"Its About Time We Had Some Fun, Dammit"

ANN APRIL 1st "SPECIAL" EDITION: "Its tough sticking to 'plane old business' day after day," says NBAA President Ed Bolen (pictured below), "so we thought it was time we had a little fun." These were the first words to leak out of NBAA after their surprise announcement of the organization's acquisition of yet another organization... the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA).

The move came as a complete surprise to everyone but ANN's Jim Campbell, who claims to have put EAA's Tom Poberezny and Ed Bolen together for an impromptu meeting after Bolen had tired of testifying some 186 times (in just 3 months) over the imposition of user fees on corporate aircraft. "Something had to break," says Campbell, "Ed looked like he needed some fun, and the chance to do all that he does, AND help run the Oshkosh show sounded like a combo that he couldn't pass up. Besides, business aviation has recently discovered how cool it is to exhibit at Oshkosh each year, so this was a slam-dunk."

The new organization, The National Business Aviation and Experimental Aircraft Association (NBAAEAA), brings tremendous political power to the Washington scene... with the heavy duty financial impact of business aircraft users all over the country as well as the faithful fans of all things sport aviation. The move brings significant financial resources to the Oshkosh part of the organization, gives NBAA a permanent home for its annual conventional and throws in a new Gulfstream 550 for Tom Poberezny... who is thinking of incorporating it in a new airshow routine for the upcoming 2008 AirVenture Airshow.

Poberezny claims that the move makes, "the NBAAEAA the most powerful aviation organization in the world. Period. The combination of these two somewhat divergent interests shows that all aviation shares a brotherhood of sorts and gives us new impetus to come together as a united industry. Best of all; we'll be able to quit taking this User-Fee crap from the FAA once and for all as well as start settling some other ponderous issues. Hear this, NBAAEAA is going to be a force to be reckoned with."

FMI: www.nbaaeaa.org