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Also, any losses carried forward from prior years when Baltia starts flying and earning revenue can be carried forward for several years and used to offset profits so Baltia won't have to pay income taxes for quite a while. Money that would have gone to pay income taxes will instead stay in the company to help fuel its growth.
Money invested "...isn't anything to show for it."
Wrong.
Asset value of N706Bl is around $3 mil. Purchased for $1.2 mil; about a mil invested in C check which has yet to be amortized; about $250 grand invested in painting; $25 grand invested in refurbishing interior; plus much more invested in upgrading cockpit electronics and nav gear to current standards. Those are all amortizable/depreciable investments that don't start to amortize/depreciate until the plane starts flying.
Once certification is achieved, the cost of getting certification will probably show on the balance sheet as an asset worth several million $.
This all reflects commonly accepted accounting practices.
Jerry was replaced.
As long as Baltia is actively pursuing FAA certification, they are routinely granted extensions.
I've gotten confirmation that the manuals have not been "kicked back" to Baltia since resubmission at the end of last year.
I think I know who it was, and I believe this investor intends to hold until after Baltia starts flying. Remember that on the questionnaire for converting restricted to unrestricted shares you must indicate an intention to sell in order to qualify for the conversion. Of course, you could change your mind about selling after making the conversion. A weird requirement for conversion - makes no sense.
I haven't heard anything about the manuals being kicked back since the last resubmission late last year. My own uncorroborated theory is that the FAA may have become dissatisfied with their own method of evaluating the manuals/SAIs based on a random sampling of sections, so that they decided a couple months ago to just bite the bullet and read the whole thing. That is mind-numbing work, due to the highly complex and technical nature of the content, even if spread over a team of 20 or so reviewers. If this is the case, it would explain the delay.
"rejected" isn't the right word. The manuals and/or the accompanying SAIs were send back to Baltia for revision at least 3 times, and after each of those revisions, the manuals were resubmitted to the FAA for further review.
Have you read any of their manuals? If not, how can you judge them?
Yes, I've read the info about SAIs on the FAA website. That's why I recommended it to you. Are you aware of the direct inter-connection between the approx 4000 SAIs and the submitted manuals? From what you just posted about the manuals, it appears not.
I just checked out United for flying from DC to LED and see that all of their offerings involve connecting flights with foreign airlines using the other airline's flight number for the final leg to LED. As I understand the way code sharing works, United would have to have the right to fly to LED from Frankfort or wherever and would have their own flight number for that leg, even though the last leg to LED would be physically flown by another carrier. That doesn't seem to be the case here on United's website. These are just ordinary connecting flights with other airlines (mostly Lufthansa and Swiss), not code-shared flights (required to comply with the judge's decision you quoted).
Lt. - see mailbox, 2 msgs.
I'll bet it's the little old lady who shakes up the FAA!
"They submit flawless manuals..." Wrong.
Their manuals have indeed had some flaws - as have other airlines' manuals - which is what the new SAI process is intended to discover and correct. The problem with the other airlines certified under the previous system before SAIs (Safety Attributes Inspection) is that there was no systematic way of discovering and fixing any flaws in their manuals. Now there is with the SAI process, but it is an exponentially more burdensome process for both applicant and FAA with the SAIs than ever before.
Atlas Airlines, an already certified cargo carrier, was the first and only other airline to go through the SAI process when they decided to upgrade from cargo-only to passenger service. They went through a partial re-certification. For that EXISTING carrier, going through their re-certification for their upgrade to passenger service took two years.
Before SAIs, it took 6-9 months for an airline to get certified under the old system. So it's a whole new world under SAIs.
"The process is quite simple..." Wrong.
Your comment completely overlooks the most critical element in the manuals approval process - answering the Safety Attributes Inspection questions, about 4000 of them.
SAIs are the new element in air carrier manuals certification, which Baltia is the first airline to confront in their entirety. In the simplistic scenario you have described, the requirements are set and known at the outset. Not so with SAIs, where the requirements have been changed by the FAA several times DURING the process of considering Baltia's submissions. The FAA has been designing and redesigning the SAI process as they go along. Each change in SAI requirements has required Baltia to go back and redo previously submitted SAIs.
Further, the FAA doesn't know the correct answers to SAIs until they see them. Imagine taking a test in college with 4000 essay questions, where the instructor doesn't know the answers ahead of time.
Apparently the FAA underestimated how many of their experts it would take to review Baltia's 4000 SAI answers, and so in January they assigned another team to bolster their side of the huge effort.
There is extensive information about the SAIs available online on the FAA's website. I suggest that you read it so that you'll better understand the process and its complexities.
Manuals certificaion with SAIs is NOT a simple process by ANY stretch of the imagination.
Greek - check your mailbox here.
Excellent.
That's just his regular end of day post of the closing price/volume.
My condolences. Please check your private messages on this board.
"...the only thing we can control as investors are: stand pat, buy, or sell."
You missed one more thing investors can do. The most important thing. See #12211
There is absolutely nothing that Baltia can do about it. But there is in fact a solution that could work pretty quickly, based on past experience some have had with the FAA. It is called Representative Democracy.
