Ronkonkoma-based facility.

But the skies over MacArthur are not all cloudy.

Faced with a dramatic decline in passengers at Long IslandMacArthur Airport, Islip officials are looking for ways to revitalize the town-owned facility, which economists and business leaders agree is crucial to the region's future.

Among the ideas, Islip Town Supervisor Tom Croci said, are "exploring a light rail or people-mover between the LIRR [train station at Ronkonkoma] down the airport's east side . . . possible upgrades to the runways themselves, and other safety measures that would make MacArthur more attractive to airlines."

Below are notes taken by LIBAA President Joseph Loccisano while attending the Republic Airport tenant meeting held on April 23, 2012.

FlightSafety International is renewing its offer of free recurrent training for pilots and maintenance techs that have lost their jobs since the start of the year. When the company first offered free training for former customers in 2009, hundreds of out-of-work professionals took advantage of it. “We are pleased and proud to have helped our customers through the Proficiency Protection program in the past. We now offer it again during 2012,” said Bruce Whitman, president & CEO, who noted FlightSafety is the only training provider to offer this type of program.

Plan on attending a most important safety program. Most of us are familiar with the idea behind high-performance takeoffs. When do you need to fly a high performance landing? Runway excursions are a mishap trend on the rise that, beyond the obvious risks of injury and damage, also result in increased insurance claims and FAA citations.Beginning next month, a number of forums will be held in NBAA's Northeast Region for those with an interest in mitigating the risks and reducing the occurrence of runway excursions.

The Republic Airport Vision Plan was initiated by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) and the Republic Airport Commission (RAC) in April, 2009. The vision plan is a unique and innovative process that allows all stakeholders a voice in an effort to develop a framework and consensus on the vision for Republic Airport to follow in the future. Airport stakeholders include civic group leaders and participants, elected officials, the business and aviation community and RAC members.

In a deft political maneuver, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) attached an amendment today imposing helicopter flight restrictions in Long Island and Los Angeles to the $52 billion federal highway bill (S.1813). This amendment would mandate offshore routes for helicopters transiting the North and South sections of Long Island and require the FAA to develop more restrictive flight paths for civil helicopters operating over the Los Angeles basin. Schumer’s previous attempt to mandate a North shore route, as an amendment to the recently enacted FAA reauthorization bill, was removed by a joint House-Senate conference committee after being widely opposed by a broad coalition of general aviation interest groups.

The Long Island Business Aviation Association, the "voice of aviation" on Long Island joins with all our fellow aviation advocacy organizations to strongly oppose user fees for turbine aircraft as proposed by President Obama.

LIBAA is deeply concerned that the new proposed $100.00 per flight tax would create a significant administrative burden on general aviation operators who presently pay for FAA services through an efficient per gallon fuel charge at the pump. Implementing this onerous tax would only necessitate the creation of a costly new federal revenue collection bureaucracy.

As Congress and the White House negotiate over the nation's deficit and debt ceiling, the business aviation community has cause for alarm. I'm sending this message to explain the situation, and what steps our industry must take to confront it.