Drew Steketee was president of BE A PILOT, senior vp-communications for AOPA and executive director of the Partnership for Improved Air Travel. He also headed PR and media relations for Beech, GAMA and the Airport Operators Council International.

Some of my era’s inspiration for strong participation in GA came from military aviation. Adding to the glow of “aviation as WWII hero” were the military’s well-publicized, science fiction-like leaps in post-war technology. Turning 62 this month (along with me) is a major milestone of that period: the first non-stop flight around the world.

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Drew Steketee was president of BE A PILOT, senior vp-communications for AOPA and executive director of the Partnership for Improved Air Travel. He also headed PR and media relations for Beech, GAMA and the Airport Operators Council International.

An essay by this title recently smoked the pages of The Wall Street Journal, generating the most comments in WSJ’s online history. It was actually about “20-something’s” social and gender issues, but this and other recent news highlights demographic shifts affecting GA’s traditional market — guys!

As you know, General Aviation has always been predominantly male. The industry took some comfort when, during the 1976-79 TAKEOFF! campaign under Karen Coyle (Tripp), the female pilot population doubled to 6%. I don’t know that it has budged since, although the LSA flight school at Orlando-Apopka Airport in Florida now reports a 12% female student base. (Are the smaller, lighter LSAs the answer?) For most of GA, the easier marketing target has been (and remains) men.

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Drew Steketee was president of BE A PILOT, senior vp-communications for AOPA and executive director of the Partnership for Improved Air Travel. He also headed PR and media relations for Beech, GAMA and the Airport Operators Council International.

Sun ‘n Fun is coming, so GA now focuses on Florida. I’ve been eyeing residential airparks there. The biggest of them all: Spruce Creek Fly-In, seven miles southwest of Daytona Beach. Is it still the classic of the genre? Is it the place to turn inward and so re-create the “critical mass” of the GA we remember?

As GA shrinks, I always thought “true believers” would “retreat to the reservation.” [Read more...]

Drew Steketee was president of BE A PILOT, senior vp-communications for AOPA and executive director of the Partnership for Improved Air Travel. He also headed PR and media relations for Beech, GAMA and the Airport Operators Council International.

Things seem to be rolling now for Tavares, Florida, to actually become the “Seaplane City” of its dreams. The city’s innovative waterfront redevelopment combines urban renewal with a niche aviation business perfect for the big lakes of north central Florida.

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Drew Steketee was president of BE A PILOT, senior vp-communications for AOPA and executive director of the Partnership for Improved Air Travel. He also headed PR and media relations for Beech, GAMA and the Airport Operators Council International.

My General Aviation is for everyone — or at least for a lot of people of varying wealth and incomes. What inspired me in the 1960s was that firemen, farmers and school teachers in my town were flying. What a wonderful American story. But now?

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Drew Steketee was president of BE A PILOT, senior vp-communications for AOPA and executive director of the Partnership for Improved Air Travel. He also headed PR and media relations for Beech, GAMA and the Airport Operators Council International.

Recently, the regional authority for long-beleaguered Queen City Airport outside Allentown, Pennsylvania, committed to fixing problematic underground fuel storage tanks but refused to say that investment guaranteed the airport’s long term survival.

Despite being named FAA Eastern Region GA Airport of the Year in 2006, this large, close-to-downtown reliever for airline hub Lehigh Valley International Airport (ABE) has been threatened before. It’s a familiar story.

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Drew Steketee was president of BE A PILOT, senior vp-communications for AOPA and executive director of the Partnership for Improved Air Travel. He also headed PR and media relations for Beech, GAMA and the Airport Operators Council International.

I still think most people underestimate the role of World War II in the modern growth of General Aviation. After all, 2011 marks 65 years since 1946 when the world was new again and all things were possible for Americans. At 65, has GA now reached retirement age or are there new “Boom Years” ahead?

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Drew Steketee was president of BE A PILOT, senior vp-communications for AOPA and executive director of the Partnership for Improved Air Travel. He also headed PR and media relations for Beech, GAMA and the Airport Operators Council International.

Again, consumer electronics will be king this holiday shopping season, driven by vast leaps in features and capabilities at ever-decreasing cost. Priced flat-screen TVs lately? No wonder the most widespread progress in General Aviation after 1980 was in avionics.

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Drew Steketee was president of BE A PILOT, senior vp-communications for AOPA and executive director of the Partnership for Improved Air Travel. He also headed PR and media relations for Beech, GAMA and the Airport Operators Council International.

On the fifth anniversary of contractor-operated FAA Flight Service, many commented on either program success or loss of “local knowledge” at the three super-centers covering the continent. For me, it turns out Flight Service is still close by — right next to my local Home Depot.

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Drew Steketee was president of BE A PILOT, senior vp-communications for AOPA and executive director of the Partnership for Improved Air Travel. He also headed PR and media relations for Beech, GAMA and the Airport Operators Council International.

More than 10 years ago, I asked AOPA members to vote for their “Favorite Fly-Outs.” These would be those special places where flying made the most sense, the fun but hard-to-reach destinations that justify learning to fly. The winner: Cedar Key, Florida.

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