AOPA has paid tribute to U.S. Rep.
Don Young (R-Alaska) for a lifelong dedication to general aviation,
awarding him the J.B. “Doc” Hartranft Award for
2004.
“Throughout his career on Capitol Hill, Rep. Young has
shown a deep understanding of general aviation and has worked to
ensure that GA remains a vital and integral part of the
nation’s aviation system,” said AOPA President Phil
Boyer. “We’re honored that he looks to AOPA as an
important source of information and input from the GA pilot
community.”
Rep. Young is chairman of the U.S. House of
Representatives’ Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure. He was a driving force to see that several pro-GA
measures were included in the FAA reauthorization bill, known as
the Vision 100 – Century of Aviation Act. That bill lays out
Congressionally-mandated priorities for the FAA through 2008.
One of those measures guarantees
pilots due process if their certificates are suspended or revoked
for national security reasons by the Transportation Security
Administration. Young also helped ensure that the Meigs Legacy
provision was included in the Vision 100 Act, imposing heavy fines
on any airport sponsor that fails to give adequate notice of an
airport’s closure. He was also a forceful advocate for
funding for hangar development and construction, and for a pilot
program that protects private airports by allowing the federal
government to buy the development rights at those airports.
Rep. Young addressed AOPA member concerns about privatization of
U.S. air traffic control. He obtained a commitment from FAA
Administrator Marion Blakey to not advance ATC privatization
efforts after the government declared air traffic control to be a
commercial, rather than inherently governmental, function.
Rep. Young has also gone on record raising questions about the
FAA’s proposed charity/commercial sightseeing rule, which
would increase the regulatory burden on local sightseeing
operations and eliminate charity flights, all without any
documented increase in safety. When necessary, he has been willing
to step in at a much more nuts-and-bolts level. Early this summer,
he urged Administrator Blakey to prevent the closure of Buchanan
Field in Concord, Calif.
The J.B. “Doc” Hartranft Award, one of
aviation’s most prestigious awards, is named for AOPA’s
first employee and president of the association for 38 years. It is
awarded annually to the federal, state, or local government
official who has done the greatest good on behalf of general
aviation.
With more than 400,000 members, representing nearly two thirds
of all pilots in the United States, AOPA is the largest, most
influential aviation association in the world. AOPA has achieved
its prominent position through effective advocacy, enlightened
leadership, technical competence, and hard work. Providing member
services that range from representation at the federal, state, and
local levels to legal services, advice, and other assistance, AOPA
has built a service organization that is without peer to any other
in the aviation community.
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