FBOs Should Complete their Customer’s Flight Mission Visualization
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Credit: getty images Jay_uno
FBO Management Series
With the recent rash of airport safety mishaps, the FAA is making headlines almost on a daily basis in their quest to address public concerns about the safety of airport systems and operations.
This awareness has put all aviation sectors under the microscope, including General and Business Aviation operators.
Recently the FAA issued a Notice NOTC4406 General and Business Aviation Call to Action: Airport Familiarization. As a footnote, the following was posted:
In early March 2025, the FAA held an Aviation Safety Call to Action (www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-takes-immediate-safety-steps-following-general-and-business-aviation-call-action) to identify concrete steps to address recent safety incidents and make general and business aviation safer. As part of our commitment to aviation safety, we are reminding general and business aviation pilots about the tools and resources available to them during their pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight activities. Learn more about the GA Call to Action at www.faa.gov/GA-action
The main focus of this FAA Notice is to remind pilots to become familiar with their destination airport utilizing all the tools available including Arrival Alert Notices, From the Flight Deck video series and Aeronautical Charts.
Of particular interest to FBOs is the FAA’s From the Flight Deck video series (https://bit.ly/2Mj0Cme) which “provides pilots with actual runway approach and airport taxiway footage captured with aircraft-mounted cameras, combined with diagrams and visual graphics to clearly identify hot spots and other safety-sensitive items.”
To help complete this mental picture for the pilot, FBO’s should make sure that everyone on their operations team observe, on a daily basis, the condition of their ramp, GSE (ground support equipment) and in general, the overall optics of their facility from a ramp-side perspective.
Here are some general guidelines:
1. Every morning, walk out to the end of the ramp and look back at your facility from a pilot’s perspective.
2. Is the ramp surface clean and presentable?
3. Does the GSE equipment appear neat and clean?
4. Are safety cones and welcome carpets arranged in an orderly fashion?
5. Do line service crew uniforms and PPE look professional?
6. Is the guide person ready and focused when the aircraft arrives?
7. Are universal hand signals used and are they executed with exactness and precision?
We’ve had pilots tell us that they can always tell from the moment they arrive on the ramp whether or not the FBO experience will be good or bad, just by the way the ramp and equipment look and by the demeanor of the line service personnel.
As one pilot told us: “If the GSE is not clean and lined up properly, we wonder what the restrooms are going to be like? From the beginning of the flight to the off-ramp at the FBO destination our customers, sitting in the back of the aircraft, come first. The FBO better not let us down.”
That’s why FBO owners, operators, managers and employees should do their part to help complete a customer’s flight mission visualization. Pilots already have the tools provided by the FAA to get them to their destination as safely as possible. It’s up to the FBO to make sure the mission is completed with delight and that all expectations are fully met.
© 2025 ABSG/TJG
Please leave any comments you have about this blog post below. If you have any questions, please send us an email: John Enticknap, jenticknap@bellsouth.net, Ron Jackson, ronjacksongroup@gmail.com.
ABOUT THE BLOGGERS: John Enticknap is the founder of Aviation Business Strategies Group (ABSG). He has more than 35 years of aviation fueling and FBO services industry experience and is an IS-BAH Accredited auditor. Ron Jackson is co-founder of ABSG and president of The Jackson Group (TJG), a PR agency specializing in FBO marketing and customer service training. Visit the biography page or absggroup.com for more background.