AOPA Aviation Summit – Meeting Our Challenges Head On!

Story & Photos by Dave Weiman

Unlike past AOPA Aviation Summits and Expos, there was no general session each day of the event held November 11-13, 2010 at the convention center in Long Beach, Calif. Instead, AOPA President/CEO Craig Fuller conducted interviews with aviation leaders and personalities on AOPA LIVE, broadcast worldwide via the Internet.

At the opening ceremonies with full military color guard at his side, Fuller recognized the contributions of American men and women in uniform in honor of “Veteran’s Day.”

A great deal of emphasis at the Summit was placed on how best to retain student pilots. While the aviation community needs to continue to recruit new pilots through AOPA’s “Let’s Go Flying” program, and EAA’s “Young Eagles” program, attention is now being directed to student pilots who for one reason or another, start flying but never complete their training to become certified pilots.

Fuller stated that only 40 percent of student pilots complete pilot training and obtain a private pilot certificate. Fuller said that if AOPA, through its research, promotional and educational efforts is able to increase this rate by only 10 percent, the pilot population will grow, rather than continue to decline.

“Growing the pilot population is a concern of all of us,” said Fuller. In addition to releasing research findings pinpointing where the problems of student pilot retention lies, AOPA will be featuring flight schools that seem to be doing it right, said Fuller.

Among Fuller’s special guests on AOPA LIVE to discuss AOPA’s “Flight Training Student Retention Initiative” was Mark Benson, chairman of the research firm APCO Insight, which has been contracted with AOPA to determine the reason for the dropout rate among student pilots. “While many of us may have our suspicions about the reasons student pilots drop out, no one has ever done the statistical research,” said Fuller.

In a meeting held the day prior to the Summit, Jennifer Storm, AOPA’s Director of Public Relations, met with 130 student pilots, lapsed student pilots, flight instructors, and flight school operators to try and identify the stumbling blocks along the way to a certificate.

Other special guests on AOPA LIVE included Randy Burdette, Chairman of the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO), and NASAO President Henry Ogrodzinski. NASAO was founded in 1931 to represent the air transportation interests in all 50 states, Guam and Puerto Rico (www.nasao.org).

When asked about airport security and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Burdette said, “It is a challenge to find reasonable solutions. We do not want fear to override reasonable solutions.”

Ogrodzinski commended AOPA for establishing the “Aviation Caucus” in Congress, and said that NASAO and other aviation organizations are using the caucus to better the aviation community.

Concerning funding of airports, Ogrodzinski emphasized the importance of reauthorizing the federal Airport Improvement Program as states and municipalities are dependent on the program for long-range planning.

Next, Fuller interviewed the president of the National Air Transportation Association (NATA), Jim Coyne. Coyne, a former member of Congress himself, said that despite the loss of 36 members of the Aviation Caucus in Congress in the November 2010 election, including Representative Jim Oberstar of Minnesota, who chaired the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (2007-2010), and prior to that, chaired the Subcommittee on Aviation in Congress (1989-95), there are still ways those former members of Congress can support general aviation. Coyne went on to say that general aviation needs to be concerned with possible budget cuts, locally and nationally, and concluded by stating, “Let’s get more people flying!”

Fuller shared the emcee duties with members of his staff, and aviation news anchor and ATP-certified pilot, Maycay Beeler. Among Beeler’s guests was former National Aerobatic Champion, Patty Wagstaff, who described her adventures in flight from teaching evasive flight maneuvers to game wardens in Africa, to aerobatic competition and performing in air shows in her Extra 300 (www.pattywagstaff.com).

Wagstaff was the first woman to win the title of U.S. National Aerobatic Champion and one of few pilots to win the championships three times. Wagstaff was also a six-time member of the U.S. Aerobatic Team, winning gold, silver and bronze medals in the Olympic-level international aerobatic competition. Wagstaff received top honors in 1998 when she received the “Bill Barber Award for Showmanship” for her showmanship as an air show performer. A dozen or more aircraft parts manufacturers and vendors currently sponsor Wagstaff. Always looking for excitement and challenge in her flying, Wagstaff is now flying for the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection, “Cal Fire!”

