AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 6

PRESIDENT'S POSITION

Blame it all on my roots

BY MARK BAKER
President and CEO

'Privatization' will shut out the little guy
AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, I spend a lot of time at airports,
both as a pilot and a passenger, and you can probably
guess which I prefer. On a recent trip, while making
my way through Ronald Reagan Washington National
Airport, I walked past the historic terminal where, later
this year, AOPA will honor one aviator with an award
in the name of the late, great Bob Hoover. Arguably the
most influential aviator of all time, Hoover started as a
general aviation pilot and understood what it meant to
fight for the freedom to fly.
As pilots, we all get to experience something surreal when we take to the air, but many forget where it
all began. Nearly all pilots started out flying small singleengine piston aircraft, and, like Hoover, have taken their
passion to the next level. A critical foundation of our

If we hand over our ATC system to the airlines and
special interests, funding would be directed to the
major hubs, leaving the lifeblood of aviation, the
smaller GA airports, with the crumbs.

MARK BAKER fondly

recalls meeting
Bob Hoover the
first time, when
the aviation
legend shared
encouragement and
stories with Baker's
then-8-year-old son.

6 | AOPA PILOT January 2018

aviation system is that everyone has equal access to the
sky, from a Cessna 150 to a Boeing 777. Unfortunately,
the current state of aviation politics reads as an all-out
battle over the skies, with the airlines in pursuit of control, under the guise of "privatization."
If handing over our ATC system to the airlines and
special interests were to become law, there is no doubt
that funding would be directed to the major hubs, leaving the lifeblood of aviation, the smaller GA airports, with
the crumbs. As we know, smaller airports provide more
than just access for private fliers. They're not only the
starting point for future pilots but they also serve rural
communities as economic engines, provide agricultural
applications, allow businesses to relocate in regions
across the country, offer support during disaster relief
efforts, and provide life-saving air medical transport.
With millions of dollars being spent on campaigns
to convince consumers that our airspace system is
antiquated, the airlines falsely blame ATC for delayed
flights and the FAA for slow progress on modernization. In reality, 50 percent of delays in our system are
caused by the airlines and another 30 percent are caused
by weather-none of which the proposal in Congress
today would address. Moreover, the airlines have not
equipped at least 75 percent of their fleets with modern

technology such as Automatic Dependent SurveillanceBroadcast (ADS-B) and Data Communications
(DataComm), to make flying more efficient-and then
they point fingers at everyone except themselves.
Modernization efforts have already led to significant improvements within our air traffic system. The
ongoing technology upgrades, known as NextGen, are
already helping to increase efficiency. NextGen capabilities are responsible for saving major air carriers that have
equipped their fleets with the necessary technology millions of dollars in fuel costs. As a member of the NextGen
Advisory Committee, I have seen this firsthand.
According to a NextGen Advisory Committee
report from October 2017, with just 73 percent of its
fleet equipped with DataComm technology, Southwest
Airlines has seen a reduction of 13,725 taxi-out minutes in only a three-month period. The carrier also has
started using required navigation performance flight
procedures at some of the airports it serves, and, once
this practice is implemented at all airports, the company
is expected to save nearly $60 million per year.
The main challenge for NextGen lies with the airlines and the need for them to equip their aircraft. The
FAA has in place today more than 4,500 augmented
GPS approaches, which provide precision minimums
to about 200 to 250 feet agl-yet only one percent of the
airline fleet is equipped to fly these approaches, compared to 80 percent of IFR-equipped general aviation.
According to the FAA, less than 25 percent of U.S. carriers are equipped with ADS-B Out, a key component
of air traffic modernization, despite the fact that 634
ground stations providing nationwide coverage were
fully deployed by the FAA in 2014.
While not perfect, the current ATC system has
come a long way in recent years, and continues to be
the largest, most complex, most efficient, and safest in
the world. Why fix something that isn't broken?
As a GA pilot, I never take the freedom to fly for
granted and urge you to do the same. I believe if we
remain steadfast in this fight for modernization and not
so-called privatization, we'll continue down an already
successful path to new heights and new experiences.
And if we're lucky, Bob Hoover will be looking over us,
proud that we didn't give up the fight to protect all that
general aviation has to offer.
AOPA
EMAIL mark@aopa.org

AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018

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