AOPA member selected as new Senate majority leader

Pilot and AOPA member, Sen. William H. Frist (R-Tenn.) was elected in an unusual conference call vote today to be the new Senate majority leader.

"We're thrilled that someone with Sen. Frist's piloting credentials, who understands general aviation, will be at the controls of the U.S. Senate as the new legislative session begins in January," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "We wish him congratulations on his selection as majority leader for the 108th Congress and look forward to working with him during the coming years."

Sen. Frist, a renowned heart surgeon, founded the Vanderbilt Transplant Center in Nashville, Tenn., and is an instrument-rated commercial multiengine pilot.

During the debate on the Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century, popularly known as AIR-21, Frist was instrumental in winning approval of an AOPA proposal to move aeronautical charting from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to the FAA.

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