Also: Gone West: Bill Brennand, Airport Theft, Night Carrier, Heli Museum, Seat Belts, China Drones, Canadian Launch Site

President Trump's proposed budget has, regretfully, come down on the side of a privatized air traffic control system... and stirred up a HUGE hornet’s nest among the aviation community who have opposed this concept for decades.

The budget "Initiates a multi-year reauthorization proposal to shift the air traffic control function of the Federal Aviation Administration to an independent, non-governmental organization, making the system more efficient and innovative while maintaining safety. This would benefit the flying public and taxpayers overall," Trump opined. However, the ranking Democrat on the Aviation Subcommittee has a different point of view. Louisiana Republican Congressman Ralph Abraham has sent a letter to FAA administrator Michael Huerta and SecTrans Elaine Chao expressing "deep concern" about the unprecedented settlement between the FAA and the city of Santa Monica, CA over the future of Santa Monica Airport. "From my perspective, this agreement departs from the long-standing principle that the federal government will preserve airport infrastructure and hold airport sponsors accountable, especially when they have accepted federal money and committed to deed-based obligations to operate an airport in perpetuity," Abraham wrote. Christopher A. Hart’s term as Chairman of the NTSB concluded on schedule Wednesday and Vice Chairman Bella Dinh-Zarr will serve as the agency’s acting chairman. Hart will remain at the NTSB, applying his transportation safety expertise in the capacity of a board member. All this -- and MORE in today's episode of Airborne!!!

Airborne 03.20.17 is chock full of info in this Daily News Episode, Monday, March 20th, 2017... Presented by Aero-TV veteran videographer and Airborne Hosts Brianne Cross, Christopher Odom, and Laura Hutson, and is supported by ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief Jim Campbell, Chief Videographer Nathan Cremisino, and Aero-Journalist Tom Patton, this episode covers:

• Reaction Strong To President Trump's ATC Budget Language
• Congressman Asks For Explanation Of FAA's KSMO Settlement Agreement 
• Hart Rotates Out As Chair Of The NTSB 
• Gone West: Race Pilot Bill Brennand 
• Houston Man Arrested In Airport Theft
• AVW: E-2C Hawkeye Night Carrier Landing
• American Helicopter Museum To Recognize Manned Multicopter
• FAA Publishes Guidance On Seat Belt Replacements
• China's Civil Aviation Administration Tightening Drone Registrations
• Canadian Commercial Space Launch Complex Site Selection Completed

Get Comprehensive, Real-Time, 24/7 coverage of the latest aviation and aerospace stories anytime, at aero-news.net. And be sure to join us again next week for the next edition of "Airborne Unlimited" here on Aero-TV. Thanks for watching. See you, again, tomorrow!

© 2017, Aero-News Network, Inc., ALL Rights Reserved.

FMI: www.airbornetv.net, www.aero-news.net, www.aero-tv.net, www.youtube.com/aerotvnetwork, https://vimeo.com/aerotvnetwork, http://twitter.com/AeroNews