News and Movie Tips from the 2012 AOPA Summit By Charlotte Vincent

                   

Yours truly took a break from blogging about celebrating Alex Hasapis’ 80th birthday so I could join him in attending the 2012 Summit hosted by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).  This year’s summit was held in Palm Springs, California from October 11-13. Yea, we know, it’s tough duty representing 2B2 at these summits year after year, but someone has to do it! 

A Parade Unlike Any Other - Palm Springs is the only venue where AOPA kicks off the summit with a “Parade of Planes”.  The parade starts at Palm Springs International Airport.  However, these planes never take to the skies.  Instead, they take to the wide streets of Palm Springs which have been cleared and cordoned off as taxi strips!  The planes taxi along the streets and make their way to the Palm Springs Convention Center grounds.  They take their place on the line where they remain on exhibition throughout the 3 day conference.  The Summit closes with a “Parade of Planes” back to the airport through the streets of Palm Springs.  Once at the airport, they take off for home or parts unknown.  

                                                                                                                                

This year’s “Parade of Planes” featured 50+ General Aviation (GA) aircraft. There were vintage planes from World War II days like the F4U Corsair to the latest RV14 Light Sports Aircraft (LSA).  There were jets, like the 6 person Phenom which we boarded for an inside tour.  There were WACO bi-planes which, thanks to Al and Audrey Speckman, 2B2 visitors were lucky enough to see up close and personal during their years of flying their WACO in and out of our little Plum Island Airport. There were beautiful paint jobs and phenomenal artwork displayed on these planes.  We went back a few times to admire the beautiful artwork on an RV8 owned by John Stahr of Stahr Design and Artistic Aviation.  His RV8 featured beautiful angels and family airmen during their years of service to our country. Check out our Photo Gallery for more of what caught our eye on the line.

Inside the convention hall, there were a few recurring themes that caught our attention in the keynote speeches, panel discussions and meetings of the Airport Support Network (ASN) and United Flying Octogenarians (UFOs).  We wanted to share these with you.

Safety in the Skies - Unfortunately, GA fatalities are on the increase.  Therefore, AOPA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have a renewed priority and focus on GA safety and training.  They emphasized that the best way a pilot can ensure safety on the ground and in the skies is by “going back to basics”, including following checklist protocol, displaying reminder cards for signs and markings, and jotting down communication exchanges with the tower on post-it pads!       

User Fees and Fuel Taxes - AOPA continues to oppose and lobby against User Fees on two grounds.  First, User Fees put an unfair cost burden on the GA aircraft owners and pilots.  This harms the GA industry which in turn negatively impacts the economy.  Second, a costly bureaucracy is needed to implement User Fees.  Once in place, neither the bureaucracy nor the user fees will ever go away. On the contrary, they would be the springboard for increasing the fees which are charged, as well as for expanding the list of items which are subject to a User Fee charge.  

AOPA believes the aviation fuel tax is the best way to raise revenues.  The fuel tax is more equitable and fair as it is tied to the size of the aircraft and the frequency it is flown.  The fuel tax approach keeps the pilot in control of the personal out of pocket costs for flying.  The local economy stands to gain each time a GA pilot takes to the skies.  Since the fuel tax already exists, this revenue generator avoids the cost of setting up yet another bureaucracy.   All that’s needed is for Congress to agree on a tax rate increase and the FAA has a way to generate additional revenues to cover its rising costs!  

Election Impact on GA - AOPA lobbies on behalf of GA within the Oval Office, the President’s Cabinet, the Halls of Congress, and the offices of the FAA, Homeland Security, and other relevant departments and agencies.  The political environment within which AOPA works is defined by election cycles.  To work effectively within a changing political landscape, AOPA must remain bi-partisan and does not, therefore, endorse candidates or political parties.  However, AOPA’s President and CEO, Craig Fuller, did share AOPA’s perspectives on the potential impact of the presidential election results on General Aviation. 

Regardless of who wins, the next president is facing severe pressure to cut spending and reduce the deficit.  If President Obama is re-elected, Fuller expects the administration will continue to “toy with User Fees as a way of dealing with FAA costs.”  His speculation is less clear if Mitt Romney is elected.  “Mitt Romney is not ruling user fees in or out. However, I would expect that a new administration would take a fresh look at all these things.”    

