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Commercial Aviation Safety Team
Receives 2008 Collier Trophy
On May 28, 2009, NAA presented the coveted Robert J. Collier Trophy to the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) at the annual Robert J. Collier Trophy Presentation Banquet.
CAST, a cooperative government-industry initiative, was recognized for its work in developing an integrated, data-driven strategy that reduced aviation fatalities in the United States by 83 percent over 10 years.
In making the presentation, NAA President Jonathan Gaffney said, "CAST served as a model and conduit for safety around the world. Its impact has been simply remarkable."
Current CAST Co-Chairs Captain Don Gunther, Staff Vice President for Safety at Continental Airlines, and Peggy Gilligan, Associate Administrator for Regulation and Certification at the Federal Aviation Administration, accepted the award on behalf of the team.
Gilligan said, "We are humbled by this award. It goes beyond anything that we expected to accomplish. It not only changed the way we fly, but the way we live. In 1997 they said it couldn't be done, but we put partisan positions aside and worked together."
Gunther explained, "Industry and government put a partnership together. It brought together lots of brainpower and lots of time," which allowed the team to reach its goals.
Members of CAST span many sectors of the aviation community, including the following organizations:
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 A Blip On The Screen
In my travels around the country this past year, as I encounter the concern, pessimism, and the cold facts of our wonderful aerospace industry, I have been telling this story about the cycles of our livelihood.
Shortly after 9-11, my former boss, Jim Wilding, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), gathered his top executives for a talk.
A few days earlier, MWAA Crash and Rescue trucks, located a mile away from the Pentagon, were the first to respond to the scene. The plane that was flown into it had departed from our Dulles Airport just hours earlier.
The brand-new Main Terminal at Washington National Airport - our gateway to the capital - had been evacuated of thousands of passengers, workers, and flight crews in less than 20 minutes under fear that another hijacked plane was on its way.
The smell of the Pentagon fire was still in the area. The Capital of our nation was pretty much closed. Across the country, the nation's amazing and critical aviation system was grounded for three days. It was awful.
In the immediate aftermath of this international, national, and local tragedy -- with the backdrop of still-closed Washington National Airport outside the window (it would not re-open for another month after being under threat of permanent closure) -- Mr. Wilding's remarks went something like this:
"Folks, I have been in the business of commercial aviation since 1958 and, over the past 43 years I have witnessed events and challenges in our industry which we thought would just destroy it."
He went on to list some of the calamities:
- Hijackings
- Oil Embargoes
- Recessions
- Deregulation
- The Air Traffic Control Strike and Firings
- Desert Storm
- Consolidation
- Mass Runway Congestion
Then he explained, "You know, in hindsight and in the continuum of aviation, those incidents - things that we thought would just kill our industry as we know it - were literally blips on the screen."
He then produced a small paper chart to prove it. It showed a solid line from left-to-right spanning 43 years that showed an overall increase in airline passenger traffic of well over 1000 percent. It wasn't solid "up," but it made the obvious point.
Then he concluded, "Folks, we work in aviation. We don't make black-and-white televisions. We are part of a system that America relies on for commerce, for culture, for essentially our way of life. It isn't going away."
While the problems that confront all of us in aviation and aerospace constitute a pretty big "blip," I have yet to talk to anybody who thinks it is any more than that.
What we do is critical to our economy, our culture, and our way of life. Or, in other words, we are not designing, making, selling, and operating black-and-white televisions. We're here for the long term.
Jonathan Gaffney
NAA President | |
Rudy Frasca Receives ACONE Cabot Award
Rudy Frasca, the Founder & CEO of Frasca International, received the 2009 Godfrey L. Cabot Award from Aero Club of New England (ACONE) on June 5, 2009. He was recognized for his lifelong achievements and innovative developments in flight simulation and received the award from John G.L. Cabot (shown in center of photo), the grandson of ACONE founder Godfrey L. Cabot, for whom the award was named. ACONE President Georgia Pappas joined the ceremony.
Frasca built his first simulator in his garage in 1958. Today, his company manufactures flight training equipment fo r airlines, flight schools, universities and military organizations worldwide, and has delivered over 2,200 devices to 70 countries.
