AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2020 - 13

Is your
checklist
missing
something?
Baker talks to 'Forbes'
GA success in a year of uncertainty
IN A RECENT and wide-ranging conversation with Forbes Publisher and Columnist
Rich Karlgaard, AOPA President Mark
Baker explained why people should
not be surprised by the success of
general aviation in this year of uncertainty.
Baker has found no shortage of platforms
to tell the general aviation story this
year, as the industry continues to
play a critical role in filling many of
the nation's transportation needs, including those to help ﬁght the coronavirus
pandemic.
In the interview with Karlgaard, who
also is a pilot, Baker addressed GA's critical role, AOPA's continued efforts to
protect the freedom to ﬂy, and the need
for a more diverse industry.
GA's overall health: "General aviation
is in a mini-boom right now. We've seen
ﬂights as measured by some of the top 77
airports up 10, 15 percent. Anecdotally,
we hear of fuel sales at certain FBOs up
over 60 percent. General aviation is seeing lots of use for lots of reasons. And, try
ﬁnding a used aircraft for sale!"
AO PA's ro l e i n c h a m p i o n i n g
BasicMed: "BasicMed is a true example
of when our association leads and pulls
together the community, and speaks
to the representatives in the House
and Senate, and said, we need a law
changed, because for 40 years, we have
been requesting to get something done
with the FAA, which is an alternative
means to comply with the medicals. The
medicals went into place in the 1930s
and '40s and were really driven around
commercial and military flight. The
same standards don't apply when you're
flying yourself or your family. We put
through a law and it's now three years;
over 58,000 people are flying under

BasicMed. It's been really exciting to see.
That shows the essence and power of our
community."
The value of local airports: "Of the
5,000 airports in the country, the airlines
serve less than 400 of them. We spend
a lot of time with the locals at the state
level, and we have seven regional managers at AOPA, for allocating whatever
the state funds could be to get matched
by the FAA funds, to make sure these airports are getting their runways coated
and painted, instrument approaches
upgraded-all those kinds of things that
keep that infrastructure alive, which is
unique. There's not another place in the
world that has this kind of access."
The need for greater diversity and
inclusion in aviation: "The first and
most important piece was to create a
high school curriculum for aviation
in the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and now
being tested this year will be the twelfth
grade. We started out very small-30
high schools originally and then grew it
over the last four years so that when
we get to this fall, we'll be in about
400 classrooms; about 8,000 to 10,000
kids will be enrolled. One of the other
things we do look at is the demographic.
Only 6 percent of the active pilots in
this country are female. Well, about 23
percent of the people taking this class
are young females. Underrepresented
groups [make up] about 5 to 6 percent of
the population as well. It turns out about
35 percent of these people taking this are
underrepresented groups. It's reaching
inner city, suburban, and rural kids in
this program."
More highlights of the conversation
may be found online.
aopa.org/pilot/forbesinterview

aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 13

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2020
