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Ideally, one would market a tropical island get-away to pilots in the cold, dead of winter, when the thought of white sand beaches and a little sunshine has a lot more appeal than on a hot, humid day in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Nonetheless … summer in Wisconsin is when the biggest gathering of pilots in the U.S. takes place. So an enthusiastic group of pilots, aviation ministers and government officials from the Dominican Republic traveled to the EAA AirVenture show to make their case for why the island nation is now a great deal and a great place for pilots to visit.

Thousands of pilots fly to the Caribbean every year — most of them to the Bahamas. But even though the Dominican Republic has the same white sandy beaches and lush tropical landscape as many other Caribbean destinations, and can be reached by island hopping over 56 airports, with the longest leg over water only 120 nm, few GA pilots have ventured to this particular Caribbean island country.

The fact that the Dominican Republic shares an island with its vastly poorer neighbor Haiti might have something to do with it. But over the years, the Dominican Republic also developed a bad reputation for security and costs that repelled both GA pilots and the FAA. For a long time, its civil aviation was classified as Category III (or unacceptable) by the FAA — which meant its airlines were not allowed into U.S. airspace. And arriving GA pilots often found themselves assaulted by a mix of official and non-official individuals and fees that dampened their enthusiasm about their visits.

But all that has now reportedly changed, thanks to a concerted effort by the 400 aircraft owners and pilots based in the Dominican Republic and the country's reform-minded president, Leonel Fernandez. The aviation community convinced Fernandez and his ministers to institute sweeping changes in aviation policy and fees, and to invest heavily in building better infrastructure, ATC systems and airport facilities.

In March 2008, Fernandez signed a decree eliminating all fees, taxes and charges for visiting aircraft (except fuel costs, of course). They also beefed up security at airports, built 3 new airports and renovated six others, and updated the country's ATC radar and equipment. As a result of that and other administrative changes, the country has now regained its Category I FAA status.

To make the welcome mat even bigger for GA pilots, the D.R. also recently instigated a free Flying Ambassador Service to help ease the way for arriving pilots. The Ambassador Service hooks pilots up with American pilots based in the Dominican Republic who provide advice and logistical support for arriving pilots (kind of like what companies like Universal provide, but for free. The government pays the Ambassadors to provide the service).

The result, the Dominicans say, is a white sand paradise island destination that is now "Welcoming, Accessible, and Affordable" to vacationing GA pilots.

I personally have never been to the Dominican Republic, but what I saw and heard certainly piqued my interest. Michael Trim, an American Airlines 767 first officer who's based in Miami but lives in the Dominican Republic (he married a Dominican woman) described, for example, a renovated runway at El Portillo that's steps away from the beach, on a bay where whales breed in the spring. The airport, which is surrounded by a fly-in community, is now paved, with new facilities. And a new resort has been built right off the airport property, a short distance from what Trim characterized as a "town with a very European flavor to it," where other resorts are located.

Trim also described an airport called Cueva de las Maravillas (Cave of the Marbles) which is located adjacent to spectacular coastal caves. Cueva de las Maravillas will also be the practice field for an aviation academy the government recently founded, in conjunction with the University of Houston, to provide training and 2 and 4-year degrees for commercial pilots and ATC professionals.

And in an example of how innovation sometimes comes from those who are not as well established in an industry, the Dominican Republic is also in the process of developing the country's first "green" airport, which will use no fossil fuel and will be "off the grid," relying on locally-produced ethanol and alternative fuel sources for all its operations — including its flight operations. The country has a plentiful supply of sugar cane, and researchers worked with an ethanol experts at Baylor University — who worked with Brazil when that country developed a serious ethanol-powered aircraft fleet — to develop the same capability in the D.R.

It's an impressive effort for a country that, only a few years ago, wasn't even allowed to fly its airliners into the U.S. because its civil aviation management was in such disarray. And the pictures of long stretches of beach, green hills, and tropical blue waters certainly make the country look awfully appealing to explore (there are 26 airports there, 8 of which are international ports of entry). The chief engineer on the blimp crew I flew with in Europe a few years ago was from the Dominican Republic, and on many occasions he waxed poetic about the country's beauty. Add to that a fee-free, simplified process of arriving and getting around, and a free support system to help with routing, arrival, and in-country logistics, and the Dominican Republic might just have to go on my flying adventure "to do" list. Worth checking into, anyway. For more information, go to www.flydominicanrepublic.com.