Partnerships for prosperity

On May 16, 2024, the President of the United States signed into law a bill known as H.R. 3935. This is the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024. If you’re involved in general aviation this is big news. It’s going to affect us.

My partner Pat Brown and I recently published a video about the FAA Reauthorization Act on YouTube. With more than 13,000 views in just two days it has been the most watched episode we’ve produced over the past year — suggesting that the topic of aviation and its future is very much on the minds of aviation enthusiasts around the world.

Yes, even folks living in far off places take an interest in what’s happening with aviation in the U.S. Perhaps because the aeronautical privileges we enjoy are significantly broader than those available to general aviation fans around the world.

The phrase, “We’re number 1,” is totally appropriate in this context.

One of the provisions of the FAA Reauthorization Act is language intended to help prevent the closure of airports.

As anyone with a cursory understanding of real estate development knows, finding a piece of land large enough and undeveloped enough to become a new airport is something of a challenge. That being the case, any airport lost is likely to signal the end of aeronautical activity in that community. If not the end, then at least a significant restriction of activities that could have occurred had the airport remained open.

It is a sad reality that airports close from time to time. Residents or competing business interests cry out to bulldoze the airport, which they see as nothing more than a playground for the rich. Their goal is replace it with something more beneficial to the community at large. A park. A playground. A high rise filled with condo units. Anything but an airport.

This is small brain thinking. It illustrates a lack of imagination. Yet it is a common belief. If we want to save airports it will be incumbent on us to make the case and lead that parade. Thankfully, we can do that if we make the effort.

For the wider community the issue is economic. They don’t care about aviation. Yes, they use the services aviation offers like overnight delivery of online purchases. But they don’t realize aviation is the key to that quick delivery. They’re thinking more superficially. Specifically, they want to know how can they realize the best bang for the buck. What will bring in the most revenue, provide the most jobs, create the highest use of those acres?

Well, the airport can fill that bill nicely. But the airport management has to be open to opportunities as they arise. Similarly, the enthusiast community has to become part of the process and inspire, motivate, and innovate those opportunities that will benefit the wider population.

To be honest many small general aviation airports are the home to a few dozen or maybe a couple hundred aircraft owners who use the facility with great affection but little beneficial impact to the public at large. That reality doesn’t bring joy to the hearts and minds of the folks who perceive their tax dollars as being wasted on grass cutting, taxiway refurbishment, or a new FBO building. Tens of thousands of our neighbors don’t see themselves as benefiting from those expenditures at all.

Ah, my friend but what if they could?

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) has done an exceptional job of developing a four-year high school STEM curriculum based on aviation. That curriculum is available to school systems across the country at no cost. It’s a complete soup-to-nuts package that gives high schoolers the awareness and insight to seek any number of careers in the aviation industry. Careers that pay well, last a lifetime, and encourage the development of skills that are easily transportable to any corner of the world.

A handful of municipalities have seen such benefit to this development that they’ve built high schools on the grounds of their local airport. That’s leadership. Those communities have seen the light. They’re training their youth for a future of gainful employment in an industry that will only grow and become increasingly important to the global economy.

Mike Rowe would be proud.

A population that sees its airport as a provider of useful educational content, a base of operation for a wide assortment of small businesses, and a destination for itinerant travelers develops a whole different view of their airport. In that scenario the wider community benefits from the field. Their kids have a place there. Their investment dollars can find a home inside the airport fence.

The airport becomes a hub of public good.

Our role as enthusiasts and participants in general aviation is to pitch in and bring those educational institutions and businesses to the forefront of the conversation. The municipality may own and operate the field, but we have the luxury of being able to start — or at least encourage — the establishment of businesses there. Be it a restaurant, a flight school, a maintenance operation, a sales office, or any one of a hundred other commercial entities, these are the domain of the private sector. This is where we shine and government tends to flail ineffectively.

The city or county has done their part. They’ve maintained the field for all these years. It’s our role to step up, monetize the facilities in the best way we can imagine, and welcome an ever-wider segment of the population to find their own place in aviation. Let them come at their pace, with our help.

A well imagined and intelligently executed partnership between the public and private sectors can be incredibly powerful. The key is to get both sides to the table for a frank discussion of the opportunities that exist, the opportunities that could be developed, and the opportunities that might result from laying that early groundwork.

We can do this. We can make our airport an economic and educational boon to our home town. All that’s missing from the process is you.

Let’s get to it.