...And Here, Darn it, Are The Heartbreakers

Final Compilations/Analysis by ANN Editor-In-Chief/Corporate Insomniac, Jim Campbell

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 aerospace community has managed to accomplish.
 
Alas, 2009 saw more than its fair share of downers, aviation-wise. Sure, "stuff" happens... but a few folks, issues, or entities seemed to go out of their way to create problems for the world of aviation.

So... it is ANN's annual obligation to recognize Ten of our Aero-Heartbreakers for 2009... in something of an informal order, starting from the 10th 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 hope those who had something to do with this year's selections think a little more positively about the welfare of this industry, so that future lists become harder and harder to catalog.

Be it ignorance, arrogance or just plain incompetence, these were the folks or topics that made our lot a whole lot more difficult and immeasurably injured the aviation world in the past year.

Shame on those issues, folks, or groups that made our lot so much tougher in 2009...

Aero-Heartbreakers #9: Airports In Crisis

The American airport infrastructure is undergoing a number of fits and crises that defy comprehension -- and in a society that has heretofore prided itself on mobility. In particular, we find the degradation of the General Aviation Airport Network to be inexcusable and inexplicable. ANN spent nearly 500 hours flying across America in 2009, in search of the details, stories, and news that drives our business. At dozens of airports nationwide, we met people who not only were beaten and bruised, but seem to have little hope of any sense of an improvement for the near future.

With every dollar of public funding for GA airports now under attack because of the myopic and deliberately targeted stories of USA Today (and others media organizations that jumped into the fray), it is highly likely that what little help GA airports are getting from the FAA and our government is likely to be imperiled for a considerable period of time. And when you look at the depressed business cycle and the elimination of associated great deal of activity and revenue, you'd have to have your head examined to even think of wanting to operate, much less think to profit from, an airport business.

Still, there are amazing people out there... people whose heart and souls are built upon a belief in, and affection for, aviation... people who feel that their life's work revolves around servicing and improving the lot of Our General Aviation infrastructure. We find those people to be absolutely amazing, but we find that their current circumstances to be deplorable, and in many cases, instigated by myopic (if not ignorant) media interest, airline greed, local politics, and (of course) the fact that the economy is just flat out in the tank. We have few concrete answers as to how to effectively create a more profitable future for today's airports, outside of making sure that we flyers are using the services of the best facilities we can find, and sharing that info with all of you.

But we urge each and every one of you in whatever consultations you have with local or national media, our elected officials, or anybody else in a position of importance, to let them know that a great deal of this nation's transportation infrastructure depends upon the health and well-being of small General Aviation airports that do FAR MORE than relieve larger airline facilities, they provide local municipalities with ready access to transportation, business assets, and a number of other highly valued treasures that should be at the top of every city or town's "want" list.

If the current failure rate of small airports continue, this nation is going to find itself in very serious trouble, especially at a time when small direct modes of transportation and a future air taxi network (that can't help but exist and be healthy at some point in the not too distant future) are starting to appear to offer valued answers to critical transportation dilemmas.

With all the problems that this nation faces at this time, a small GA airport has far more solutions than most elected officials suspect, and most municipalities have even considered... we hope that everybody wakes up and gets smart -- and starts supporting and salvaging our GA infrastructure before it disappears to a point from which it can no longer be recovered.

FMI: Comments/Criticism?