Florida was once again last to the table with its tally in the 2012 President election. I know these are close races, but couldn’t somebody have figured out that we need to count the absentee ballots sometime before Thanksgiving?
In any case, it’s now time to answer the big question: What do the results mean for aviation? Too bad it’s such a boring topic. Now, by its nature the question isn’t boring; it’s just that the possible answers to it are so vague, ambivalent or obvious that it’s hard to get excited by them. Will President Obama suddenly become a cheerleader for GA? Uh, it’s unlikely. Will he decide now that his second term is a done deal that rich guys who fly bizjets are the heart and soul of America, the job creators that power the economy? Again, very unlikely. Will he decide that aviation jobs are worth going out of his way to protect by standing up for Wichita, the way he did for Detroit? It simply isn’t going to happen.
What we’re left with is a president who is at very best indifferent to GA and the worst openly antagonistic to it. I wrote in a column a couple of years ago a line that’s been repeated by lots of folks since, that President Obama is the highest profile bizjet user on the planet, and it’s true. It betrays a lack of imagination on his part or just plain political cynicism that he doesn’t connect the dots and see that business aviation makes businesses run better and stronger and, therefore, create jobs, good paying jobs here at home, too.
Instead, we’re looking at another four years of fighting off user fees, which I’m confident we can do, and drones, which I’m worried about.
But there’s another issue that we haven’t gotten out in front of, and that is the carbon tax, whereby people who use carbon fuel pay for the privilege.
In this case, we don’t choose to use fossil fuels. We simply have no choice but to use them. There are no other alternatives.
This isn’t because we have our collective head in the sands instead of, for once, the clouds. It’s because we’ve created an engine for aviation — the turbine — that works on fossil fuel and doesn’t really work on anything else that’s available.
If we want to do the work of the world, flying hundreds of millions of people, cargo, doing rescue and defense and business work in the many, many thousands of airplanes that crisscross this globe every minute, we’ve got to use fossil fuel.
Our message has been clear on this subject too, that we’re proactive in looking for alternative fuels that work. But spending $140 a gallon for fuel made out of Javanese orchid blossoms, well, that simply won’t fly. We are looking and want to find answers, the right answers, sustainable answers, answers that are as good for business as they are for the planet.
In the meantime, we need to make clear that we are technology leaders in every sense, flying airplanes that are far more eco-friendly than ever before and flying for the good of business and all mankind.
It’s a story that might be hard for some to swallow, because it’s the truth. We need to tell it anyway, and tell it with conviction.
All Comments
Mr Goyer, I am a fan of Flying and of your writing in the general, but reading this blog post leaves me shaking my head. Respectfully, I believe you and others in aviation with these opinions, are misguided, even though your goals for a healthy and vibrant GA marketplace are above reproach.
The way that I see it, the heart of the problem is that you believe “…that rich guys who fly bizjets are the heart and soul of America, the job creators that power the economy”. Forgive me for being blunt, but that is nothing but republican ideology that isn’t support by economic reality or the math.
It’s the MIDDLE CLASS that powers the economy, and that is driven largely by small businesses who create and sustain more new jobs than large businesses. This has proven true decade after decade, through good economic times and poor. The economy has suffered over the past 3 decades because our regulatory and fiscal policies have steadfastly rewarded and protected the wealthy and slowly impoverishing the middle class.
Giving yet more tax breaks to wealthy corporations and individuals, whether they be for so-called ‘business jets’ or for any other thing only the wealthy would buy, only hurts the economy and GA in the long run.
And for the record, while you may find your comment about POTUS being the ‘highest profile bizjet user’ as pithy, I think it’s silly. Air Force One is an aircraft that carries a head of state and is no more a ‘bizjet’ than an F-15C Strike Eagle or a C-17 cargo hauler. These are military aircraft in the service of the citizens of this country. Period.
You and others in the industry repeat that canard about how so-called bizjets are pure tools of industry, making executives more effective and efficient. While I admit happily that private aircraft does indeed deliver those benefits, I will also point out that if the benefits were as overwhelming as you represent, businesses would not have sold off their fleets after the embarrassing, but fleeting, stupidity of the auto industry CEOs. If the numbers were able to prove that those jets were more business tool than perq, the company would have ignored any silliness in the press.
