It Was Business Aviation Day At Oshkosh... But Its Business Aviation WEEK At Aero-TV (Part 4)!  

On Oshkosh Friday, AeroShell Square was ringed with some of the best-known business aircraft flying, as EAA President Tom Poberezny, GAMA President Pete Bunce, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, and a parade of professionals brought the message of business aviation to the worlds largest sport aviation show.

That message is jobs, and that business aviation has been unfairly pilloried by Congress and the Obama Administration. The issue was pushed into the spotlight when automakers flew into Washington on corporate jets for Congressional hearings, and has been taking hits ever since. GAMA assembled a lineup of corporate leaders to bring a positive business aviations message to the Oshkosh crowd, and the industry media.

After some industry luminaries spoke supportively of an industry that was condemned by our erstwhile elected leaders, the crowd heard from business people who depend on BizAv to keep their companies going, keep their staff employed and put them where they need to be when and where business has to be done.

Possibly the most outspoken and persuasive of those who joined the presentation, was ProJet Aviation's CEO, Shye Gilad. Gilad noted that, "The American government has spent a lot of time and money trying to stimulate the economy and create jobs. In fact, as American taxpayers we have spent more than a trillion dollars to try to save our economy, with a goal of creating 3.5 million jobs over the next two years.

So you have to wonder – what was Representative Ackerman, NY, thinking when he chastised auto executives for flying the company’s private jet to Washington? Why did Brad Sherman, a Representative from California, a state that will need to borrow 8-10 billion dollars to get through this year alone, feel compelled to join him? The truly delicious irony here is that these two congressmen thought nothing of demonizing an industry that generates over 1.2 million high-paying American jobs, when in fact their irresponsible actions led to immediate job losses at the very companies they were supposedly trying to save.

An employer, taxpayer, and aviator, I find the lack of leadership displayed by these two representatives as appalling as it is astonishing. Their self-indulgent whimsy kicked-off a shameless, misguided attack on an industry that contributes over 150 billion dollars to the US economy each year. That is why I came here today from DC to Oshkosh in this Piaggio Avanti II, to set the record straight."

Throughout this week, we've been hearing from Tom Poberezny, Pete Bunce, Randy Babbitt, Jack Roush, Shye Gilad, Marion Blakey and others... all in defense of a much maligned industry that is and continues to be a critical part of this nation's transportation infrastructure. 

FMI: www.gama.aero, www.nbaa.org, www.aero-tv.net, www.youtube.com/aerotvnetwork, http://twitter.com/AeroNews