Let's think about that. Like grownups.
Neither SNAFU or FUBAR correctly describe the problem. The problem now is obviously Analysis Paralysis on the part of the FAA - per an observation of a high level FAA executive over the weekend who is not involved in the Baltia case and not able to influence it, but who is thoroughly familiar with the inner workings of the FAA.
You need to have Standard Registrar Co. in East Draper, Utah convert your restricted share certificate into unrestricted electronic shares that can be transferred into your online brokerage account (I use Fidelity for that) via the DWAC process. The detailed instructions for how to do this were given on this board by the Lieutenant back in late Sept. or early Oct. Look there.
No, no. Translation error. It's "The geeks shall inherit the Earth" - i.e. Gates, Zuckerberg, etc.
Mark 10:31 - "...and the last will be first."
lol
"Igor will tell you what he believes to be true..."
Absolutely. In the 21 years I've known him, Igor has always told me what he believed to be true.
"Are you not saying that they have been turned back before...?"
Yes, that's my understanding, with the last time being about 6 months ago. As far as I know, no manuals/SAI submission has been turned back from FAA to Baltia since 10/18.
2nd clarification - when I say "none of the manuals were kicked back" I mean after the major resubmission on 10/18.
Just to clarify, my understanding is that none of the manuals were kicked back, but that Baltia on its own initiative made minor modifications to a small part of the manuals, which were resubmitted around 12/21.
Yes, quite a bit. The plane probably will not come to JFK until training of flight & cabin crews in Florida has progressed to the point where crews will come back to NY and be ready for the evacuation demo with the actual plane, and of course, proving flights.
Like everything, the doc film is waiting for the FAA manuals approval to go forward. This is, after all, a MOVIE, and until that approval comes through, nothing is moving very much in an interesting visual sense that can be shown on video. Lots of planning being done now by Baltia staff, but office scenes with people working on computers, interviewing prospective employees, etc. aren't very interesting to eye or ear. But after the approval, things start hopping visually and then the filming (on HD video) literally takes off again. Some pretty interesting visuals are planned once training is underway and the plane comes to JFK.
No. That photo has a Google 2008 copyright notice watermarked onto it. Also, the plane shown has red on the rear fuselage (part of the Kalitta Air paint job) which the Baltia plane does not have.
"I'm sure we'll get a PR once manuals are approved."
Yes.
"I wonder how long it will take for FAA Certification once manuals are approved."
An FAA approved schedule that was previously posted here (don't see it now) showed 60 days from manuals approval to completion of steps to get certification (initial crew training, proving flights, table top exercise, and evacuation test [for investors - lol] ). But 90 days is probably more realistic.
You're right on the money.
The so called "gag order" won't be lifted until Baltia becomes certified by the FAA and the DOT issues its order allowing Baltia to start selling tickets. So Baltia still has to be very careful what it says until then, not just until the manuals are approved. However, after the manuals are approved, factual PR about the status of the certification process can be forthcoming as events actually occur.
706BL probably won't come to JFK until first crew is through initial training. Otherwise it would just be sitting on the tarmac being billed about $200 per day parking fee doing nothing. She sits free in Oscoda. But she probably has to be periodically maintained to keep her airworthiness cert. current, even just sitting there.
Delta, Baltia meeting place is 1.2 mi so. of Shawnee at 388 M.R. Note under the mat.
The real price explosion will likely come after the first quarterly financial report that follows the start of revenue flying, IF those financials show that Baltia is able to deliver on the positive cash flow projections shown in its business plan, the stock should fly as high as N706BL.
Delivering on those projections will require razor sharp management-team focus on the key issues involved in running the business at peak efficiency and effectiveness. It will also require a good measure of good luck. But then, what great success doesn't owe something to good luck? Hopefully, I.D. and team can make their own good luck with disciplined focus on the essentials, once the FAA gives the green light.
From what I've seen, they can do it.
Last word I heard on manuals approval was high expectations for late this month. But only the FAA really knows. Remember from ages past, "the Shadow knows..."
BLTA concepts airborne even in Maine today at Shawnee. The Baltia rooster's buddy has Baltia red scarf over green coat. Center lift rises like BLTA stock will soon. Baltia note at info about Baltia conference at 388 Mountain Rd.
"Baltia lacks any PR..." Wrong. The online photos and takeoff video of N706BL have been very effective in achieving Baltia's current PR objectives - showing that Baltia actually has wings. Baltia has plenty of PR plans standing by, waiting for the announcement that the manuals have been approved by the FAA. Until that happens, there is really nothing to say because until that happens Baltia can't do anything except make plans.
"...the PR there is, comes through secondhand with no direct quotes either from Igor or any top management of recent memory..."
Read the account stickied above of the September 2011 stockholders meeting of 5 months ago. Lots of issues are discussed there in depth by Igor. But one of the things you'll see there is the difficulty management has in accurately predicting when the FAA is going to approve the manuals. It's no wonder management has decided to just shut up now until the FAA finally says the manuals are approved, and then management will have a lot to say.
Until then, what do you expect them to say? "We're awaiting approval of manuals from the FAA." That's all they can say and we already know that.