It Was Business Aviation Day At Oshkosh... But Its Business Aviation WEEK At Aero-TV (Part 2)!
Last Friday, AeroShell Square was ringed with some of the best-known business aircraft flying, as EAA President Tom Poberezny, GAMA President Pete Bunce, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, and a parade of professionals brought the message of business aviation to the worlds largest sport aviation show.
That message is jobs, and that business aviation has been unfairly pilloried by Congress and the Obama Administration. The issue was pushed into the spotlight when automakers flew into Washington on corporate jets for Congressional hearings, and has been taking hits ever since. GAMA assembled a lineup of corporate leaders to bring a positive business aviations message to the Oshkosh crowd, and the industry media.
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt set the tone for the speakers who followed him to the podium. "I can't understate the value of General Aviation," he said. "The manufacturing is critical to the economy. So many high-tech jobs are associated with aviation."
Babbitt reiterated some of the same points made at the previous day's "Meet the Administrator" session. He talked again about how NextGen navigation will make thousands of airports accessible through precision approaches at airports around the country that could not afford to install ILS equipment. "We are being aggressive in writing the approaches," he said. NextGen technology will be responsible for "savings of 1 billion gallons of fuel annually," he said. "The technology is here. It doesn't need anything but implementation."
Over this week, we'll hear from Tom Poberezny, Pete Bunce, Randy Babbitt, Jack Roush, Marion Blakey and others... all in defense of a much maligned industry that is and continues to be a critical part of this nation's transportation infrastructure.
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