8 In Flight USA Celebrating 3 4 Years December 2 017By Ma rk Bake r
AOP A President & CEO
A
s you c an i ma gine , I sp end a l ot
of t im e a t a ir por ts , bo th as a p ilo t
and a pa ssen ger , and yo u can
pro ba bl y g uess which I p refer. On a
recent tri p, w hil e ma kin g my way
through Ronal d Re agan Washington
Nat ion al Ai rp ort , I walk ed pas t the hi s-
to ri c te rmina l whe re, l at er thi s ye ar ,
AOP A w il l hono r on e av iato r with an
awa rd in t he name of th e l at e, great, B ob
Hoo ve r. A rg uably the most in fluen tial
avia to r of al l ti me, Hoov er st arted as a
GA pi lot and under stood wh at it mean t t o
figh t for t he fr eedom to fly.
As pi lo ts , we al l get to expe rie nce
somethi ng su rre al when we ta ke to the air,
but m any f orget wh ere it all beg an. Nea rly
all pil ot s st ar ted o ut fly in g s mall s in gle
engi ne p ist on s, and , lik e Hoo ver, hav e
tak en their passi on to th e ne xt lev el. A crit -
ica l f ou nd at io n of our a viatio n system is
that eve ry on e ha s equ al acces s to th e s ky,
from a Cess na 15 0 to a Boeing 7 77.
Unfortun at ely , th e cu rren t s tat e of av iation
pol itic s rea ds as an all- ou t b att le o ver th e
sk ies, wi th the airli nes in pursu it of co ntro l,
und er th e gu ise of “p riv atization. ”
If ha ndin g ov er our ATC sys tem to
th e a ir li ne s an d spe cial i nter est s we re to
beco me la w, the re is n o doub t th at fund-
in g w ould b e d ir ect ed to t he ma jor hu bs,
leavi ng t he life bl ood o f avia ti on, th e
sma lle r G A ai rpor ts, wi th the c rumb s.
Wit h m illion s o f d ollars bein g s pent
on cam pa ig ns to con vince co ns umer s th atour ai rsp ace sy stem is an tiq uat ed , th e ai r-
lin es fal sel y bl am e A TC for del aye d fl ights
and the F AA fo r sl ow progres s on modern -
izat ion. In real ity, 5 0 p ercen t o f d ela ys i n
our sy stem a re cau sed by th e ai rli nes an d
ano ther 30 percen t ar e caus ed b y weat her- no ne of wh ich the p ro po sal in C ongress
tod ay wo uld add ress. Mo reo ver, the ai r-
lin es h av e n ot eq uipped at leas t 75 per cent
of t heir fl eet s wi th mo dern t ech no log y
such as Au tomat ic Dep en den t S urvei llan ce
-Bro ad cast ( AD S-B ) an d D ata Com mun -
icat ions (Da taCo mm ), to make f ly in g
more eff ici ent –an d th en the y point fi nger s
at ev ery on e ex cep t t hem selve s.
Mo derniz atio n eff ort s ha ve a lr ea dy
led to s ignif ica nt impr ovem ents w ithi n
our air tr aff ic syste m. The on going te ch -
nology up gra des, kn own as Next Ge n, ar e
alr ea dy h elp ing t o i nc rease e fficie ncy.
NextG en capa bi li ti es are responsibl e for
saving major air carriers that have
equi ppe d th eir fleets wit h t he n ec essa ry
te chnol ogy mil lions of dolla rs i n fuel
cost s. As a m ember of the Next Gen
Advi sor y Com mi ttee (NAC), I ha ve s een
this fi rst han d.
As a GA pil ot , I never t ake t he fre e-
dom to fly fo r gr anted and u rg e you to do
the same. I be lie ve if we remain steadfast
in t his fi ght fo r mo der nizatio n and not so -
ca lle d pr iva tiz at ion, w e’ll continue down
an alr eady su cces sf ul p ath t o ne w hei ghts
and ne w e xpe rienc es. And if we’re l ucky,
Bob Hoov er wi ll be loo ki ng over us,
prou d t hat w e di dn ’t give up the fight to
prot ect a ll t ha t g enera l a viatio n has to
off er.BLAM EIT ALL ON MY ROOTS
‘Pr ivatiz at ion’ wil l Sh ut Ou t th e L itt le Gu y
By Aly ssa J. Cob b
AO PAA
OPA ’s 2018 Fly -I n locatio ns are
ga tew ays to ex plore th e mo un -
ta in Nor thw est, high dese rt
mo unt ai ns, a cutti ng- edg e cen ter fo r th e
au tomo bi le and av ia ti on in dus tries in t he
Mid we st, and a relaxed beach town alo ng
the Gu lf Co ast – all great family v acati on
dest inat ions, al l str ategically locate d
wit hin a n easy fli ght o f t en s o f tho usan ds
of AOPA mem ber s.
The p opul ar t wo-da y ev en ts will k ick
of f J une 1 5 a nd 16 i n M isso ula, Mo ntan a,
then he ad t o Sa nt a Fe, New M exico , Se pt.
