Debates about GA’s practicality are weighty, sometimes bitter, discussions I think often miss the point. But one of the best deals I ever found was “Hertz-like” plane rental at Lease-A-Plane. It opened up lots of possibilities.
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.
We’re packing up our home of 21 years to leave Washington, D.C., for the last time. In boxes, I’m finding 45-plus years of aviation memories, decisions made, and paths not taken. Most poignant: The 1965 full-page United Airlines ad promising, “There’s Room at the Top.” Just above that headline was a photo: an empty seat in a United cockpit. Pasted on my bedroom door back home, it was the air under teenage dreams of a flying career.
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.
Delayed by the same weather that ripped up Sun ‘n Fun, the Sun ’n Fun Splash-In at nearby Fantasy of Flight was none-the-less a refreshing post-storm break. No mud-plagued parking or twisted show planes here. A small but happy crowd relaxed lakeside bathed in fresh cool breezes off the water. These seaplane people know how to have fun!
Story and Photo By Drew Steketee
“The most amazing thing that has happened at SUN ‘n FUN,” said event president John Burton late Thursday, March 31 after “a tornado, a micro-burst, I don’t know” swept through the Lakeland, Florida, fly-in and air show. Local media reported multiple tornadoes north and south of the Lakeland area during the day including the major hit on Lakeland-Linder Airport at noontime.
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.
How many times do you hear of local government backing General Aviation? Or using GA to boost city renewal and business development? Not much these days, unless you’re around Tavares, Fla.
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, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and the Airport Operators Council International.
I just learned that the city of Boise has named an airport road “Ed Stimpson Way” in honor of my (late) old boss, former GAMA president and U.S. ambassador to ICAO. I also just got the invite to my 40th college reunion — oh, geez! Both remind me of Ed, and that there was an Ed Stimpson “way” long before it was a street name in his adopted Idaho.
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.
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.
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.” Continue Reading »
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.
The General Aviation Airport Coalition has initiated a petition on the White House website that, if signed by 25,000 people or more by May 16, 2012, will elicit...
Air Racers 3D, the first IMAX movie devoted to the Reno Air Races, is rolling out across the country at select IMAX theaters, including the Naval Aviation Mus...
Really? Are there only 3,035 general aviators out there who are against paying a $100 per flight user fee? Click here to sign the petition. If you’re not a...
This May 2010 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn fro...
This May 2010 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn fro...
