Air Capital Insider

One Comment

1. wsinsel
   Posted February 21, 2009 at 5:45 pm | Permalink

   I think the ad campaign by Cessna is a welcome and relevant response to the damaging comments served to GA by our lawmakers and an over reacting non-flying public. It may take years to heal the resulting black eye that this negative public image has inflicted upon General Aviation. An industry that holds the future of so many Americans either by direct employment or those who benefit indirectly from those very same jobs will feel the effects for a very long time. Every time business jets surface as a topic in any circle, the big three auto makers and their poor judgement will sour the flavor of the conversation. The real effects can already be seen all around us with aviation departments at various companies being reduced or cut entirely.

   The General Aviation industry is obligated to save itself and it is refreshing to see that companies like Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft are taking bold steps to reach out to their customers and reassure them that they are doing the right thing for their companies, their employees and their stockholders by owning and operating GA aircraft to enhance and expand their business. It would be a positive result for the entire industry if all aviators and related businesses would adopt a similar approach to their operations. I believe we are the ones who can make the difference.

   I have taken this initiative myself in my flying. I own a personal aircraft and do not consider myself to be either rich nor eccentric. If aviation fuel prices come to something above past levels, say $6.00/gallon or more, I’ll still buy it and go flying. If the TSA implements new legislation to protect the public from me and my little airplane, I will still fly. I’ll simply go to my barbed wire and electric fenced airport and see the guard with the M-16 at the gate. I’ll show him my 6 forms of government mandated, photo ID, encrypted with satellite tracking software and submit my fingerprint information for him to crosscheck in his database. I’ll then proceed to my hangar and insert my encrypted ID card into my hangar lock and access my little airplane. I’ll pull my it out and call the TSA on my cell phone, insert my encrypted card in the slot in my newly installed, satellite activated anti-theft device and the TSA will send a satellite signal to start my engine. I’ll be cleared to taxi to the scanning device located on the airport and taxi my airplane through the scanner to check for explosives and to read the personal data transmitters implanted into myself and my passengers one month before our flight. I’ll then proceed to the runway and wait for the satellite signal missle defense system to lock onto my airplane. I’ll then be released to take off and, keeping in touch with TSA and air traffic control, I’ll make the 15 minute flight to Beaumont, Kansas for breakfast.

   I’ll not accept being forced to give up something that I have worked so long and hard to achieve. We as aviators all need to take this approach. Buy the technology. Buy the fuel and the parts needed to maintain your airplane. Teach your children and others to fly. Instill in your children and others the fact that aviation and aircraft ownership is not an evil excess.

   Economic trends come and go. We can weather the storm through perseverance and positve attitude. The future of General Aviation is threatened more deeply by the real possibility of unwarranted regulations and restrictions borne out of fear of all us crazy people and our little airplanes. Each incident, regardless of it’s scope or proportion, is viewed by the public at large with ignorance and misconception. Acts of great skill and tremendous courage demonstrated by pilots can be wiped out the following day by even a small and meaningless transgression.

   It’s all up to us, the pilots and owner/operators. Sink or swim. Or in this case, wish you were flying – or just go.