'Where Will You Land?' Was The Topic Of The Day
In Part Two of our excerpted discussion, Aero-TV thought it was
important for ANN viewers to see and hear some of the poignant
remarks that were part of a number of intriguing panels at the most
recent AOPA Expo. When the Friday morning General Session at AOPA
Expo 2007 kicked off, it quickly focused on the need to protect
general aviation airports around the nation. AOPA president Phil
Boyer started the session with examples of how GA has suffered from
airport closures, along with success stories about several airports
that have been saved were presented. Boyer recognized the
significance of the Airport Support Network. The ASN is celebrating
10 years of promoting, protecting and defending airports throughout
the nation.
"I am overwhelmed by the passion and enthusiasm that our
volunteers bring to saving and preserving their local airports,"
said ASN Director Stacy Swigart. "With nearly 2,000 volunteers in
all 50 states, the ASN program brings a local face to the fight,
but with the backing of a national organization behind them."
According to Boyer, there are currently just over 5,000 GA
airports in the United States. While this number is down from years
past, the rate of closure has slowed considerably in recent
years.
In the brief panel discussion that served as the focus of this
two part excerpted Aero-TV presentation -- moderated by Andy
Cebula, AOPA's executive vice president of government affairs --
Shelly deZevallos spoke of the challenges of operating a privately
owned airport. She said issues of property taxes, insurance,
infrastructure improvements and competing against publicly owned
and operated facilities are all issues.
"Be aware if private airports need your help, and be involved in
the process," deZevallos said. "Keep up on any issues that might
crop up, and educate the public about the benefits of the
airport."
deZevllos -- along with fellow panelists Bob Showalter of
Showalter Flying Service and Woodie Woodward, retired Assistant
Administrator for Airports at the FAA -- agreed that community
involvement is critical in saving airports.
"Educate the community before it becomes an issue. Don't wait
until a developer is knocking on the door" said Woodward. Showalter
agreed, and suggested getting local Chambers of Commerce involved,
stressing that decision makers often fly corporate aircraft,
bypassing airline terminals in favor of smaller airports.
Boyer closed the session with a reminder: "A mile of highway
gets you one mile. A mile of runway gets you anywhere."
Check Out Part Two Of Our Excerpts From
The AOPA Airport Panel Discussion
About Aero-TV: It's DEFINITELY Show
Time!!!!
OK, folks, here we go... we are NOW initiating the first
feature programming series for Aero-TV... we're going to take it
slow, but we're also going to try and be steady about this. DO
UNDERSTAND that this is the most complex media program we've ever
undertaken and what you're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg...
but from here on out, we will be doing our best to educate,
inform, and entertain YOU about all aspects of the exciting worlds
of aviation and aerospace.
If you've been an observer of the media and associated media
industries over the last few years, it's not hard to mistake the
fact that a massive revolution is taking place. Old sources for
news and information are falling by the wayside, having to change
their modus operandi or risk obsolescence (or extinction).
Electronic media and print media are both under the assault of
progress, and the online world has been a cornerstone for
revolutionary change.
We've been ready to go for a while, but to be honest, there's so
much more to this program than we've alluded to, and so we've been
building and planning a massive new organization within ANN. That
said, we're hiring talented new people as
fast as we can find them (a far more difficult
task than we had imagined -- REALLY good people are hard to find),
and we're brainstorming at speeds that would make a deorbiting
Space Shuttle feel like a slug. Suffice it to say that we wanted to
do this right, rather than right-now, and that the development of
this program has been the most carefully pursued undertaking we've
ever undertaken.
E-I-C Note: The
complete feature shown above is embedded in this
story, with most of the slick and useful functionality
otherwise available on the main Aero-TV
site (which will be upgraded aggressively
over the next few weeks). The ability to embed a video on
another web page is but one of the hundreds of amazing little
features that we've worked hard on, for many months now, to
implement in different phases of the initial release of
Aero-TV. It is, BY NO MEANS, the only way to enjoy unaltered
Aero-TV programming on other parts of the web... as we have
extensive plans for future functionality, but this feature
allows those with an interest in a specific Aero-TV News or Feature
program to embed it on a different web site, though we must
note that we reserve the right to forbid such use for those sites
or purposes that we do not feel fit in with the proper mission of
the Aero-News Network, Inc.
Webmasters or Administrators of well-trafficked aviation or
aerospace related sites, are welcome to contact the Publisher to
start conversations on how they may be able to leverage some of the
immense power of Aero-TV programming for their sites and
constituency by clicking the I Want Aero-TV For
MY Website! link.
Coming Soon!
Aero-TV Shows You How To Build A Glasair Sportsman
2+2 in RECORD TIME, Gets Up Close And Personal With the Newest
Continental Powerplant To Grace A Cessna, Gets A Sobering Briefing
From P.A.S.S., Flies The Piper Matrix, Hears What's Hot At Blue
Moutain Avionics, Checks Out More "HIGH" Tech at I/ITSEC
2007, Hears From AOPA On Critical Aviation Issues, Spills Some
Juicy (and HIGHLY Detailed) Cirrus G3 Info, Shoots A Clarity Aloft
Headset Profile, Scores A BUNCH of LSA Reports, and SO
MUCH MORE!!!!! Do NOT Miss Them!
ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.05.25): Circle To Runway (Runway Number)
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