Aviation Business Journal 3rd Quarter 2012 - 15

Let’s talk about that history. Did you have a set of goals as an incoming president when you agreed to take the job? What stands out in your mind as you look back on your first year with NATA?
Those early days were pretty wild! I remember that we were trying to persuade Congress to become aware of this issue of tort reform in general aviation and the GARA bill. So I thought, “Let’s use aviation to promote awareness!” I went out and rented a plane to drag a sign like those tow planes you see along the beach in the summer pulling advertising banners. We got a big sign that said, “Congress: Support the GARA legislation” with the actual bill number on it. We hired the pilot to fly the sign around the Capitol in downtown Washington and we all stood in front of the House and Senate buildings and pointed up in the sky. I like to think it played a small role in helping build awareness for our bill and focusing some attention on general aviation.

runways open...” I looked at all the things done to help keep aviation alive, from teaching pilots to fly to chartering airplanes, and I wanted to help tell that story to the decision-makers in Washington. I really believe that tens of thousands of NATA members, owners and employees at hundreds of airports in every corner of America, have created something very magical — an air transportation system that is just unprecedented. My real goal, from the beginning was always to help persuade people how important this is.

What were some of the biggest challenges when you first took on the job?
NATA had a lot of internal challenges at the time. We had to find new staff, get our finances sorted out, build membership, and do all the things that associations need to do. My main long-term goal was to connect with our members and to raise the visibility of our industry at the FAA and in Washington because I saw our members as the unsung heroes of aviation. I thought, “These are the people working to keep airports alive, to sell airplanes, to pump fuel, to keep Aviation Business Journal | 3rd Quarter 2012

When you reflect back on your 18year run as president, what do you regard as some of your greatest accomplishments towards those goals?
I had been involved in developing some computer training modules in my previous job and I was a big proponent of developing and introducing new technologies to the members of our association. That’s one of the great things about aviation: We are early adopters! There probably isn’t a single other group of people out there who has done as much with the iPad, for example, as NATA members. The Internet was nothing like it is today. Part of the challenge will always be to embrace and adapt to new technologies. We’ve really done that under my

watch, but always in the service of bringing people together and making the connections amongst our members stronger. Certainly you’d have to put our Safety 1st Online Professional Line Service Training program very high on the achievement list, because that just didn’t exist at all before. Pilots who would fly into airports around America would be handled differently, with varying degrees of concern about safety or professionalism. That was one area where I was able to look at a problem from a pilot’s perspective and say, “We are the group that can standardize this. We are the organization that can raise the bar and create a uniform level of safety across the country.” I think that’s been the single biggest change under my watch at NATA: Any pilot today who flies into any airport and gets handled by an NATA member FBO is going to know they can go in with confidence.
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Aviation Business Journal 3rd Quarter 2012

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