In other news, ACONE awarded over $22,000 in scholarships this year to 12 deserving students who are planning a career in the aviation industry. ACONE is planning a 25th Anniversary Scholarship Auction in November of this year to celebrate 25 years of the program. www.acone.org.
Wichita Aero Club Holds Awards Dinner
The Wichita Aero Club (WAC), launched in October 2008, held its first annual Awards Dinner on June 6, 2009. Originally conceived to be similar to the Wright Brothers Dinner hosted each year by NAA and the Aero Club of Washington, the WAC event morphed into a fundraiser for laid-off workers after Wichita's airplane manufacturers were forced to significantly reduce th eir employment in the face of dwindling orders.
Dave Franson, Executive Director of the Wichita Aero Club, dubbed the event the "No Black Tie Black Tie Ball" and encouraged attendees to save the money they would have spent on renting tuxedos or buying evening gowns and use it to bid on items in the charity auction held as part of the evening's activities. The more than 200 attendees complied and helped raise nearly $32,000 for the United Way of the Plains Laid Off Workers Fund.
Attendees also heard from keynote speaker Tom Poberezny (shown in photo), CEO of the Experimental Aircraft Association, and witnessed the unveiling of the new Wichita Aero Club Trophy, which will be presented to a living recipient with ties to Wichita's aviation community for significant contribut ions to aerospace. Nominating criteria and details are available at www.wichitaaeroclub.org.
Aero Club of Southern California Adopts
Original Name, Launches New Logo
In recent years the name Southern California Aeronautic Association has been used by the organization that was chartered in 1925 as the Aero Club of Southern California (ACSC). In May 2009, the group's board of directors voted to return to the original Aero Club name and adopt a new logo (shown here).
ACSC President Nissen Davis said the name emphasizes that the Aero Club remains true to its original mission: to promote, advance and preserve the region's aviation and aerospace legacy. www.aeroclubsocal.org
Aero Club of Washington is 100 Years Old
The Aero Club of Washington held its first member meeting on June 10, 1909, at the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC. On June 10, 2009, a hundred years later to the day, the Club held a board meeting and reception at the Cosmos Club! All the members of the board were present at the meeting and 14 past presidents attended the reception, along with many past board members (all shown in photo).
Dr. Tom Crouch, Senior Curator at the National Air and Space Museum, gave a lively historic presentation on the early years of the Club. After the meeting in 1909, the Club members and their guests walked to the White House, where President Taft presented the Wright Brothers with medals commissioned by the Aero Club of America, the precursor to today's NAA. www.aeroclub.org
ACNC Features Local Propeller Shop
Airplane propellers are still made the old-fashioned way - out of wood - at the Wings of History Air Museum in San Martin south of San Jo se, CA. The Aero Club of Northern California featured a story about the Ole Fahlin Memorial Propeller Shop on the grounds of the museum in its recent Northern Wings newsletter.
