Page 32 - Volume 15 Number 1

30 • ­TWIN & TURBINE
pilot over-reacts and draws fire.
Brian Shul, retired SR-71 pilot, a.k.a. the “Sled Driver,” delivered inspiring presentations with music video accompaniment, showing some of America’s proudest moments when the Blackbird ruled the darkened skies above 80,000 feet. Often attacked but never wounded, the SR-71 brought back valuable intelligence in the Cold War era and showed what free people could achieve when given the tools.
Several concerns were topics of discussion at the AOPA Aviation Summit. Two of them are the EPA’s threat to ban tetraethyl lead from aviation gasoline, even though it represents a minuscule contribution to pollution levels, and the FAA’s drive to divest itself of maintaining pesky radar and VOR sites by relying entirely on the satellite- based NextGen ATC system, which requires yet-undefined ADS-B equipment to be purchased by airplane owners before mid-2020.
The AOPA, like all aviation groups, has seen a troublesome graying of its membership. There has been a 25-percent drop in pilot numbers since the FAA abandoned its mandate to promote aviation, making student pilot starts and retention a high priority. Historically, two out of three students fail to finish their training; whether this is due to an underestimation of the task or escalating costs is a subject of much discussion. While a much better job of selling and promoting general aviation needs to be done, the fact remains that learning to fly is not for everyone, even though everyone has the right to begin the process. Thus, dropouts are likely to remain a fact of life.
Next year’s AOPA Aviation Summit will be held November 22- 24 in Hartford, Conn., just a day’s drive around New York City from AOPA headquarters in Frederick, Md. Join i•n the festivities while viewing the fall foliage of the N o r t h e a s t . T &T
JANUARY 2011