...And Here Are The Heartbreakers
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 who did all they could to undermine the
successes the aerospace community has managed to accomplish.
Alas, 2006 saw more than its fair share of downers,
aviation-wise. Sure, "stuff" happens... but a few folks seemed to
go out of their way to create problems for the world of aviation.
Be it ignorance, arrogance or just plain incompetence, these were
the folks that made our lot a whole lot more difficult and
immeasurably injured the aviation world in the past year.
Shame on them...
James May, ATA President/CEO
If you work in the airline
management, you may look upon ATA President James May as one of
your best friends... but to the rest of aviation, we think James
May represents a myopic (at best) leader who has sold out the rest
of the aviation world for what he perceives to be a potential
advantage for the airline world. How unfortunate... and
destructive.
ATA President James May has done a masterful job of presenting
the airline industry as a fairly unified force bent on a exerting
its will over all of the aviation world, and forcing the rest of
us to shoulder the costs of services and facilities that were
meant to support the airlines, are used only by the airlines, and
(rightfully) should be paid for -- only -- by the
airlines.
ATA President James May and FAA Administrator Marion Blakey seem
to be double-teaming the aviation world into thinking the current
funding mechanism is not only broken, but also not fair to the
airline industry that has heretofore served as the backbone of our
nation's air transportation system. What May is really doing, is
segregating the airline world from the rest of aviation -- and
creating divisions whereby the support that the rest of aviation
may have had for the airlines is eroding and starting to
disappear.
After several years of airline industry doldrums, bankruptcies,
horrific earning reports, even more horrific business practices,
and the decimation of the employee base that has been the backbone
of the airline world... it seems strange that anyone in the airline
industry thinks they have the right to dictate how the rest of
aviation should act or what they should pay for.
Mind you, May is doing what
he's being paid for... focusing on an issue that the airline
industry would dearly love to see go their way. And May, for all
intents and purposes, seems to be doing a very good job of
promoting airline interests and intent. But, if May was half
the leader we think he could be, we would hope he would counsel the
rest of the airline industry into rethinking their position,
because the alienation of a customer base (comprised by general
aviation and business aviation users), that has been such a
loyal and significant purchaser of airline services, is just plain
stupid. Believe you me, if the GA and BizAv world starts avoiding
the use of airline travel... the airlines are going to
feel it.
ATA and James May need to go back to their membership, find out
what it is they really need (rather than what they hope they can
rip off), and find a way to make an accommodation with the rest of
aviation so that the entire industry can present a single united
front to our elected officials and the traveling public in order to
instill confidence, start doing better business, and continue the
slow road of recovery for the airline industry while
NOT interfering in the continuing growth of the general and
business aviation industry.
Industry Bad-Mouthing
Much of the aviation business has a
depressing tendency to shoot itself in the foot with uncanny
accuracy. While I realize I've remarked upon this propensity
before, it seems to me that the aviation world is doing itself a
severe disservice by putting itself in the position to appear petty
and negative.
ANN has heard dozens of complaints over the years from
people getting ready to make purchases of whole aircraft,
avionics, engines, and a number of other expensive aviation related
equipment... only to be held back by the fact that as they conduct
their due diligence, they run into negative comments from sales and
marketing personnel trying to steer them away from a competing
product.
Folks, it's one thing to be proud of what you do and what you
sell... and no one is going to argue that there are many products
within aviation that can be portrayed in a very positive manner.
However, running down your competition, bad mouthing the
alternatives, and coming off like a sleaze merchant is
counterproductive for the entire aviation world -- and we know for
a fact that a number of major purchase decisions, some involving
airplanes that cost in excess of $1 million, have been put off
because potential purchasers were so dismayed by all the
negative flak they were getting about each of their selections from
each selection's competitor, that they threw their hands up in
disgust and decided the time was not right to buy an airplane.
Oooopppsss...
There's no excuse for this. Aviation has long been an
embattled industry... but we need to stick together, we need
to compete fairly, and we need to be displaying our wares with as
positive a viewpoint as possible -- while instilling our
potential customers with confidence that the products they're
buying and the money they're spending are going to companies who
uphold high standards. Companies that utilize sales and marketing
personnel who have to make nasty comments about every competitor,
real or imagined, off as petty, come off as sleazy, and often come
off as outright liars. And in many cases, they are.
I'm not saying that a salesman can't
feel that they're selling the best product in the business, I'm not
even saying that they can't point out things that they think they
can do better or features that they believe to be superior to
another, but when you paint your competitor (either their product
or the whole company), with highly negative, often profane
descriptions ("what, you want to buy that piece of..."), how can
you possibly gain the confidence of a customer?
The bad mouthing has reached a fever pitch. We've never
seen it be as bad as it has been in the last few years, which is a
shame, as this industry keeps showing progress toward better sales
figures from year to year. The pie is getting a little larger, good
products are selling in greater numbers, and we can't help but
believe that the figures would be significantly improved if this
industry would quit bellyaching and bad mouthing their competition
thus proving to future customers, that they are
entering an industry of solid professionalism, proper business
ethics, and companies with whom they can have confidence that their
money and their safety are in good hands.
It's bad business to act like bad guys... it's time that these
negative industry practices be relegated to the trash heap... where
they belong.
The Apparent Demise Of Tiger Aircraft
It's a great little plane, combining
a proven airframe with advanced Garmin avionics. But all the good
ideas in the world apparently couldn't save oft-beleagured Tiger
Aircraft LLC, which appears to be in its final death throes.
Reports surfaced in August that the company, which builds
the four-seat AG-5B aircraft in Martinsburg, WV, had sold rights to
the design to a Florida consortium headed up by Network Hosts Inc.
Then-TALLC president Gene Criss said he sold his "nearly bankrupt"
company to settle its unpaid debt. The language of the deal,
however, indicated the sale wasn't as cut-and-dried as perhaps
Tiger Aircraft had wanted many to believe.
Sure enough, just five days later, Tiger Aircraft Corporation
(the Florida company that had been formed to produce the AG-5B
Tiger) CEO and Chairman Sam Miller told ANN that Tiger Aircraft LLC
breached the sale agreement. Claims of fradulent sale receipts
surfaced... and TAC announced it would instead focus its resources
towards producing a single-engine, four-seat plane to rival the
AG-5B.
Soon, officials in Martinsburg were sniffing around Tiger's
facility at the local airport, inquiring about unpaid real estate
and personal property taxes. By that time, Tiger Aircraft had laid
off all but two workers... and only three new planes had been
produced for 2006. The city announced it was looking for a new
tenant for the 75,000 square-foot production facility.
In an apparent
last-ditch attempt to save the company, Tiger responded with a plan
to sell its assembly facilities at the Eastern West Virginia
Regional Airport for $5 million. That price would include the
rights to Tiger's lease with the airport to occupy the space, and
Tiger said it hoped the buyer would resurrect the company.
Company officials have steadfastly refused to declare
bankruptcy... something the ANN staff finds somewhat odd, as one
would think it would give the company a means to continue
operations.
We've yet to hear if any buyers have stepped up... and that's
shame for the general aviation industry. But given the drama
surrounding Tiger's last couple of years, and the inexplicable
events of the past several months... perhaps it's
understandable.
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