On Oshkosh 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.
After some industry luminaries spoke supportively of an industry
that was condemned by our erstwhile elected leaders, the crowd
heard from business people who depend on BizAv to keep their
companies going, keep their staff employed and put them where
they need to be when and where business has to be done.
Possibly the most outspoken and persuasive of those who joined
the presentation, was ProJet Aviation's CEO, Shye Gilad. Gilad
noted that, "The American government has spent a lot of time
and money trying to stimulate the economy and create jobs. In fact,
as American taxpayers we have spent more than a trillion dollars to
try to save our economy, with a goal of creating 3.5 million jobs
over the next two years.
So you have to wonder – what was Representative
Ackerman, NY, thinking when he chastised auto executives for flying
the company’s private jet to Washington? Why did Brad
Sherman, a Representative from California, a state that will need
to borrow 8-10 billion dollars to get through this year alone, feel
compelled to join him? The truly delicious irony here is that these
two congressmen thought nothing of demonizing an industry that
generates over 1.2 million high-paying American jobs, when in fact
their irresponsible actions led to immediate job losses at the very
companies they were supposedly trying to save.
An employer, taxpayer, and aviator, I find the lack of
leadership displayed by these two representatives as appalling as
it is astonishing. Their self-indulgent whimsy kicked-off a
shameless, misguided attack on an industry that contributes over
150 billion dollars to the US economy each year. That is why I came
here today from DC to Oshkosh in this Piaggio Avanti II, to set the
record straight."
Throughout this week, we've been hearing from Tom
Poberezny, Pete Bunce, Randy Babbitt, Jack Roush, Shye Gilad,
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.
Bolen Gives Congress a Rare Thumbs-Up
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