14 and 15 ; Ca rb onda le, Illin ois, Oct. 5 and
6; an d Gu lf Sh ores , A la bam a, Oc t. 2 6 a nd
27 , AOPA P re siden t Mark B ak er
an no un ce d rec en tl y.
“We r ea lly wa nt t o t ak e ou r re gio nal
fl y-i ns wh ere o ur m emb ers lov e to fly ,”
sai d B ak er. “ AOP A h as n ev er h oste d a
maj or av iati on ev ent a t a ny of th ese lo ca -
tions , but t he y o ff er ex ce ption al flyin g
ad ventu res fo r pi lot s an d their fa milie s,
an d t hat ’s w ha t t hese fly-ins are a ll a bou t.”Missoula I nt ernational Airport,
Mi ssoula , Montana: Located in theRoc ky Mo unt ains of wes ter n M onta na,
Mis soula bo as ts breath tak ing sc ene ry ,
unl imit ed out do or act iv itie s, a r ich ar ts
and c ultu re sc ene, brewer ies a nd wine r-
ie s, sh oppi ng , a nd m ore. I n oth er wor ds,
th is c ity o f l ess tha n 7 0,000 pe ople ha s
som et hin g to o ff er for pi lots and the ir
frie nd s a nd fa mili es. Outsid e Maga zine
prev io us ly li st ed M is so ula in i ts Best
To wns s ec tion a s th e nex t big thin g.
Mis so ul a is a n ide al flig ht fo r pil ots in
Wash ing to n, Ore gon, Id aho, Mont ana ,
Wyo mi ng, No rth and Sout h D akot a, and
Nebr aska. And it’ s con ven ient ly loc ate d
for dayt ri p f li ght s t o Ye ll owst one
Natio na l P ar k, G lac ier Natio nal Pa rk, the
Bitte rroot Va ll ey, and the B la ckfoot
Valle y. T his i s o ne f ly-in l oca tion whe re
you sh ou ld cons id er ta king the ent ire
family a nd pl anni ng a summer va cat ion
ju st b efo re or a fte r th e event!San ta Fe Mu nic ipal Air por t, Sa nta
Fe , N ew Mex ico: A long the so uth ern
stre tch of th e Ro cky Mou nt ains, Sa nta Fe
offe rs ma jes tic v iew s of t he de se rt moun -
tains , par tic ular ly a t suns et. A t an el eva -
tion of 6,348 feet , the airpo rt’s 8,300- an d
6,300- foo t-lo ng ru nwa ys w il l give pil ots
an op portunity to s afe ly e xpe ri enc e hig h-
densi ty-a ltit ude o per atio ns. I t’s ce ntr ally
loca te d for pi lot s to fly in fromCalifornia, Nevada, Utah, Colorado,
Arizona, New Mexico, Texas,
Okla homa , an d Ka nsa s. T he airport is
ho me to J et Warbir d T ra ining Ce nter,
whe re p il ot s c an take lesso ns in an Aero
L-29 Delfin, Aero L-39 Albatros,
Mik oyan-Gu rev ich MiG-15 , Lo ck heed
T-3 3 T-Bir d Sho ot in g S tar, an d Foug a
Magister, with company founder and
pi lot La rr y Sal ganek. S ant a Fe is rich in
arts, culture, shopping, and dining.
Nationa l G eo gr aphic awarded the town
No. 1 S ense of Pl ace i n it s Wor ld L egacy
Aw ards ; AARP dub be d S anta Fe on e of
th e top 10 ci tie s for art lov ers; and Co nde
Nast Trav ele rga ve it Reade r’s Cho ice for
Bes t S hop ping Cities in the World.Southe rn Il lin oi s Airport, Carbon -
da le , Il linoi s: T he C arbonda le air por t i s
no str ang er to l ar ge a via tion e vents a fter
pu lling of f a w eekend p acked w ith pi lot s
cla mor ing to vie w the tota l s ol ar ecli ps e
at its lo nge st poi nt o f d uration A ug. 2 1.
Home to So ut he rn Il lin oi s Uni ver sity’s
Tra nsp ort ati on Edu cation Cen ter, the air-
po rt show ca se s t he la test technol og y for
the au tom ot ive indus try an d include sAO PA’S 201 8 FLY -I NS : G ATEW AYS FOREXPLORA TION
Ne w L oca tio ns Boa st Un ique C ul tur es, Act ivities
AO PA 's 20 18 Fly-In loca tions inclu de Mi ssoul a, Mon tana; Santa Fe, N ew Me xico;
Ca rbonda le, Illino is; an d Gul f Shore s, A labam a. (Image cour tes y A OP A)Bea verhe ad Rock i s one o f man y la nd -
ma rks along the L ewis and Clark
Nati on al H istori c Trai l. (P hot o courtes y
of the Nati ona l Park Service a nd AOPA )
Santa Fe, New Me xic o, is hom e of the Jet
Warbi rd Tr ainin g Ce nte r. The ar ea of fer s
beau tiful mou ntain vie ws.
(Phot o C ou rte sy AO PA)Sun gaze rs gath er a t So ut hern I llinois
Airpo rt in Car bo ndal e to view the total
solar eclipse Aug. 21, 20 17.
(AO PA Phot o)Cont inued on Pag e 10