Page 4 - Volume 15 Number 9

editor’sbriefing
One of the joys of owning a vintage aircraft is the constant string of “financial opportunities” to keep it in top flying shape. Nine months ago, I acquired my family’s jewel, a Cessna 172 that my mother purchased new in 1975. With a little
over 1,200 total hours on the aircraft, you could say this airplane was “driven by a little lady to church and back on Sundays.” Treated gently, flown sparingly.
In the last nine months since it came to live in Wichita, we completely repainted the aircraft’s faded exterior (in vintage colors no less), installed new fiberglass fairings and wingtips, repaired and replaced instruments, reconditioned the prop and recertified the pitot-static system. One thing that bothered me was the age of the un-overhauled engine, even though it is low time. My far-more-smart friends and A&Ps listened and asked, “Are the compressions good? Is it running smooth, both in cruise and idle? No metal in the oil? Are temperatures and fuel consumption what you’d expect?”
When I answered their questions in the affirmative, they’d say, “Then why would you mess with a perfectly well-functioning machine?” Duh, I wouldn’t.
That is exactly the same question I’d like to ask Congress and the policy-makers after the events of last summer. The system for paying general aviation’s way, encouraging job growth and supporting a great industry is a well-functioning machine that doesn’t need fixing. The fuel tax payment system for GA is fair and effective. Leave it alone. The Block Aircraft Registration Request
(BARR) program is a fundamental right to privacy issue. Leave it alone. Aircraft depreciation? Leave it alone. User fees? Duh, no.
But if there is anything we’ve learned, these issues are not going away. In fact, they are all but guaranteed to resurface late this year and next, according the NBAA’s Ed Bolen. But if there is anything we’ve learned this summer, it’s that we can’t sit back and let our alpha-groups do the lobbying for us. In fact, Congress, policy-makers and the mainstream media would expect the trade groups to be vocal opponents of these issues. What about the rest of us? We are the ones who elected them to office after all, and we have every right in a democracy to share our thoughts and opinions with those who represent us. It’s going to take all of us telling Congress again and again where we stand on these issues and why. The perfect place to start is on the NBAA Web site (nbaa.org/advocacy), where you can find lots of great information and ready-to-use tools for crafting your message.
We need to be vocal. We need to be persistent. We need to be heard. Otherwise our well-functioning machine may undergo an unneeded overhaul with potentially ugly results.
Going to NBAA2011 next month? Business aviation’s biggest event of the year will take place Oct. 10-12 with plenty of educational sessions targeted to the owner-pilot. Inside this issue, we’ve highlighted some of the events you might find valuable. See you in Vegas!
Dianne White Editor
If It Ain’t Broke...
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