In Service of the Greater Good

During the third week of October 2023, representatives of the EAGLE initiative announced NATA president and CEO Curt Castagna will serve as the program’s co-chair, alongside Lirio Liu, the Federal Aviation Administration’s Executive Director of Aircraft Certification Services.

A joint undertaking of the FAA and a number of aviation industry partners, the EAGLE (Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions) initiative seeks to expand and accelerate actions and policies conducive to the development and safe proliferation of a viable high-octane unleaded replacement for extant one-hundred-octane low-lead aviation gasoline (100LL).

Mr. Castagna is the second industry co-chair of the EAGLE Initiative and follows AOPA president and CEO Mark Baker, who served in the co-chair role since the program’s February 2022 inception. The announcement followed an EAGLE-sponsored briefing to educate audiences on the EPA Endangerment Finding, increasing understanding of the scope of its impact on general aviation.

Castagna stated: “NATA and its members continue to prioritize a safe and efficient transition to unleaded aviation fuel, and I am humbled to work with the FAA and our industry partners in my new role as we progress towards the eventual distribution of new fuels to airports and FBOs. At this crucial juncture in the future of the general aviation industry, we appreciate and are most grateful for Mark Baker’s work as co-chair, his leadership on behalf of his members and the industry, and his efforts to spread awareness of EAGLE and its mission.”

Founded in 1940 and headquartered in Washington D.C., the National Air Transportation Association is a public policy group representing the interests of the general aviation business community before the U.S. Congress and federal, state, and local governmental agencies. All told, NATA advocates on behalf of nearly 2,300 member businesses—which include providers of aviation fuel and related services, Part 135 on-demand air charter, aircraft rental and storage, flight training, aircraft maintenance and parts sales, line support, business aircraft and fractional ownership fleet management, and Part 121 airline baggage and cargo handling services.

In accordance with its mission statement, NATA strives to “empower its members to be safe and successful aviation businesses.”

FMI: www.nata.aero