When asked about her career in aviation, Wagstaff said that she used the Alaskan Student Loan Program to fund her initial flight training, and urges prospective pilots not to let time and money keep them from becoming a pilot.

“I did not have the discipline and focus in life that I do now,” said Wagstaff. “Flying has taught me a lot!”

Wagstaff also appeared at the “Women In Aviation International” breakfast on the Queen Mary earlier that day. Other special guests included air show performer, Julie Clark; World War II WASP, Bee Haydu; and U.S. Air Force Thunderbird pilot, Major Samantha Weeks. Dr. Peggy Chabrian, President and Founder of Women In Aviation International, emceed the event.

Women In Aviation International encourages women to become pilots and pursue careers in aviation. For additional information about the organization and their upcoming cruise, visit www.wai.org.

Melvill & Rutan

AOPA Pilot Editor-In-Chief Tom Haines emceed a presentation with Michael Melvill and Dick Rutan of Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan’s aircraft research and development company in Mojave, Calif. Melvill became the first employee of Scaled Composites in 1987, when he and his wife, Sally, flew their Vari-Eze to Mojave to meet Burt Rutan for the first time. Melvill also became the first pilot to go into space on “SpaceShipOne” on June 21, 2004, and was awarded the title of “commercial astronaut.” Dick Rutan, decorated Air Force pilot and test pilot, is best known for his non-stop flight around the world with Jeana Yeager in “Voyager” in December 1986.

The two test pilots described their many projects over the years, as well as their flights around the world, including their two-ship flight in 1997.

Melvill and Rutan refer to themselves as “flying cowboys,” and credit Burt Rutan for his vision and seat-of-the-pants ingenuity that will eventually propel the common person into space in “SpaceShipTwo” and an entire fleet of commercial spacecraft to follow.

“SpaceShipOne was not done by some government agency with thousands of employees,” said Dick Rutan. “It was made possible by a handful of people and the spacecraft now hangs in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C., next to the Spirit of St. Louis, where it stands for the spirit of America.” Rutan’s Voyager also hangs in the Smithsonian next to the Wright Flyer and an Apollo space capsule.

“No one in government was doing anything to get you and me into space, so my brother decided to do just that,” said Rutan. “Nothing has ever been accomplished without risk or daring.”

The SpaceShipOne project was financed by Microsoft cofounder, Paul Allen. Rutan’s commercial spacecraft program “Virgin Galactic” is being financed by Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines and the Abu-Dhabi-based investment group “Aabar.”

Bob Hoover

Legendary air show performer, Bob Hoover, was autographing copies of his autobiography “Forever Flying” in the exhibit hall. It was great to spend some time with Hoover and Hollywood stunt pilot, Corkey Fornof, who also stopped by for a visit.

It was in December 1993 when the FAA unjustly revoked Bob Hoover’s pilot certificate, claiming that he was medically unfit to fly (he was 72 at the time). In October 1995, the FAA returned his certificate to him. The entire ordeal cost Hoover a tremendous amount of money in loss performance fees and medical examinations to prove he was fit to fly.

The aviation industry came together to voice its objections to the revocation, which may have been politically motivated because the mandatory age for airline pilots to retire was 60. Afterall, how could a pilot 72 years old perform the aerobatic maneuvers he did in a twin-engine aircraft, including a dead stick routine?

It was a terrible period in aviation history, and one no pilot will ever forget. David Hinson was the FAA Administrator at the time, and we believe the agency has improved since then under the leadership of Randy Babbitt.

At the Summit, FAA’s Acting Associate Administrator for Airports, Catherine M. Lang, met with AOPA Airport Support Network volunteers. See the article entitled “Airport Support Network Volunteers Meet At AOPA Aviation Summit” elsewhere in this issue of Midwest Flyer Magazine.

Exhibitors

Wipaire, Inc., Fleming Field, South St. Paul, Minnesota, held a sweepstakes drawing on November 13, 2010, during the Summit in celebration of their 50th anniversary. Entries were collected throughout the year at fly-ins and trade shows. The winning entry is a pilot from Escondido, Calif., who will receive a pair of Wipline floats (name to be announced following notification). Sara and Chuck Wiplinger, Mike Aune, and Dan Gutz of Wipaire, Inc., were on hand for the drawing. Audrie Crane of Aurora, Oregon, was chosen at random to draw the winning entry.

