June 2004

Every Voice Counts

What can you do to save GA?

You want to get involved in protecting GA , but a little voice in your head says “what good can one person do?”

“A lot,” says Stephanie Ward, a senior aviation planner for Mead & Hunt, a national engineering and architectural firm.  “One person is where it’s got to start.”

Once that one person - you - believes enough in a cause to step forward, then somebody else will follow, she says.  “Be willing to take that step,” advises Ward, a private pilot who teaches classes and seminars on setting up airport support groups.

Once convinced to take that step, however, many aren’t sure exactly what to do next.  Too many times, a group is formed in reaction to a threat and finds itself running to catch up, or worse, giving up.

“The sooner you get started, the better off you’ll be,” advises Peter Burgher, a former member of the Michigan Aeronautics Commission and a former AOPA regional representative who has spent the last 40 years teaching people how to save airports.  “So many times, people will just throw their hands up in the air and quit.”

But if those same people had done some legwork, the threat would have been minimized at the outset.  Many times, pilots don’t find out about a proposed development next to an airport, or a cell phone tower going up, or even talking of closing an airport until the City Council or county decision makers are gearing up for a final vote.

“They’ll say ‘I didn’t even know about it,’” Ward notes.  “But these things don’t just happen.”

The first thing an interested pilot can do is start attending meetings of the local city council and zoning commission.

If your airport doesn’t have a formal support group yet, make arranges with a few other pilots to take turns going to the meetings.  You don’t have to talk, just be there.  Pretty soon, the board will recognize you as an “airport person,” Burgher says.

The bottom line

In any effort to convince elected officials - or the general public - money often talks louder than words.  Arm your airport with an economic impact study.  It is, perhaps the No. 1 tool in your arsenal.

But how do you do that?  Realize that you have a lot of resources on your side.  For instance, many state aeronautical division have a planner on staff who will work up the study from raw data submitted by an airport.  If your state doesn’t have this available, there are consultants and other professionals available.

Make it personal

Show those naysayers in your community how the airport helps them.  If there’s a medevac helicopter based at the airport, park it on the ramp.  Same with the TV helicopters or traffic aircraft.  Make sure Angel Flights and other such missions get some ink in the local paper, Burger recommends.  Develop a relations with local reports, both newspaper and broadcast.  Take elected officials flying over their houses, which they can photograph with their own cameras.  Have school groups tour the airport on a regular basis.  Give talks to the local Kiwanis, Lions, and Rotary Clubs, as well as church groups and civic groups.

Show how the airport helps spur the local economy.  “Try to draw it back to something they can relate to, Ward says.  She remembers one man who was vehemently opposed to an airport changing his tune after it was pointed out that parts were shipped into the airport so he could his job at a manufacturing plant every day.  Once he realized important it was to him receiving his paycheck, “you could see the light bulb go on in his head,” she said.

Who should be in the airport support group?

it may surprise you who the experts recommend for an airport support group.  Topping the list are the key decision makers in your community.  The bank president, the top lawyer, the busiest CPA, the hospital administrator etc.

It’s important to have people on the support group who have an economic interest in the airport’s survival.  That’s not to say that there is no role for pilots.  Always remember, there is strength in numbers.  Elected officials react when a meeting is packed with support for a particular issue.  A well-crafted letter can sway a politician’s decision.

Whether talking in a meeting or writing a letter, remember always to deal with the official in a respectful manner.  Pilots are passionate about flying and this passion often translates into an emotional outburst.  “Emotion is not what officials react,” Ward says.  “In fact, it will actual work against you.”

So you may say, maybe it would be best if I just pay my dues to one of the national alphabet groups and let them protect my right to fly and my airport.  While there is indeed strength in numbers, those national groups often don’t get involved until too late in the process.  And, remember, those groups even lobby their members to write letter to elected officials

“Every voice counts,” Ward says.

Excerpts from the General Aviation News, June 11, 2004.  By:  Janice Wood