NBAA traditionally fills the opening general sessions to the largest trade event in business aviation with distinguished speakers from the industry, legislative and regulatory areas. The opening session at NBAA 2014 in Orlando, Fla., yesterday was no exception, as NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen welcomed Pennsylvania Congressman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.); Christopher Hart, acting secretary of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB); and Enterprise Holdings chairman Andrew Taylor.
All three men share connections with the industry, with Shuster kicking things off by highlighting the importance of general and business aviation to rural communities in his district. “With business aviation and general aviation, you can get people to where they need to be and where the commercial airlines don’t go,” he said, also noting that in total, aviation “contributes over a trillion dollars to a $17 trillion economy” each year in the U.S.
Shuster’s presentation then turned to the upcoming discussion on FAA reauthorization that he will be heavily involved with as chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
“It goes without saying that the U.S. has the best aviation safety system out there. We need to keep it,” he stated. “The next FAA reauthorization will lay the groundwork for the future of the U.S. aviation industry, [and] this bill is one of my highest priorities in the next Congress.”
Next, the NTSB’s Hart, who is also President Obama’s choice to lead the Board, discussed his concerns about increasing cockpit automation by calling attention to several recent accidents in which reliance on automation was a contributing factor. That includes Air France 447 in June 2009 and the Asiana 214 accident at San Francisco International Airport in July 2013. “You are pioneers of automation…and the proving ground for so many aspects of it,” he told the audience. “I’m not anti-automation, [but] we need to get our hands around how to make this machine/person system work better without having a deleterious effect on professionalism.”
Finally, Taylor described the importance of business aviation to Enterprise, which over the last 35 years has grown to operate the largest automotive rental fleet in the world. “We’ve owned and operated around 11 aircraft, across a variety of manufacturers,” he noted. “Today our revenue is $17.8 billion, versus $70 million [in 1979].
“Business aviation was one of the reasons why we were able to become successful and so large,” Taylor concluded. “We couldn’t have done it without that.”
Bolen also recognized at the general session notable members of the National Aviation Hall of Fame who were in attendance, including Bob Hoover, Bud Anderson and Sean Tucker. The session concluded with the presentation of the association’s Al Ueltschi Humanitarian Award to International Jet Aviation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, for those organizations’ partnership on providing “Dream Chaser” flights to children with life-threatening conditions.
