All Hail The Aero-Heroes of 2007!

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 aviation/aerospace community has managed to accomplish.

Thankfully, 2007 was a year in which we saw the best and brightest among us step forward and work tirelessly on behalf of us all. No doubt about it... the challenges we faced in 2007 were numerous, and ongoing... so was the quality of expertise and passion brought to our defense by those who heroically demonstrated to the world the very best side of aviation... via their deeds, words and actions.

It is ANN's honor to recognize a solid dozen of our Aero-Heroes for 2007... in something of an informal order, starting from 12th 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 thank the folks who made this year's list. Thank you, folks... we really needed you this year, and you didn't let us down.

From the Hero's List... #12: P.A.S.S.

It's tough to do your job when so many around you seem to be doing all they can, consciously or otherwise, to keep you from succeeding... we see this as part of the burden that America's PASS members must deal with each and every day. Though not totally blameless for their plight, the fact of the matter is that PASS has been given a tough job to do and seems to have been left deliberately unequipped to do what it must to succeed, due to any number of factors, most of which seem well outside of their control.

For those of you who may have been hiding in a cave in Outer Mongolia (where the weather is no doubt better than it is most parts of the US these days), Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) is the union that represents more than 11,000 employees of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Department of Defense (DoD). PASS tells ANN that, "Our members are dedicated to certifying the safety and the efficiency of the National Airspace System (NAS); maintaining and supporting this nation’s air traffic control system with the utmost professionalism; and ensuring the integrity, the reliability, and the safety of the commercial and general aviation industries. Whenever you fly, the work our members do behind the scenes helps you get there safely."

Their lot has been complicated by immense changes in the nature of the way that government works with a number of their job responsibilities, the industries that have become involved with them (even peripherally) as a result of a number of initiatives (including privatization), an increasingly beligerent tone (mostly, on the part of FAA) to labor negotiations, and increasingly tighter budgets that seem (consistently) to short PASS-related projects when it comes time to to dole out the goodies.

Still; we've talked to hundreds of PASS members (example, seen above at the 2007 AOPA Expo) over the last few years and despite these depresing obstacles, there is an unmistakable consensus of professionalism and pride in their craft that we rarely see anymore... especially under such adverse working conditions. We wouldn't dare tell you that PASS and its members aren't also, in some part, a part of the problems that aviation faces, but we feel that they are some of the most passionate and outspoken folks in the business when it comes to taking their responsibilities seriously -- along with their willingness to become a part of the solution rather than just sit back and just bitch about their lot in life. Simply put, I get the feeling that they're really trying to do their jobs...and do them well.

And that's an attitude that takes them from heartbreaker to hero, in our book. Good luck in 2008, P.A.S.S... if you succeed, we all succeed.

FMI: http://www.passnational.org