July 25, 2011
By Selena Shilad
Recent Eagle articles have rightly highlighted the vast mischaracterizations of general aviation that have taken place in recent years. Contrary to President Obama’s recent comments, the vast majority of small to midsize businesses that use general aviation rely on this tool to serve customers and reach markets in far-off places. For thousands of communities around the country without commercial airline service, general aviation provides access to business tools, medical care, law enforcement, disaster relief, firefighting, postal service and more.
When the president repeatedly vilified general aviation recently, surely he didn’t intend to target those who rely on charitable flying on businesses jets to get access to lifesaving medical treatments, the small towns where the key employer relies on aircraft to get to larger markets across the country, or the thousands of farms across the nation that use these aircraft to keep their businesses running. But this is exactly what he did.
At such a vulnerable time in our economy, we need to be doing everything we can to support, not denigrate, a sector of our economy that drives 1.2 million jobs and supports more than $150 billion in economic impact.
SELENA SHILAD
Executive director
Alliance for Aviation Across America
http://www.kansas.com/2011/07/25/1947027/letters-to-the-editor-on-senates.html
Source: WICHITA EAGLE
Date: 2011-07-25