Other Midwest flyers that exhibited at the Summit included Field Morey, formerly of Morey Airplane Company and Morey Airport in Middleton, Wis. Morey has turned those reins over to his son, Richard, and has moved to Medford, Oregon where he continues to provide instrument flight training and adventure trips to Alaska through his company, “Morey’s West Coast Adventures” (www.ifrwest.com).

Mark Gaulke of Rapco, Inc., Hartland, Wisconsin, also exhibited. Gaulke was visited by Mary and Herb Zimmers of Milwaukee, Wis., who flew their Mooney Ovation on the “Midwest Flyer Canadian Fishing Fly-Out” this past August. This was the Zimmers’ second fly-out, and their second time to the Summit. The Zimmers enjoyed the forums and the gala event, “A Night For Flight,” on the Queen Mary on Saturday, November 13, 2010 in support of the AOPA Foundation.

Online Auction

The AOPA Foundation’s first-ever online auction closed November 13 after raising more than $250,000 to support the organization’s major initiatives. Foundation President Bruce Landsberg made the announcement at a fundraising dinner aboard the Queen Mary. The former cruise ship is permanently docked in California’s Long Beach Harbor, near the convention center. The highest priced item in the auction was a new Classic Aircraft Waco YMF-5D, which Virginia AOPA member Mark Rossi bid $330,000.

The auction featured 96 items. Among the other unusual items were a lunch and a flight with actor/pilot Harrison Ford, which netted $55,000.

Special guest Chris Kunze, former Long Beach Airport manager, shared details of challenges associated with protecting the airports he has been associated with in California, including Long Beach and Camarillo. Long Beach is the oldest municipal airport in the country, having opened in 1923, yet it deals with encroachment and noise issues every day. Kunze acknowledged AOPA’s proactive approach to helping communities establish compatible land-use areas around airports.

Among the other dignitaries at the dinner were air show performers Bob Hoover and Julie Clark, Clay Lacy of Clay Lacy Aviation, and former AOPA President Phil Boyer.

AOPA Block Party

A block party was held Friday evening during the Summit for the first time and was well received. AOPA President Craig Fuller joined a rock and roll band on stage set up in the middle of Long Beach’s celebrated Pine Avenue to launch the aviation celebration. Icon Aircraft had its full-size wing-folding aircraft on the street in front of George’s Greek Café to add to the décor of the event.

Airportfest

The new and the old blended seamlessly at Airportfest, AOPA’s outdoor exhibit of aircraft, as visitors to Long Beach/Daugherty Field got a chance to see a mix of aircraft dating from pre-World War II to today’s sleekest business jets. An array of 100 aircraft provided a chance to see how far aviation has advanced in just the last 50 years.

Older aircraft included the Lockheed Electra Junior; a Douglas DC2 in Trans World Airlines colors and referred to as “The Lindbergh Line;” and the legendary Boeing B-29 Superfortress known as “Fifi,” just back to flying status, having been down for extensive maintenance.

AOPA’s sweepstakes airplanes, the 2010 Fun to Fly Remos and the 2011 Crossover Classic Cessna 182, were on prominent display near the welcome tent. This is the first year AOPA has made two sweepstakes airplanes available. AOPA President Craig Fuller announced on November 12 that New Hampshire pilot, Yorke J. Brown, was the winner of the Fun to Fly Remos. The winner of the Crossover Classic Cessna 182 will be announced at AOPA Aviation Summit 2011, September 22-24 in Hartford, Ct.

Flying to Hartford Brainard Airport (HFD) is a comfortable one-day cross-country flight for most general aviation aircraft in the Midwest, and fall colors should be at full peak.

Home of Mark Twain, abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the Bushnell performing arts center, Hartford can entertain pilots and non-pilots alike.

Aviation points of interest include United Technologies, owner of Pratt and Whitney engines and Sikorsky Helicopters, and the New England Air Museum.

Make your hotel reservations early by calling AOPA at 1-800-USA-AOPA, or check for information online at www.aopa.org.

Attendance this year at the AOPA Aviation Summit was 9,746, and attendance at Airportfest was 11,373. Airportfest was a free event, and it is believed that the event attracted many people from the local community.