General aviation makes life easy. In an era where airline travel is increasingly inconvenient – the extra fees, lines, invasive searches and draconian rules – general aviation provides an increasingly attractive alternative. Despite the unfairly earned negative reputation held by general aviation after the chiefs of the Big Three automakers were scolded by an zealous Congressman, general aviation or private air travel (as an alternative to commercial travel) saves time, creates jobs, and fuels the economy while offering the individuals and companies who use it significant and measurable competitive advantages (to download a full report see https://ssl.nbaa.org/prodsvcs/store/free/).
As a commercial pilot who flies and manages a company-owned airplane, there is an ever-so-slight chance that I am biased from an emotional standpoint. Well, ok. I love to fly! I’ve been smitten with the flying bug nearly all my life and that love affair was intensified by my early training with an old school, seat-of-the-pants instructor, Mack Goodwin in Troy, Michigan.
I learned to fly twenty-five years ago but my flight instructor, who was no spring chicken at the time, is still going strong! In fact, I was visiting my original home base this weekend and I saw this sign posted on the information board at the airport.
General aviation makes good financial sense in many situations. In our case it allows me and my team to get to our clients quickly and efficiently. We can get in and out of several locations in a single day in what would require the time and cost two-three days of travel, waits, hotels, meals, etc. And I am not even counting the opportunity cost of the unnecessary and increasingly lengthy delays.
General aviation is also convenient. We can carry equipment, product and just about anything else we might need to better serve our customers without concern for theft, damage or loss. We can depart from our local airport (just minutes from the office) and land at an airport within minutes of our destination. At most airports the FBO (Fixed Base Operator) pulls the rental car up to the plane and helps transfer the baggage. Such convenience is hard to top!
When it makes sense to fly the company plane, my team and are spared exposure to the viruses and germs that populate the airport halls and airplane cabins, which equates to less downtime. We are also much less likely to have any security issues. As long as our airplane is professionally managed and flown by an experienced and current flight crew, it is safe, reliable and hard to beat!
Sometimes it helps to hear the other side of the story. Negative press dominates in today’s media and hearing the story from the horse’s mouth is to me often preferable to hearing it second or third hand. What is even more amusing is when you hear reports, opinions and judgments by those who are neither involved nor have any personal experience in the matter!
As a pilot I can assure you that most news reports on aviation are full of erroneous data and assumptions. Pilots try hard to state the facts as they are without undue emotional charge and generally speaking “say it like it is.” If you want to hear the pilot’s side of the news stories, look to sites like www.avweb.com, www.aopa.org, www.nbaa.org and www.planeandpilot.com.
If you haven’t already, take the time to support general aviation in your community. Attend the fly-ins and air shows, talk to pilots about the history of the airfield and what it has facilitated in your city or town or take a picnic lunch and watch the wide variety of airplanes, big and small, young and old take off and land. You won’t be disappointed, in fact, you might be surprised at what a dynamic, interesting productive microcosm a small airport can be!
Gregory Hake 
great side! Thanks
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Ernest Hemingway~ Theres nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility is being superior to your former self.
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I too have had some recent experience with general aviation. There is an air of respect immediately as you walk in to one of those places – I remember that on my first visit to one, the locals immediately engaged me in conversation, speaking to me as if I were a pilot or co-pilot with that sense of kinship. Even when they found out I wasn’t, that air still remained. How different that experience was from many others I have had where people keep an air of elitism once they find out you do not share a similar level of experience or knowledge they possess.
Those local airports are kept very clean, and have a healthy, almost military-esqe type of discipline that I observed in the people that worked there. I felt right at home I must say….thumbs up!
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Saw a great ad today in the WSJ paid for by the National Business Aviation Association. It was their “No Plane No Gain” campaign.
It was Warren Buffet stating he bought his first plane as a reward to himself for a lot of work but very soon realized the plane “itself proved to be an incomparable tool for accomplishing a great deal more work and achieving levels of success that would have been impossible without it.”
He was so impacted by the results he changed the name of his plane from INDEFENSIBLE to INDISPENSABLE.
I’ve always admired Mr. Buffett’s business acumen and his common sense; it was encouraging to see him take a stand for this valuable industry.
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Pretty funny. The annual NBAA show is in Atlanta at the moment. I had to go to Chicago so I missed it but I understand the static display of aircraft a Peachtree Dekalb airport (KPDK) was filled with indispensable items! Mr. Buffett has a way of putting things that cuts through the bull!
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What a great no nonsense post on the benefits of general aviation! I have been up in a small airplane, and it sure is a lot of fun! The benefits to your business are great as well. If you just heard the usual story they told during the auto bailout, I wouldn’t be surprised of you had a negative opinion of small aircraft. Unfortunately that was a political move with a devastating impact on one of the USA’s important industries. I think I’ll go to my local airport and check things out.
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seeing life from above provides a beautiful perspective –
….there is nothing like it!
i would encourage anyone to fly in a small aircraft at least once – the mega airbus just doesn’t compare. find a trusted pilot and get out to some of those remote runways to meet the real people behind the scenes in aviation
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The local airports are a slice of “Americana” that truly should be experienced. I see them akin to a great local diner, with the appeal of a neighborhood ” watering hole” rather “Cheers” like ( everybody knows your name); and with the sense of community of a local theater group. The service is friendly, upbeat and always helpful. Thanks for reminding us about or introducing us to this exciting industry of entrepreneurial, seemingly autonomous, yet actually refreshingly cohesive group of professionals .
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They should be experienced soon. I remember reading a number of years ago that general aviation airports are closing at the disturbing rate of one a week!
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I love that most FBO’s that I have visited have hot fresh coffee, some have fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and all have had friendly, smiling, and helpful people to greet me. Great post!
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Thank you! Been flying lately?
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I flew my husband and I up to Superior, Wisconsin to take in the fall colors. Beautiful flight there, a little bumpy on the way home.
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very interesting, thanks for the new perspective on flying 🙂
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Sign me up!
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Thanks for sharing the ‘other side’ of the story! I’m with you on all these points.
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