Avionics News April 2021 - 12

In this monthly column, Ric Peri of the AEA's Washington, D.C., office, informs members of the latest regulatory updates.

B Y

R I C

P E R I
A EA V I C E P R ES I D E N T O F G OV E R N M E N T & I N D U ST RY A F FA I RS

A ride through history
L

ife is a journey, and this journey is about to
hit a milestone. This month represents my
240th consecutive " View from Washington "
column in Avionics News. And if you quickly do the
math, this also is my 20th anniversary with the Aircraft
Electronics Association. I joined the AEA in 2001 when
we opened the Washington, D.C., office, and the ride
through history began.
It was an interesting year in 2001. The fourth quarter
seems remarkably similar to the pandemic of 2020. I
was attending an avionics course with the University
of Kansas in San Diego on Sept. 11 with the intent of
flying from San Diego at the completion of the course to
New Orleans for the annual NBAA Convention. As we
know, those plans changed when aviation in the United
States was immediately grounded on 9/11. It took a few
weeks to get aviation back up and running and arguably
a few years to fully recover. Later that year, the AEA
would testify before Congress on how small aviation
businesses were impacted by the national grounding of
aviation and the slow return of general aviation.
But, as we have every year, except of course in
2020, our industry begins the year with the annual AEA
International Convention & Trade Show. To take a
historical ride through the avionics industry in 2001, one
needs to look no further than the annual New Product
Introductions session. In 2001, the list of presenters
contained some familiar names. The presenters included:
Avidyne with its Flightmax 950; Mid-Continent
Instruments introduced the RDG 4305; Garmin
presented the GNS 500; Al Ingle with Capital Avionics
12

avionics news

april

2021

introduced the CA-310 test set; Honeywell demonstrated
the KTA870; ARNAV announced the approval of the
Engine View PFD2000; Gary Picou with PS Engineering
introduced the PCD7100 to the audience; and Dave
Hainline with Avionics Innovations unveiled an 8-disk
CD player and a first for aviation, the first MP3 player.

But, with all we have
accomplished, I am reminded
of the words of Martin Luther
King Jr.: 'We are not makers of
history. We are made by history.'
Other presenters that year included SecuraPlane,
Pentar, Echo Flight, Icarus, AirCell and UPS Aviation
Technologies. Wow, what a lineup! Technology has
certainly changed during the past 20 years.
The year 2001 was satisfying for me. As I
transitioned from my former employer, the National Air
Transportation Association, to the AEA, we had worked
out an arrangement where I would support the annual
convention for both organizations. During the NATA
Convention, I hosted an evening reception to recognize
the mechanics from the famed World War II Tuskegee
Airmen. I was told, at the time, that it was the first time
these mechanics had been recognized for their efforts.
Like all of us in aviation, the pilots get the fame and

Avionics News April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News April 2021