They Said It, We Quoted It
By ANN Correspondent Rose Dorcey
Aviation in all its forms saw many changes, achievements, and
let's admit it, frustrations throughout the year. While we glimpsed
the fascinating future of aviation and space travel in the
beginning of our second century of flight, we saw many challenges
and disappointments as well. Airlines are struggling, Mother Nature
turned on Florida residents, and our friends at the TSA provided
trials to travelers.
There are crystal-clear bright spots -- Burt Rutan and his team
at Scaled Composites are accomplishing awe-inspiring feats for the
development of commercial space travel. Rutan's KISS method is a
lesson other administrations can learn by. Advancements in space
exploration are providing answers to the mysteries of the final
frontier. Bills are underway to provide relief from TFR legislation
that adversely affects airports and the businesses based there.
The top ten quotes of the day represent the news events and
headlines regarding aviation and space from throughout 2004. In no
particular order, here then, is the highly anticipated, top ten
quotes of the day gathered from your daily aviation news source...
Aero-News Network.
07-26-2004
"She was unaware of a great amount of hijacking threat
information from her own intelligence unit, which, in turn, was not
deeply involved in the agency's policy making
process."
Source: The 9/11 Commission's final
report, indicating former FAA Administrator Jane Garvey was
anything but in the loop about possible hijacking threats prior to
the terror attacks on New York and Washington.
12-07-2004
"We make the point that these costs are related to the
removal of airport infrastructure and environmental remediation.
It's not in the public interest to leave behind an abandoned
airport.... We used the revenue carefully. It was not used for
redevelopment or urban renewal."
Source: Chicago Law Department spokeswoman
Jenny Hoyle, as quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times, after her bosses
filed a 43-page brief with the FAA admitting Chicago used FAA
airport funds to destroy Meigs Field. Chicago faces a $33,000 fine
for not giving the FAA 30-days notice before the midnight
destruction of the airport on Northerly Island. But, if found to
have misappropriated FAA funds, the city could be liable for up to
$4.5 million in fines.
07-02-2004
"We won't see the whole puzzle, only pieces, but what we
are seeing is dramatic. The images are mind-boggling, just
mind-boggling. I've been working on this mission for 14 years and I
shouldn't be surprised, but it is remarkable how startling it is to
see these images for the first time."
Source: Dr. Carolyn Porco, Cassini
imaging team leader, Space Science Institute, Boulder (CO), upon
seeing some of the first startling images of Saturn. Cassini
threaded it's way between those rings and established a safe orbit
around the gas giant, where it will remain for the next four years,
studying both Saturn and its moons.
02-15-2004
"I have my doubts the September/October time frame will
be met. We will determine that next week."
Source: NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe,
who says the shuttle program's return to flight may be delayed will
into 2005. The space agency faces problems meeting recommendations
from the Columbia Accident Investigation Board -- recommendations
O'Keefe has personally promised to put into practice before the
shuttle flies again.
09-15-2004
"EAA has always maintained that the TFR legislation was
an ill-considered policy based on the economic dominance of
professional sports leagues rather than security. That's why EAA
and other aviation organizations stepped in to assist the Cleveland
air show organizers in any way possible. What happened there showed
how the inflexibility of this legislation hurt a long-standing air
show tradition in that city, while not enhancing security one
bit."
Source: Doug Macnair, EAA's vice
president of government relations, backing a federal bill that
would grant waivers to air shows in restricted airspace or near
major sporting events. Case in point: The Cleveland National Air
Show, which, because of a ballgame at Jacobs Field, had to curtail
the first night of its Labor Day weekend program.
10-06-2004
"Burt (Rutan) tends to couch everything in terms of fun.
After Mike's flight, Burt said, 'Okay, that's enough fun.' It
wasn't as much fun as Mike's, but we went a little higher, and it
was a joy."
Source: SpaceShipOne pilot Brian Binnie,
after returning from the flight that won Burt Rutan and company the
coveted X Prize and the $10 million that went with it. While his
predecessor in the cockpit, Mike Melvill, seemed happy to enjoy the
29 or so rolls the spacecraft rather mysteriously performed during
the boost phase a week ago. Binnie was just happy to climb all the
way to the top.
01-15-2004
"GA aircraft are a lousy terrorist weapon. Maybe that's
why no one has yet used a small aircraft for a terrorist attack
anywhere in the world."
Source: AOPA President Phil Boyer,
debunking the errant nonsense broadcast by CBS in an anti-GA story
that asserted that GA airports were a terrorist target of
opportunity.
12-05-2004
"She said if anyone was going to touch her, she was
going to touch them. [She was] just an average middle-aged person
who got upset."
Source: Lt. Tod Dahle of the Fargo (ND)
airport police department, commenting on the actions of an
unidentified woman who smacked a TSA agent with her boarding pass
when he attempted to frisk her prior to allowing her to board a
flight.
11-14-2004
"We will see more cuts across the board, all workers, in
the months ahead. Were it not for Exxon getting most of our money
this year, we would have been able to make some
progress."
Source: American Airlines CEO Gerald Arpy
in a statement on the pending layoff of a thousand workers -
including 450 pilots. Arpy says American will pay $500 million more
for fuel in the fourth quarter of this year than it did during the
same time last year.
09-04-2004
"During Charley, more than 700 of these transmitters
were activated on boats and planes that were damaged by the storm.
It was important to locate and deactivate these transmitters so
emergency officials could differentiate between genuine distress
signals."
Source: CAP Southeast Region Commander
Col. Matt Sharkey, commenting on one task that the CAP will
undertake after Hurricane Frances passes through Florida - finding
and deactivating the hundreds of ELT's that are likely to go off
during the storm, so organizations like the Coast Guard can
concentrate on true emergencies.
Okay -- so here's number 11. We just had to include this
one. In one sentence, ANN Editor-in-Chief Jim Campbell succinctly
captures what people around the world feel about the
accomplishments of Burt Rutan and his crew at Scaled
Composites.
06-22-2004
"As a close observer to Scaled Composites' amazing and
historic victory in the quest to make space accessible to the
common man, I simply have to admit that I am in awe of these
people; of their professionalism, camaraderie and
spirit."
Source: ANN Publisher Jim Campbell, after
reflecting on Scaled Composites' achievement in sending
SpaceShipOne to an altitude of more than 328,000 feet.
SpaceX to Launch Inversion RAY Reentry Vehicle in Fall
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