Craig Fuller sees “rough waters ahead, no matter who gets in.  How we fund the FAA and aviation will be a challenge for the next U.S. President.  AOPA will continue to fight against anything that puts an unfair and unreasonable cost burden on GA and anything which restricts our freedom to fly.”  

Sequestration Impact on the FAA and GA -  Congress and its “Super Committee” have failed to agree on deficit reduction measures. Unless new action is taken by year’s end, the drastic and arbitrary deficit reduction measures outlined in the Budget Control Act of 2011 will go into effect beginning in January, 2013.  We are heading towards what has come to be known as the “fiscal cliff”.  

Michael Huerta, head of the FAA, explained how sequestration will impact the FAA and what the FAA is doing to deal with the looming fiscal crisis.  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has indicated that the FAA will be hit with an “8% cut in Operations, Facilities and Equipment.”   This percentage equates to one billion dollars.  According to Administrator Huerta “These cuts will be devastating.  They will impact our infrastructure both what we maintain today, and our move towards NextGen, the modernization of our nation’s Air Traffic Control System.  Jobs and people will also be impacted including controllers and aircraft inspectors.”  Huerta assures the audience that  “safety will be our #1 priority “ as the FAA deals with these cuts. 

The FAA seems to be fairing better in the near term than other government agencies on the chopping block. Huerta explains why this is the case.  “The 5,000 public use airports supporting General Aviation impact the local economy.  As a result, airport grants will be exempt from sequestration.”   

With the help of some strong GA supporters within the House and Senate, Congress passed a “continuing resolution” for the FAA which keeps it funded through March, 2013. This resolution gives it a temporary reprieve from sequestration cuts.  It buys the FAA more time to propose and negotiate a more reasonable and thoughtful strategy for driving costs down and generating revenue.  Huerta expresses confidence in this approach.  “I’m optimistic that after the election, we’ll get there.”  In the meantime, the “continuing resolution” gives the FAA a lifeline to keep it from falling off the fiscal cliff ... at least not before April, 2013!     

Looming Pilot Shortage - There’s growing concern about a looming shortage of professional pilots in commercial aviation, as well as a generational turnover in the workforce of the aviation industry. It is estimated that commercial aviation needs to add upwards of 30,000+ pilots to its workforce.  We can expect AOPA to be a prime driver of programs to promote the aviation industry as an exciting and rewarding place to work.      

GA Services  -  The need to promote General Aviation was the common thread in discussing strategies and options for addressing the key topics of the 2012 Summit. AOPA’s President Craig Fuller re-iterated AOPA’s commitment to “keep on telling the story of GA Services.”  GA boosts the economy of communities hosting a GA airport. Our GA airports also bring public value in providing staging areas for fire protection, disaster relief and medical evacuations.  “Angel Flights” provide life saving medical services to private citizens. GA sponsored “Flights of Honor” salute our veterans for their service to our country.      

Harrison Ford - Powerful GA Advocate - Actor Harrison Ford, one of GA’s most powerful advocates, joined the discussion as a guest panelist at AOPA’s 2012 Summit.  He acknowledged progress and cautioned that there is still much yet to be done.  “I applaud the work done.  We need to work really hard to maintain the ground we’ve gained and to gain new ground.”  He also echoed the need to “spread the GA story and the benefits accrued from GA.”  

He cited yet another way in which GA has provided value.  “Much of the technology that finds its way into the general public use is developed on the back of aviation.  GPS is the most notable example of this. The benefits accrue to everyone down the line.”  He emphasized that “A lot of these benefits go unnoticed.  We need to spread the word about the benefits accrued from GA not only inside the GA community, but more importantly outside the GA community.”     

Harrison Ford Movie Previews - Harrison Ford acknowledged his work as an actor provides him a great vehicle for telling the GA story.  “I’ve been interested in aviation movies.  There’s an opportunity looming out there to tell the story of Claire Chennault and the “Flying Tigers”.  But before we see him take to the skies in the world of movies, we’ll see him take to the baseball field.  “My current movie project is the retelling of the Jackie Robinson Story.  I seem to have aged my way out of the leading man roles.  Now I have character parts offered to me which are new for me to play.  In the retelling of the Jackie Robinson story, I play Branch Rickey who brought Jackie Robinson into the world of white baseball.”  So there you have it, two movies tips from the 2012 AOPA Summit - coming soon to a theater near you!