Thomas B. Haines, Editor in Chief of AOPA Pilot, summarized in a recent blog post the efforts of business aviation to counter the public relations fallout from when Detroit’s Big Three auto makers arrived at a bailout hearing aboard their corporate jets. In fact, in an ad for their new Beechcraft King Air 350, Hawker Beechcraft goes as far as poking fun at the USA congress with the tag line “Sensible enough to impress any Congressional Committee” while a new Cesna ad promotes corporate aircraft with the tag line: “One thing is certain: true visionaries will continue to fly.”Meanwhile, the National Business Aviation Association and General Aviation Manufacturers Association have teamed up to launch the “No Plane, No Gain” advocacy campaign to further counter negative publicity surrounding corporate jets by highlighting the benefits of business aviation such as the number of jobs the industry creates.
Thomas concludes by noting that business aviation “runs the gamut from a single-engine piston airplane carrying a sole salesman or contractor intrastate to executives flying globally to close a multibillion deal.” Not to mention all of us private and recreational pilots who help to sustain the industry.
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