AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2016 - 6

PRESIDENT'S POSITION

Bluer skies ahead

BY MARK BAKER
AOPA President and CEO

If not now, when?
IT GOES WITHOUT saying that I'm a big believer in
all things general aviation-the value, the fun, the
adventure, the freedom. These are pleasures I wish
everyone could experience.
Of course, it's unrealistic to imagine that we
could get everyone flying. But what if we could get
more people flying more often? What if we could
throw open the doors of our community and invite
people in? What if we could make more people aware
of the opportunities that GA offers and give them
the tools to experience it for themselves? And what
if, by doing all this, the pilot population started to
grow again?

If the downward trend continues, we'll see
general aviation continue to shrink until
there just aren't enough pilots flying to keep
general aviation viable.

MARK BAKER

is an active general
aviation pilot who
has been flying
since he was in
college.

In a very real sense, that's what we're doing with
You Can Fly-an umbrella program for a whole range
of initiatives designed to get people flying and keep
them flying. You can learn more about the program,
the folks who lead it, and the milestones they've
achieved in this month's feature ("You Can Fly," page
58). But I want to tell you about the why behind You
Can Fly, and the commitment we're making to it.
The fact is that general aviation is shrinking.
The number of pilots has dropped dramatically in
the past few decades. According to the FAA, in 1980
there were 827,071 active pilots flying in the United
States. Today that number had fallen to 590,038.
That's a huge drop.
But there's another number that might be even
more telling. In 1980 the FAA issued 50,458 new private pilot certificates. In 2015, it issued only 16,473-a
68-percent decline. This means not only are we
losing pilots at an alarming rate, we're also failing to
replace them. So, if the downward trend continues,
we'll see general aviation continue to shrink until
there just aren't enough pilots flying to keep general
aviation viable.

6 | AOPA PILOT December 2016

I tell you this to give you a realistic understanding of the challenges we face. But I don't want you
to think this is about gloom and doom. In fact, it's
just the opposite. You Can Fly is about reversing the
trend by doing things that are meaningful and measurable. It's about exposing high school students to
educational and career opportunities in aviation,
and helping more student pilots complete flight
training. It's about getting lapsed pilots back in
the air, and making flying more affordable and
accessible. And it's about giving pilots reasons to go
the airport.
This may sound like the impossible dream, but
keep in mind that we don't need millions more pilots
to reverse the trend and build momentum for general aviation growth-we need thousands. And that's
very doable.
I won't pretend it's going to be easy. If it was,
the problem would have been solved before now. But
as you'll see elsewhere in this issue, we are making
progress, and we have plans to expand our efforts to
reach many more people in the years ahead.
Yes, I said "years." We know that we can't turn
around a decades-long trend overnight. And that's
why we're making a long-term commitment to
You Can Fly and all that it represents. Growing our
community, getting people flying, bringing them
back into flying, and keeping them flying-that's the
future of general aviation. It's something I believe
in deeply.
If we, the world's largest community of general
aviation pilots and enthusiasts, don't take action,
who will? If not now, when? There will never be
a better time to act or a better group to lead the
way. But that doesn't mean we need to go it alone.
We've already enlisted the help of generous
philanthropists who believe in both our goals and
our methods. And as we prove the value and
efficacy of You Can Fly and its initiatives, we'll be
enlisting the support of others in our community and
industry.
The future of general aviation is for everyone-
the pilots of today and tomorrow-and it will take all
of us to guarantee it's the future we want.
AOPA
EMAIL mark@aopa.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2016