...And Here, Darn it, Are The Heartbreakers

Final Compilations/Analysis by ANN Editor-In-Chief/Corporate Insomniac, Jim Campbell

It is both the most "fun," and most difficult task, facing the ANN staff at the end of every year -- determining who, or what, did the most to promote the cause of aviation in the past 365 days... while also chastising those people or entities that did all they could to undermine the many successes the aerospace community has managed to accomplish.
 
Alas, 2009 saw more than its fair share of downers, aviation-wise. Sure, "stuff" happens... but a few folks, issues, or entities seemed to go out of their way to create problems for the world of aviation.

So... it is ANN's annual obligation to recognize Ten of our Aero-Heartbreakers for 2009... in something of an informal order, starting from the 10th to the 1st.

Let us know what you think of our selections... whom YOU would have liked be included, or omitted, from such a list. In the meantime, we hope those who had something to do with this year's selections think a little more positively about the welfare of this industry, so that future lists become harder and harder to catalog.

Be it ignorance, arrogance or just plain incompetence, these were the folks or topics that made our lot a whole lot more difficult and immeasurably injured the aviation world in the past year.

Shame on those issues, folks, or groups that made our lot so much tougher in 2009...

Aero-Heartbreaker #6: eAPIS and CBP Nonsense  

One of the beauties of General and Business Aviation is not just our ability to fly in pursuit of personal enrichment or commercial interests, but the fact that we can benefit our businesses and our nation through interfacing with interests and businesses across the border. This nation receives powerful benefits from those companies that utilize aviation to pump up our side of the balance of trade by reaching across borders to find business opportunities, sell our services, build partnerships, and conduct American business outside of our borders.

As critical as such functions are, and the millions and billions of dollars that result, it is absolutely astounding to me that moving across the border, (despite the security issues always in play), has not just become restrictive, it's just flat out become unworkable and convoluted. I can't possibly tell you how long it took us to figure out how to properly use eAPIS, and the Rube Goldberg, convoluted, poorly designed interface that one has to deal with -- unless one partakes in the commercial solutions that have sprung up to help people navigate the vagaries of CBP's latest monstrosity. Once again, we have no argument with the need to secure our borders and keep an eye on making sure that whatever crosses our boundaries isn't going to hurt us or otherwise create a negative scenario for a nation that has had more than a chair of heartbreaks in this area. However; this is a solution that was forced upon the GA and BizAv community with little or no consultation -- not to mention the tremendous ignorance, and degrees of complexity that are neither needed, warranted, or explicable.

There are amazing people protecting our borders. I count members of the CBP as some of my very best friends... but (without naming names) I can't think of a single one of those people (that I've come to know and trust), who look at the way eAPIS and CBP procedures involve GA and BizAv, and find any rhyme or reason in them. I'm talking really smart people, with his country's best interests at heart, with inventive minds and talents in problem solving -- who were never allowed to be a part of the decision-making process that led to imposition of eAPIS and other restrictive policies. We have no reasonable explanation for how something so screwed up came to be the law of the land.

Once again the only true solution to Heartbreakers like CBP's erratic eAPIS program, and similarly unenlightened policies, was to work closely with the user base that ultimately would have to employ it -- something that pretty much was ignored from the start. They could have taken an unworkable and restrictive nightmare and replaced it with a system that not only would have been easier to use, but probably would have protected this nation far better.

Once again, it's a dirty crying shame... an unamerican one.

FMI: Comments/Criticism?