Mark Baker

General aviation is all about celebrating our past in a way that paves our future. Our history has been shaped by those who have gone a step beyond to explore new horizons.

General aviation is all about celebrating our past in a way that paves our future. Our history has been shaped by those who have gone a step beyond to explore new horizons.

It’s springtime. One of our favorite times of year when the weather gets warmer, the days get longer, and the pull to spend time aloft gets stronger (even though that allure to fly is always strong for the GA community).

A new year is a new beginning, filled with possibilities.

With how busy the skies are this year, I continue to be amazed at how safe general aviation remains. We’re coming off our safest fiscal year yet, according to NTSB data reviewed by our own Air Safety Institute.

It’s hard to fathom where much of the United States was in 2020, and even just last year. Quite frankly, I’d rather not go there. I’m always focusing on the positive, and there’s a lot of that going around right now in our general aviation community.

I’m writing these words just having returned home from a whirlwind week at Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo in Lakeland, Florida. What a great time.

I often talk about the programs, initiatives, and services we develop to maintain and protect your freedom to fly here at AOPA. But, like other successful organizations, our work on your behalf is only as strong as our team. We can only get the job done if we have the right people doing the right things in the right places.

Still grappling with the effects of the pandemic, the U.S. economy and job market have been unpredictable, to say the least. “Now hiring” and “help wanted” signs continue to hang in the windows of businesses that are struggling to recover. But while the demand is there, the workers don’t seem to be.

Over the past year, I think we’ve all learned a simple lesson in appreciation. Most of us didn’t realize how much we’d miss the little things: a family gathering, a sporting event, and for us pilots, an airshow. Or to be more specific, the World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration.

September 11, 2001, is a day that I will never forget.

We’ve been talking about the need to find an unleaded replacement for avgas since the United States began phasing out leaded fuels in the early 1970s.

It’s not too often that you get more than you ask for.