CAA: GA News, "Small-plane operators still hurting from Sept. 11"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Friday, October 26, 2001

Small-plane operators still hurting from Sept. 11 
By BUSH BERNARD
The Tennessean


In the old days, the CIA and the Secret Service weren't even blips on
the radar screens of the general aviation industry.

Sept. 11 changed that.

Industry advocacy groups, which routinely appear at congressional
hearings, now find they need to educate a different type of government
official to get their points across when it comes to rulemaking that
affects their industries.

''We never thought we'd have to lobby the CIA,'' Jack Olcott, president
of the National Business Aviation Association, said yesterday.

Olcott was a keynote speaker at the opening of the University Aviation
Association's fall conference yesterday at the Sheraton Music City.

General aviation, a $20-billion-a-year industry that includes everything
from corporate jet fleets to small flight-training schools, has been
slow to recover after the federal government ordered all airports closed
immediately after the terrorist attacks.

''Clearly, there is a lack of knowledge (about the aviation industry) by
the policymakers,'' said Olcott, who is head of an organization
representing 7,000 companies that own or operate general aviation planes
in the course of their business.

Airlines were allowed to fly again Sept. 14, but most of the
restrictions on smaller planes weren't lifted until later. The Federal
Aviation Administration this week lifted flight bans for small planes in
30 major cities. Small planes still can't fly near major airports in
Boston, New York City and Washington, D.C.

Olcott said it was clear that policymakers on the National Security
Council did not understand the importance of general aviation to the
nation's transportation system when they started bringing the system
back online. ''They didn't have a good appreciation of aviation, other
than the airlines and the military,'' he said. ''They ignored the needs
of general aviation.''

The general aviation industry has lost more than $400 million, according
to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, a trade group with more
than 370,000 members.

The flight ban that was lifted this week affected 65,000 pilots and
20,500 aircraft in 132 airports, AOPA Vice President Andrew Cebula told
a congressional panel last week.

''Our task is to make sure policy leaders understand the importance of
general aviation,'' Olcott said.

   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA General Aviation Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?conf=DCConfID2

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