Aero-News Network’s Rex Alexander talked with Curt Castagna, President and CEO of the National Air Transportation Association at the 2025 EAA AirVenture fly-in and air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
NATA currently has about 3,700 member companies representing all segments of business aviation interests and beyond. Those include FBOs, Part 135 charter operators, flight schools, maintenance & repair shops/MROs, fuel suppliers, insurance companies, and numerous other aviation-related businesses.
The organization is very active in doing a lot of legislative and regulatory advocacy work in Washington D.C., and through its well-known Safety 1st platform on its website is their key program in advancing safety in the industry.
The group was very active in the Reauthorization Act of 2024, and working with Congressman Sam Graves and the other trade associations to secure a general aviation reauthorization and revitalization act as part of that. And along with the other organizations they are working to manage the staffing and other changes within the FAA.
NATA is very involved in the advancement of AAM or advanced air mobility, with a specific committee that is looking at infrastructure requirements at FBOs and airports, and how FBOs in the future might evolve beyond the airport boundaries.
NATA is still very active in sustainability programs, including SAF and the transition to an unleaded fuel. Castagna serves as a co-chair on the EAGLE initiative – Eliminate Aviation Gas Lead Emissions – working with colleagues from the other trade groups and the FAA to secure a safe transition to an unleaded fuel.
Castagna said NATA is really pleased with the announcement at AirVenture by Secretary of Transportation Duffy regarding MOSAIC, the twenty-year effort to gather the safety data that allowed the FAA to do a very thorough evaluation and to broaden and modernize the light sport aircraft category for both the aircraft and the light sport pilot.
NATA is happy with that because of how it will attract more people into the industry – more student pilots, more opportunities for those aircraft to be used in ways that they’ve been demonstrated to be safe. It will also present a good opportunity to broaden the workforce and expand the functionalities of the airplanes to serve general aviation communities.
Aero-TV is a production of the Internationally syndicated Aero-News Network. Seen worldwide by hundreds of thousands of aviators and aviation adherents, ANN's Aero-TV has produced well over 5000 aviation and feature programs, including over 2500 episodes of our daily aviation news program, AIRBORNE UNLIMITED, currently hosted by Holland Lee. Now in its third decade of operation, parent company Aero-News Network, has the most aggressive and intensive editorial profile of any aviation news organization and has published well over a half-million news and feature stories since its inception -- having pioneered the online 24/7 aviation new-media model that so many have emulated.
Also: 1st-Ever Space Crime Was a Fraud, IAE Buys Diamonds, Kennon Bows Out, Perseverance Rover An interesting moment came about this past Sunday as ANN CEO, Jim Campbell, noted tha>[...]
Have A Story That NEEDS To Be Featured On Aero-News? Here’s How To Submit A Story To Our Team Some of the greatest new stories ANN has ever covered have been submitted by our>[...]
From 2023 (YouTube Edition): Deviation from the Historical Mean Racine, Wisconsin-based DeltaHawk is a privately-held manufacturer of reciprocating engines for aircraft and hybrid >[...]
Smoke Began Entering The Cockpit During The Landing Flare, And Then The Pilot Noticed Flames On The Right Side Of The Airplane Analysis: The pilot reported that about 30 minutes in>[...]
Airborne 11.24.25: ANN's 30th!, Starships V3 Booster Boom, Earhart Records
See All