AOPA Action: Applications open for aviation workforce grants
AOPA championed effort to inspire, recruit aviation professionals
As part of a resolution in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, the grant programs were introduced to ease the projected shortages of aircraft pilots and aviation maintenance technical workers within the industry. Each program was awarded full funding of $5 million in fiscal year 2020.
The Aircraft Pilots workforce development grant is intended to provide students with aviation education, preparing them for careers as aircraft pilots, aerospace engineers, or unmanned aircraft system operators. Air carriers, flight schools, higher education institutions or high schools, state or local government entities, and organizations such as AOPA, which represent aircraft owners, users, or pilots, may apply.
The development of an aviation-based science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum for high school students has been one of AOPA’s top priorities. The AOPA High School Initiative, a component of the You Can Fly program, was created to support and grow the pilot population. In the current school year approximately 8,000 students in more than 200 schools are using the AOPA High School Aviation STEM Curriculum. Of those students, 20 percent are female and 51 percent are people of color. AOPA provides the curriculum to schools at no cost, and also conducts in-person and online training for teachers and administrators using the curriculum.
“STEM-based aviation education programs are very important to introducing students to aviation and all that it offers. This grant program will help ensure aviation STEM curriculum is made accessible to our youth across the country,” said AOPA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Jim Coon. “Thanks to broad bipartisan support from members of Congress, the industry, teachers, and schools, we can now continue to invest in programs crucial to enabling the next generation of aviators.”
In addition to the Aircraft Pilots workforce development grant, the FAA will also be establishing a grant program aimed at aviation maintenance technical workers. Grant awards range from $25,000 to $500,000 for any single grant per fiscal year.
Community group backs effort to save East Hampton Airport
A community group representing businesses and residents is highlighting the economic importance of a Long Island, New York, airport that faces an uncertain future.
Federal grant guarantees that have protected the East Hampton Airport against closure are set to expire on September 20. The airport generates millions of dollars for the local economy and is responsible for creating hundreds of jobs, “all of which could be lost if the airport were closed,” says the recently formed East Hampton Community Alliance on a page of its website dedicated to educating the public about the airport.
The group released an economic impact study in December that said the airport produces $78 million and more than 870 jobs. The report noted that in 2019, 46,000 visitors came to the region via the airport, each spending about $1,700 during stays averaging three days.
Sean Collins, AOPA’s eastern regional manager, said the study reflected strong community interest in asserting the airport’s importance as a local economic asset.
“The support of the local nonaviation community demonstrates the value of the community of educating the local population about the importance of the airport,” he said. “They are raising public awareness of the growing threat to the airport, and the value that would be sacrificed.”
AOPA has long been involved in supporting East Hampton Airport’s defenders as they opposed attempts to constrain the airport. Over the years, that struggle has gone as far as litigating local officials’ efforts to impose onerous operating restrictions, curfews on flights, and other aviation-activity limits.
NTSB faults FAA’s monitoring of flight instructors
The FAA must do a better job monitoring the effectiveness of flight instructors and should have a system that automatically notifies safety inspectors if an instructor’s students fail practical tests at an above-average rate, the NTSB said while investigating a fatal crash of a Beechcraft King Air 65–A90 in Mokuleia, Hawaii, in 2019. The twin turboprop crashed after takeoff on a parachute jump flight, killing the pilot and all 10 passengers. The NTSB said the pilot “had failed three initial flight tests in his attempts to obtain his private pilot certificate, instrument rating, and commercial pilot certificate after receiving instruction from a single instructor. The pilot subsequently passed each flight test.” In the two-year period that ended in April 2020, the pass rate of the flight instructor’s other students was 59 percent. AOPA has been active in advocating for the FAA to improve examiner availability to conduct pilot testing and take steps to remedy the inadequate oversight of some individual examiners that has caused some pilots to receive requests to undergo reexamination.
AOPA Action: View from Capitol Hill
Relationships are key
Working together to keep general aviation growing, thriving
By Jim Coon
The political divisiveness that has swept over our nation has been a constant reminder that we need to listen to each other more, and we need to once again embrace and develop relationships—even with those with whom we disagree. As a former congressional staffer for more than two decades, I experienced some very interesting situations. You might not be surprised by many of them, but you would be intrigued and often amused with some of the stories behind the legislative processes that go on under the famous rotunda of the Capitol building.
Opportunities to meet some of the most iconic people of our time—presidents, athletes, business leaders, movie stars—were the perks to all of us who were working long hours and many weekends. But what I really loved about working on Capitol Hill was meeting hardworking citizens from around the country and having a hand in several highly visible legislative initiatives that provided real-world solutions.
At the beginning of my career, I was working for a member of Congress who was fiscally conservative, polite, and a gentleman by all accounts. He had offered an amendment that would have prohibited a military base listed for closure under the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC) from being handed over to the Department of the Interior to be operated as a national park. He argued the purpose of the BRAC was to save taxpayer funds and consolidate resources within the military branches, and that the National Park Service was already having a hard time keeping up with maintaining our existing parks. He made a compelling argument and the other side argued its points, and eventually the vote was called.
Votes on the House floor are typically scheduled for 15 minutes. In the case of this amendment, the vote strung out for what seemed an eternity, probably 45 to 50 minutes. As I sat there watching the voting board tallying up support for the amendment, I was thrilled that we might prevail. But I couldn’t understand what was taking so long until I noticed a legislator strategically walking the chamber floor and having conversations with key members. After nearly every one of her conversations, I saw votes change on the board from green to red. I watched handshakes, smiles, and pleasant conversations turn into the slow defeat of the amendment. This member even came up to me as my boss stepped off the floor for a few minutes and said, “You must know that this is very important to me and if I can ever help you or your boss, please let me know—welcome to Washington!”
It was an eye-opener; the facts were on my side, but it was a fundamental lesson in knowing that while facts are important, it’s relationships that matter. For the next 25 years on Capitol Hill that early career occasion was a constant reminder of the fundamental need to build and nurture relationships if you want to get things done.
Regardless of someone’s politics, where they come from, or what they look like, treating someone with respect is—well, simply the right thing to do, whether you agree or disagree on an issue. This principle rang true again during our effort to reform the third class medical process with an alternative now known as BasicMed—a reform many spent decades trying to accomplish. A longstanding and cordial relationship with the office of the top Senate leader at the time helped guide another key senator to clearly see the benefits of such reform, which ultimately cleared the way to its final fruition.
Tens of thousands of bills are introduced in each Congress and only about 3 percent of bills are ever signed into law. The legislative process is ever changing and winding—daunting at times and filled with highs and lows. It takes relationships, professional persistence, a lot of shoe leather, and some luck to get things done in Washington. And when the fight a few years ago to keep top congressional leaders and other aviation organizations from essentially giving our ATC system to the airlines resurfaced, the importance of relationships was once again validated. Being prepared, knowing your strengths and weaknesses, never abandoning your principles, and listening are all important, but relationships are vital to successful advocacy.
The AOPA advocacy team has scored wins not only for today’s pilots but for those to come. It’s important that we not only protect the GA of today, but make sure the infrastructure and resources are available to keep future generations flying. We spend a significant amount of time educating policy and decision makers on the enormous benefits and attributes of general aviation. We do this on the local, state, national, and international levels.
AOPA has now been recognized as a top advocacy organization for seven years in a row, which coincides with Mark Baker’s appointment as our president and his fundamental understanding that relationships are key. As we all have seen over the years, elections have consequences and with many new faces in Congress and the president’s administration, building and strengthening relationships will continue to be key to moving general aviation forward.
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