May marked AOPA's seventieth anniversary--quite an accomplishment when you consider that aviation itself has only been around for about 100 years. As AOPA members and pilots, we are all an important part of achieving that milestone--and even more important, in determining what the next 70 years will bring.
If you're relatively new to general aviation--a student pilot or newly certificated pilot--you are just beginning to explore the many opportunities that GA offers. But chances are that you have dreams about GA's future and your own. Perhaps you are considering a career in aviation, or maybe you started flying because you realized that GA could support your existing business. General aviation is full of possibilities.
Through the years, AOPA has made it our mission to nurture those possibilities by protecting and promoting general aviation. In pursuing that mission we have seen many of the same challenges surface again and again--things such as unreasonable regulations and fees, restrictions on general aviation access to airports and airspace, and misunderstandings about who we are and what we do. Rarely have we seen all of these pressures, and more, converge on general aviation simultaneously. But that's exactly where we find ourselves today.
Taken together, the challenges are formidable. President Obama's budget proposal includes aviation user fees that could total $7.5 billion a year beginning in 2010. Proposals for massive aviation tax increases are on the table. Security officials have recommended regulations so expensive and impractical that they could cripple general aviation and close community airports, without providing significant security benefits. The pressures of urban sprawl are crushing many small airports. And recent negative publicity has fed the mistaken notion that general aviation is really just about "toys for the rich."
Underlying all of these challenges to GA is a fundamental misunderstanding of what general aviation really is. GA is an economic engine that creates jobs and contributes to the economy. It's an efficient way of moving goods and people. It supports businesses large and small, brings needed services to isolated communities, supports agriculture and wildlife management, serves law enforcement and disaster relief, informs the public through airborne reporting, and much, much more. The problem is that the people who need to know all this--policy makers, opinion leaders, and the general public--don't.
We need to fix that, and we need to do it now. That's why AOPA has created the General Aviation Serves America campaign--one of the largest and most important efforts in our 70-year history--to tell our story and preserve our future.
In many ways, the name says it all. General aviation serves all Americans, every day--whether they fly or not.
To get our message to the people who can make a difference for our future, we have launched an aggressive media campaign in Washington, D.C., and key states. And we have enlisted passionate pilots to help--starting with actor and AOPA member Harrison Ford, who has volunteered his time and talents to assist us in getting our message heard.
In addition to Ford, we are using other real-life pilots, telling the true stories of how they use general aviation to serve America in a series of television, radio, print, and online advertisements. We are also meeting with lawmakers and talking to the media in interviews to tell our shared story.
You can see some of these messages, and share your own story at our Web site. While you're there, take a look at some of the facts and figures about general aviation and all it does to support our nation. And please consider making a donation.
AOPA already has invested $1.5 million in this campaign, and that has allowed us to make a strong start. But the truth is that misunderstandings about GA have been around a long time, and it's going to take time to change them. So we anticipate that this effort will last several years, and cost several million dollars--no small challenge in itself.
We are relying on members and pilots like you to support this effort. There's never been a better time to demonstrate your commitment to general aviation, to celebrate our past and ensure our future. Together we can overcome the challenges that face us today and create a promising tomorrow full of possibilities.
Related Articles
