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... #8: Eclipse Aviation's Vern Raburn

Having Vern on this list is likely to earn me as much hate mail as praise... and for (pretty much) all the same reasons. Still; I truly believe that this guy demands a prominent spot on the heroes list.

Yeah, I know all the nay-sayers will talk about busted schedules, the rumors of financial problems (more from hope than actual evidence, we think), and dozens of other issues, but the fact of the matter is that Raburn and the Eclipse troops have pushed the entire industry to react, and adapt, to the challenges he has put before a biz that was so mired in the same old BS, that many honestly feared (at times) the business would sink out of sight and no one would notice.

But let's get real here... there is much to congratualte them on this year. Raburn and Eclipse will have pushed out some 100 jet aircraft in their first year of production, adapted a number of new technologies into a single airframe, totally turned the Single-Engine jet game on its ear with a surprise prototype, conquered a GREAT number of problems (and are honestly on their way to vanquishing many others), pioneered new production technologies and programs here-to-fore unseen in small jet production (or anywhere else, in many cases), and totally flaunted the conventional wisdoms that chained too much of aviation into doing the "same old thing" day after day. He can be brash, outspoken, smart, arrogant, insightful, a real smart-ass, controversial and overly optimistic (C'mon Vern, you know its true), not to mention many other attributes -- but darned if it doesn't take those properties and a number of others to change aero-history. That said, we think that when this story is a bit more complete, we have a sneaking suspicion that biz-aviation's "bad boy" will be proven to have been (mostly) what so many of this enemies deeply feared all along... i.e., Vern may just turn out to have been (dare we say it?) "RIGHT." One of the main reasons we root for Raburn's success (as we would for any proper aviation venture), is because its going to be so darned entertaining watching people come up with new recipes for crow...  

Watching Raburn has been some of the most entertaining journalism I have ever undertaken... I mean, they should sell popcorn in the lobby of the Eclipse HQ building, for God's sake -- the entertainment value is THAT good...

When all is said and done, it takes people who are willing to take great risks, embrace and conquer their inevitable problems and failures (Folks, if you're not failing now and then, than OBVIOUSLY you're not trying hard enough), and do what all those around them say "can't be done," to make an industry turn on its ear. Revolution (by and large) is a good thing... it shakes the cobwebs out of moldy conventional thinking, it invites those with dreams to act upon them, and the inevitable result is often an escalation in the good fortunes of those whom such events ultimately affect.  

In our opinion, the Eclipse program (as led by Raburn), has made the industry sit up and take critical notice of they way that business is being done and look at ways to make solid positive changes... so that Raburn's revolution doesn't bury them a few year's hence. As painful as that may be, (to Raburn, et al, most of all), this has to be a good thing. Years from now, win or lose, I hope we get to look back at Eclipse and see the beginnings of one of the most intriguing revolutions in the aviation business. We shall see... but we have feeling that he's going to surprise us all.

FMI: www.eclipseaviation.com