By Jay Carpenter
Texas Aviation Association
General aviation leaders from across Texas and the nation met in Austin, Texas, to address the challenges facing GA today. The one-day event was held on November 7 at the Hyatt Regency on Lady Bird Lake.
The Texas Aviation Association hosts the annual event, which is co-sponsored by the Aviation Division of the Texas Department of Transportation, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the National Business Aviation Association, the Aviation and Space Foundation of Texas, Slack and Davis aviation law and the Valero Energy aviation team.
The summit began at 8:30 a.m. with registration, where coffee and croissants were served.
TXAA management committee chairman Jay Carpenter opened the day’s program by welcoming the audience to Austin. He then introduced the summit’s moderator, Paul Smith. Paul is the former regional representative of NBM and lives in Georgetown, Texas. He is the president of Paul Smith Aviation located at the Georgetown Municipal Airport and serves on the board of directors of TXAA.
Smith introduced the first speaker, David Fulton, director of the Aviation Division at TxDOT. Fulton gave his top seven issues facing GA (loosely based on David Letterman’s Top Ten routine). His lists of issues started with point number one: educating the non-flying public and elected officials on the value and benefits of GA. He also spoke about the importance of a statewide network for GA support, which includes a well-funded state aviation agency and a statewide aviation association such as TXAA. Fulton emphasized the importance of developing aviation education programs that will attract youth to aviation careers.
Next, Smith introduced the regional representative from NBM, Steve Hadley, who resides in Waco. Hadley spoke of the need to educate pilots and GA enthusiasts about the importance of keeping governmental bodies such as the Transportation Security Agency and Homeland Security aware of the needs and benefits of GA He gave a progress report about the relaxing of proposed TSA rules that were detrimental to larger and heavier business aircraft.
Hadley’s presentation was followed by Mike Nicely. Nicely works in the Airport Development office of the Federal Aviation Administration in Fort Worth. He spoke of the National Plan of Integrated Airports Systems, the Airport Improvement Program (AIP), the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and GA System Planning. In 2005, Texas received AIP funding totaling $243 million, $55 million funneled through TxDOT. By 2009, that total is expected to be $290 million, $60.4 million of which is distributed through TxDOT.
After a short break, the program continued with Tim Schroeder, ATO-E, Central Service Area, Surveillance and Broadcast Services, FM in Washington, D.C. The FM plans to implement a new system of aircraft surveillance and separation using Automatic Dependent SurveillanceBroadcast (ADS-B). ADS-B is a crucial component of the nation’s Next-Generation Air Transportation System, and its implementation over the next 20 years will turn the NextGen vision into a reality. With ADS-B, both pilots and controllers will see radar-like displays with highly accurate traffic data from satellites – displays that update in real time and don’t degrade with distance or terrain. The system will also give pilots access to weather services, terrain maps and flight information services. The new system will require equipment upgrades in all aircraft flying in class A, Band C airspaces. Schroeder emphasized that with competitive companies making the products, prices should decrease over time.
The morning session concluded with the keynote speaker, Mr. Steve Brown. Brown is the Senior Vice President of Operations, National Business Aviation Association and resides in Washington, D.C. He incorporated into his speech the four initiatives created by audience participation from last year’s Texas GA Summit, called GAP-T: Government regulations, Airport development, Public relations and Training/education. Brown spoke on how TXAA has cooperated with NBM and AOPA concerning TSA issues and FM reauthorization. Brown claims that through cooperation between various aviation associations, GA’s future looks bright.
The audience was treated to a steak lunch provided by the banquet department of the Hyatt Regency.
During the conclusion of lunch, Carpenter then introduced Carol Foy. Foy, along with her associate CarolAnn Garratt broke a world speed record by flying around the earth westbound in just over seven days. Foy intrigued the audience with tales of her adventure flying a Mooney single engine aircraft around the world. She and her partner were on a mission to raise funds and awareness for the ALS Foundation. ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, afflicts thousands worldwide. Their goal is to raise $1 million. So far, they have raised over $236,000. On behalf of TXAA, Carpenter presented Foy with a donation to the ALS fund. FMI visit: http://www.alsworldflight.com/.
Next on the agenda was speaker Henry Ogrodzinski. Henry O, as he is called, represents NASAO, the National Association of State Aviation Officials. He gave an overview of the history and the future of GA in our country. He gave many great recommendations of how to educate the non-flying public and government officials as to the benefits and economic values of GA.
Following Henry O was TXAA board of directors’ member Gene Robinson. Robinson is the leader of the GAP-T initiatives created last year. He gave a summary of the four initiatives, their present state and what should and could be done with them in the future. All agreed that these four initiatives are vital for the development and maintenance of GA in Texas and the nation.
The summit concluded with a panel Q&A session. The audience was given questionnaire cards to submit to the panelists, which included David Fulton from TxDOT, John Happ from the Texas Airports Council, Mike Nicely of the FM, Steve Hadley of NBM and Dr. Steve Swartz from the University of North Texas. The questions ranged from legislative actions, governmental processes, educational opportunities and future actions from state and federal aviation agencies. A lively interaction took place between the panelists and the audience about the hot issues facing GA today.
Carpenter concluded the summit by thanking everyone for attending and then he awarded door prizes that ranged from flight jackets to books and other literature.
