In a noisy newsroom at
the Wright Centennial celebration, the EAA put a panel together. At
Oshkosh or Sun & Fun, there would have been standing room only.
Here, it's reporters. Not all of them well versed on things with
wings and the issues that keep them in the air, and that, more
recently, have been keeping them on the ground.
From one end of the table to the other, you had Vern Raburn, the
CEO of Eclipse Aviation. Then Alan Klapmeier, the President of
Cirrus Design. Steve Brown from the FAA was next. He's the VP for
operations and planning. Phil Boyer, President of the AOPA was
next, and sitting next to him, Congressman James Oberstar. Bob
Warner, Exec VP of the EAA was to the far right.
They each had some points to make, some we've heard before. Alan
Klapmeier mentioned at least twice that the term "General Aviation"
needs to go. Be replaced with "Personal Aviation". He adds: "Truth
is, people who own planes aren't all "fat cat rich people". The
average age of the fleet is 34 years old. We have to raise public
awareness". Phil Boyer adds that in the 30 years since the last
walk on the moon, fully 25 percent of the GA fields in the nation
have closed. Many have become shopping centers, industrial parks,
or in the case of Houston, apartment complexes.
The EAA's Bob Warner "We see our mission as promoting access,
protecting the right to fly, and providing for the future." He
points with pride to the One millionth "Young Eagles" flight. He
also pointed a verbal jab down the table a couple of seats,
wondering when the FAA was going to sign off on the Sport Pilot
category and Light Sport Aircraft. He said that would bring
thousands of pilots and aircraft to the rolls.
Eclipse's Raburn took that moment to announce that he's planning
on a supersonic, vertical take-off 6-seater, with a price point of
between 50 and 60 thousand dollars. After the laughter died down,
he and Klapmeier compared notes on where light aircraft prices
should be. Raburn thinks his competition is the price of an airline
seat. Klapmeier said that the time is long past when you will find
an aircraft in every garage. One reporter asked if a $250,000
Cessna 172 could be considered an aircraft for "the average pilot".
Both men said no, and AOPA's Boyer tossed in the item that there
are 50,000 aircraft sales per year.
He was swinging for the fences to get GA's message out.
Little factoids like:
- For every airline flight, there are five GA flights
- 150 million people a year fly in private aircraft
- There are 214,000 aircraft in the "private" fleet
- 90% of all GA in the world is in the United States
Congressman Oberstar says that he's convinced that airline
executives think that airports are for their airlines alone! Even
though airports are built with public funds, they want GA out of
commercial airports, and he says that would, in the long run, ruin
all of aviation.
At the end of it all, ANN wanted to know how these folks came to
Kitty Hawk:
- Boyer/AOPA: With 7 people in AOPA Citation
- Brown/FAA: With 12 hours notice, he drove from D.C.
- Klapmeier/Cirrus: SR-22 (flew back to Chicago for Monday
night)
- Rep. Oberstar: SR-22
- Rayburn/Eclipse: Commander 690
- Warner/EAA: Flew commercial, through Norfolk
NTSB Final Report: Evektor-Aerotechnik A S Harmony LSA
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