The craftsmanship that produced most aircraft propellers from the time of the Wright Brothers into the mid-1930s is not a lost art. At the shop, prop maker Guy Watson and two assistants - Herb Robbins (shown in photo) and Howard Pomeranz - turn out more than a dozen wooden propellers a year, mostly for owners of antique and experimental aircraft. The shop is a memorial to the late Ole Fahlin, one of the world's great propeller makers. www.aeroclubnorcal.org
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This month's featured member organizations:
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Records Claimed
April 1 - May 31 2009
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AEROPLANES
Speed Around the World, Eastbound: 370.12 mph
Jared T. Isaacman &
Douglas R. Demko
Class C-1.e, Group III (Jet)
Cessna 525A Citation CJ2
2 Williams FJ44
Morristown, NJ
04/15/09
Fastest Time to Visit All the Hard Surface Public Use Airports in Massachusetts:
10 hrs, 10 min
Richard A. MacIsaac
Special Category
Flight Design CTSW
1 Rotax 912, 05/20/09
Speed Over a Recognized Course:
Seattle to St. George's:
565.75 mphBruce R. McCaw &
Jerry L. TimboeClass C-1.j, Group III (Jet)Dassault Falcon 900EX3 Honeywell TFE73104/04/09St. John's to Santa Maria: 441.89 mphSanta Maria to Olbia:
446.06 mphOlbia to Luxor: 454.97 mphLuxor to Muscat: 487.57 mphMuscat to Male: 382.53 mphMale to Phuket: 385.07 mphPhuket to Manila: 398.17 mphManila to Seoul: 406.79 mphSeoul to Petropavlovsk:
419.46 mphPetropavlovsk to Nome:
441.45 mphNome to Sitka: 438.12 mphSitka to Reno: 446.08 mphReno to Fargo: 442.66 mphFargo to Newark: 427.80 mphJared T. Isaacman &
Douglas R. DemkoClass C-1.e, Group III (Jet)Cessna 525A Citation CJ22 Williams FJ4404/13-15/09Goose Bay to Iqaluit:
362.30 mph Iqaluit to Keflavik: 375.35 mphKeflavik to Wick: 344.07 mphJames C. Frost &
Elizabeth B. FrostClass C-1.e, Group III (Jet)Embraer Phenom 1002 Pratt & Whitney Canada PW617F-E, 05/08-09/09Farmingdale to Shannon: 579.63 mphRobert P. Blouin &
Mark L. DaninClass C-1.i, Group III (Jet)Hawker 40002 Pratt & Whitney Canada PW308A, 05/08/09Oranjestad to Barcelona:
528 mphJaime Bahamon &
Ross D. OetjenClass C-1.k, Group III (Jet)Gulfstream G4502 Rolls-Royce Tay 611, 05/08/09Chester to Geneva:
512.66 mphRobert L. Gibson &
Aaron R. ComberClass C-1.e, Group III (Jet)Beechcraft Premier 1A2 Williams FJ44, 05/10/09Mojave to Oakland:
174.31 mph Christopher L. Freeze & Rodrigo E. von ContaClass C-1.c, Group I (Internal Combustion)Mooney M20J1 Lycoming IO-360, 05/19/09Oakland to Mojave:
166.54 mph Rodrigo E. von Conta & Christopher L. FreezeClass C-1.c, Group I (Internal Combustion)Mooney M20J1 Lycoming IO-360, 05/19/09GLIDERSFree Three Turnpoint Distance: 623 miJames M. PayneClass DU, Ultralight, GeneralWindward Performance SparrowHawkRosamond, CA, 04/25/09Speed Over an Out and Return Course of 500 km:
97 mph Three Turnpoint Distance:
422 miThomas L. KnauffClass DM2, Motorglider, Multiplace, GeneralSchempp-Hirth Duo DiscusUnionville, PA, 05/10/09Free Distance: 379 miThree Turnpoint Distance:
379 miCindy BricknerClass D15, 15 meter, FeminineSchleicher ASW 27California City, CA, 05/16/09Free Out and Return Distance: 392 miOut and Return Distance:
386 miSpeed Over an Out and Return Course of 500 km:
56 mphJames M. PayneClass DU, Ultralight, GeneralWindward Performance SparrowHawkRosamond, CA, 05/17/09HELICOPTERS
Speed Over a Recognized Course, Round Trip San Diego to Savannah (and return): 69.47 mph Carl J. Nurmi, Tyler S. Kim, William S. Laggner, & Roy J. Sciortino
Class E-1.c, Group I (Piston)
Robinson R44 Raven II
1 Lycoming IO-540
04/23/09
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This Month's
Air Sport Link
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NAA Credit Card Offers Rewards
And Helps Support NAA's Work
Being a member of the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) has always been a rewarding experience, but now it is even more rewarding, because NAA is offering its new Rewards Visa� Card, which replaces the previous NAA Visa Card discontinued last fall. When Chase ended the program, there were approximately 7,000 NAA cardholders.
The new Visa card, offered in partnership with PartnersFirst Affinity Services, charges no annual fee and Cardholders earn Rewards points for 1% cash back, travel, gift cards, or a wide selection of valuable merchandise.
Click here for details. | |
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