AOPA Recognizes Contributions To GA At Summit

Victor Bird, director of the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission, received the “Joseph B. (Doc) Hartranft, Jr. Award” for contributions to general aviation by a government official.

LONG BEACH, CALIF.  – The Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (AOPA) each year presents several awards at its annual AOPA Aviation Summit, held this year at the Long Beach, California Convention Center, November 11-13, 2010.

Receiving the “Joseph B. (Doc) Hartranft, Jr. Award” for contributions to general aviation by a government official was Victor Bird, director of the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission.

Bird has used the state’s resources to advance the cause of the state’s 113 public airports, creating a climate in which general aviation can grow and thrive.

In 2007, Bird was instrumental in winning support for the Oklahoma Airport Modernization Bill, which would have made 49 of the state’s regional airports eligible for grants for specific airport improvement projects, including the costs for projects primarily used for general aviation.

In 2005, Bird led the push for House Bill 1577, which exempted aircraft maintenance, repairs, and overhauls performed by Oklahoma aerospace companies from sales tax.

In 2008, Bird facilitated passage of the Aerospace Industry Engineer Work Force Bill, which provided new engineers with a $5,000 state tax credit for choosing to work for an Oklahoma aerospace company, and also provided state tax credits for the companies that hire them.

Bird’s most recent accomplishment centered on the passage in 2010 of the Aircraft Pilot & Passenger Protection Act, which protects the state’s public-use airports and military bases from height obstructions and incompatible land-use by giving the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission authority to regulate construction in designated approach areas. With the increasing prevalence of tall, manmade obstructions all over the country, this legislation provides a model for other states to follow to ensure that such obstructions will not undermine aviation safety.

The Joseph B. “Doc” Hartranft, Jr. Award is named in honor of AOPA’s first employee, longtime president and former chairman of the board.

AOPA awarded its highest honor for individuals, the “Laurence P. Sharples Perpetual Award” to Marjy Leggett, a volunteer for AOPA’s Airport Support Network, for her efforts to promote and protect her home airport, Vista Field in Kennewick, Washington.

With back-up support from AOPA’s airports staff, Leggett and her fellow airport supporters were able to educate the community about the value of Vista Field.

The Laurence P. Sharples Perpetual Award is named for AOPA’s first chairman of the board and is given each year to the person or persons who best emulate unselfish contributions to general aviation, which characterized the life of Sharples.

Self-described as the “Mooney Girl,” Jolie Lucas of San Luis Obispo, Calif., received AOPA’s “Joseph Crotti Award” for her work to protect Oceano Airport (L52) in San Luis Obispo County.

Lucas, founder of the Mooney Ambassadors, successfully fought off a local developer who had his own thoughts on how to use the land the airport sits on, over the objections of county officials who held highly controlled public meetings to try to win community support to close the airport for development.

California is home to 255 public-use landing facilities and 10 percent of the U.S. pilot population, or 61,709 pilots. The Crotti Award is named for Joseph Crotti, longtime California State Aviation Director and AOPA Regional Representative.

AOPA presented the second annual “Let’s Go Flying Award” to U.S. Marine Corps Captain Gabriel Glinsky for his efforts to organize and teach a ground school for his fellow unit members while on active duty in Afghanistan.

A V-22 ”Osprey” tilt-rotor pilot and certified flight instructor (CFI), Capt. Glinsky volunteered to teach ground school for more than a dozen fellow Marines in 2009.