All Hail The Aero-Heroes of 2007!

It is both the most "fun," and most difficult, task facing the ANN staff at the end of every year -- determining who, or what, did the most to promote the cause of aviation in the past 365 days... while also chastising those people or entities that did all they could to undermine the many successes the aviation/aerospace community has managed to accomplish.

Thankfully, 2007 was a year in which we saw the best and brightest among us step forward and work tirelessly on behalf of us all. No doubt about it... the challenges we faced in 2007 were numerous, and ongoing... so was the quality of expertise and passion brought to our defense by those who heroically demonstrated to the world the very best side of aviation... via their deeds, words and actions.

It is ANN's honor to recognize a solid dozen of our Aero-Heroes for 2007... in something of an informal order, starting from 12th to the 1st. Let us know what you think of our selections... whom YOU would have liked be included or omitted from such a list. In the meantime, we thank the folks who made this year's list. Thank you, folks... we really needed you this year, and you didn't let us down.

From the Hero's List #2: Phil Boyer

If one posits that AOPA, as the world's largest pilot's association, is the 600 pound gorilla of aero-organizations; then there should be little question that AOPA President, Phil Boyer, ranks as 'King Kong.' Humorous as that title might be, the description is pretty much on target when you measure the man against the job he has done for the 416,000 members of the AOPA -- and aviators, in general.

Throughout the industry, few will doubt that Phil Boyer is one of the hardest working guys in GA... if not in all of aviation. Phil has been a tireless advocate for the value of GA, and an aggressive soldier in the fight against all those who would deprive us of the freedoms and privileges we have as flyers. Still, it was the battle over User Fees where Phil Boyer identified himself as a "scrapper" and a guy who would not quit... and aviation benefited greatly from having a watchdog at the ready.

Phil is a thoroughly unique character on the general aviation scene... he's personable, professional, thoroughly in charge, and yet has the talent to delegate tasks amongst his troops aggressively so that things that need attention get done -- and get done 'right now.' I've worked with this guy for a number of years -- I've seen him elated, I've seen him angry, I've seen him frustrated, and I've seen him attacked from a number of corners... but I've never seen him beaten -- not even for the slightest moment... and despite the fact that GA has been fighting some of the biggest challenges we've known in years, Boyer not only is ready for the fight  -- he seems more specifically suited to this task than anyone we know.

We have a reader from Australia, Darren Latta, who responded to our query for reader comments on the best and worst of 2007, and even though AOPA (America) probably has little to offer to this Australian flyer, we'll close this tribute with these simple words from the other side of the world, where even "Down Under," you can plainly see that GA has no better ally than the President of AOPA, Phil Boyer.

Darren Latta: "The clear winner as outstanding individual, is Phil Boyer of AOPA, for the User Fee battle. He has joined with other sections of the Aviation Community, to put forward a united front to the Legislators, much of it personally. While the final result is not in at years end, the fight has been a big part of the year, and the position looks much better than it could otherwise been. I live in Australia, and we had User fees introduced here some years ago, and it has been a disaster. So, I understand how important it is to Aviation as a whole that it remains healthy in the USA."

FMI: www.aopa.org