On AeroShell Square on Friday afternoon (July 31), the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) hosted a press conference to tell business aviation’s story. Instead of GAMA president Pete Bunce defending the business use of aircraft, he invited several business operators to share their stories first hand.

Of the six operators to take the stage, Shye Gilad, president and CEO of ProJet Aviation was, in my opinion, the most eloquent and most forceful of the lot. I asked Shye to send his speech so I could share it with all of you. It is pasted in below. Please consider forwarding this to your local media outlets and your elected members of Congress.

Shye Gilad, president and CEO of ProJet Aviation

The American government has spent a lot of time and money trying to stimulate the economy and create jobs. In fact, as American taxpayers we have spent more than a trillion dollars to try to save our economy, with a goal of creating 3.5 million jobs over the next two years.

So you have to wonder – what was Representative [Gary] Ackerman (N.Y.) thinking when he chastised auto executives for flying the company’s private jet to Washington? Why did Brad Sherman, a Representative from California – a state that will need to borrow 8-10 billion dollars to get through this year alone, feel compelled to join him? The truly delicious irony here is that these two congressmen thought nothing of demonizing an industry that generates over 1.2 million high-paying American jobs, when in fact their irresponsible actions led to immediate job losses at the very companies they were supposedly trying to save.

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