Mass News Media Reports On General Aviation Are Commonly Inaccurate And Maligning

We at ANN have been fighting the battle to have aviation news covered accurately by the mass news media ever since we began operation. Media coverage of aviation is generally bad and inaccurate, and when it comes to general aviation, accuracy falls victim to bold and often defaming headlines.

We are now very pleased to report that EAA said in a press release they have joined 20 other general aviation organizations in a letter to the National Transportation Safety Board urging the government panel to correctly express general aviation’s safety record and help media show an accurate portrayal of flying.

The letter came about because of NTSB data sourced for a NBC Nightly News story earlier this month involving a mid-air collision in Georgia that killed three people. That data gave a distorted picture of fatal aviation accidents, which have been dropping at a steady rate over the past 30 years.

“We respectfully request the board to publicly convey that general aviation is one of the safest modes of transportation in the United States,” the letter stated. It also noted that aviation accidents receive high media attention because they are infrequent.

“We believe the NTSB has an inherent responsibility to help provide media outlets with a comprehensive view of safety trends and outline the improvements in general aviation safety over the years,” the letter continued.

AOPA authored the letter circulated among the GA organizations, as it contacted the television network regarding its coverage of the accident at West Georgia Regional Airport. The on-air report made several erroneous assumptions regarding overall aviation safety and accident causes, without input from on-site NTSB investigators and using fragments of NTSB data chosen to fit the narrative.

EAA and other organizations have worked with the NTSB to implement a number of the board’s recommendations over the past decade, as well as developing safety programs that earned praise from NTSB for enhancing aviation safety.

“We must not let media reports like these discredit the hard work and gains we have all made together, and we encourage the NTSB to help set the record straight,” the letter concluded.

We in general aviation, particularly in the area of recreational aviation, need to stand proud and be ready to talk about the honest facts of an issue when we see reports that are obviously incorrect or intentionally misleading. It’s common for the mass news media to have an agenda in its reporting, and it’s clear their agenda turns to the old days of yellow page journalism when it comes to general aviation. We all need to join with EAA and AOPA to put a “good face” on GA.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.eaa.org   www.aopa.org