Truth be tld, bizjets are more perq than tool for more companies, and we all know it.
It’s time that average citizens of this country get the attention and encouragement of our economic policies. The 1% have had their way with us and we can’t take too much more of their misguided economic ideology.
Yes, I am a CEO and founder of a small business, and we are a Service Disabled Veteran Owned company to boot. We care, love, and serve this country deeply.
http://static.businessinsider.com/image/4fe2807e69bedd095c000005-590/and...
"Wages as a percent of the economy are at an all-time low. This is both cause and effect. One reason companies are so profitable is that they’re paying employees less than they ever have as a share of GDP. And that, in turn, is one reason the economy is so weak: Those “wages” are other companies’ revenue."
~Business Insider
The economic health of GA lies along a path where middle class people can once again afford to buy piston singles by the many-thousands each year. A fair number will eventually buy biz jets, but it's folly for GA to focus so much energy on protecting the jet buyers of GA while the formerly high-volume low end of the market dies.
FirstFlightMike is right on the ball. US aviation enthusiasts are responsible to drive our own concerns and seek alternatives to fossil fuels and show the rest of the consumers what we can achieve. Too many sit and rely on others and elected officials to give us what we want. Will Mr Goyer consider hydrogen or discount it. Yes its safer then aviation fuel in an accident but is your perception of it clouding your view? A New Zealand company has solved the controlling the use of thixotrope in rocket technology, your next commercial space flight? The US is putting through a bill to stamp out carbon tax on international flights to Europe. Can we get behind this and extend it to GA aviation nationally?
I am looking forward to my next trip in a corporate bizjet, hopefully a Dreamliner.
Great comments above, especially FirstFlightMike. I might quibble a bit about the disconnect between him and Robert Goyer regarding POTUS as the "highest profile bizjet user." They are both right in a way. Air Force One is a military aircraft carrying a head of state in service of the country. However, Mr. Goyer's point is that the President's use of it, and the benefits efficiencies and productivity it provides, are a perfect and highly visible illustration of the value of general aviation when properly used. The President couldn't do his job if he had to travel any other way. The dual role of aircraft as perquisites notwithstanding, much, if not most, of business related GA in the US is utilitarian, especially by small and medium sized businesses, professionals and individuals.
I'm remember when many average citizens could afford to buy a share of a fairly recent (not 50-year-old) GA aircraft, and reasonable numbers of moderately successful people could afford a new piston single. That entry level supported the sale of "piston singles by the many-thousands each year." Maybe it's not too late to find a way back to that situation.
Mr. Goyer, respectively, YOU sir, are part of the problem. You sound like a spoiled, little rich brat ranting because you didn't get your way. You only care about the wealthy.
I'm sick of Flying and the AOPA and their partisan rantings lately. It's not helping. You are out of touch flying around in planes most of us can't afford and you have no clue what most working pilots are dealing with.
You're driving your base readers like me away by going too far injecting your personal politics into it. I have been subscribed for decades and only recently have considered not renewing.
Based on the comments I see here so far, you are probably going to purge lots more readers very soon. Good luck living in your bubble...until it bursts.
GA isn't just about the 'Fat Cat' riding in the back of the plane. We can quibble about the merits of having a private BizJet as a business tool. Obviously the POTUS, Senators, Generals and other government types sure find them effective.
More so GA is an INDUSTRY that employshundreds of thousands of american citizens. Ask the workers in the Gulfstream plant in Georgia how things were the first time Obama cursed the business jet. Lear workers just settled for a 4% increase. How will an added 4% on no job because orderes dried up feel. FLYING is an industry and the economic impact of stifling regulations needs to be considered before knee jerk reactions are taken.
Wow, the comments on the article seem as if they didn't actually read it.
The statement about fossil fuels being the only fuel that we have available is not advocacy or bias. It's simply stating the fact. Those of us who prefer freedom over totalitarianism completely embrace replacing fossil fuels with something better. We are simply realists though, who are anxiously awaiting an alternative that is actually better. Give me a fuel that is as cheap & clean or better on any parameter & I'll jump on it. So would anyone else. It's not supposed to be a blind cult issue.
This whole concept that being supportive the more prosperous is in some way at the expense of the less prosperous is, of course, totally specious as well. When someone runs a business well or invents something new, that is great! When someone gets their first job or a raise or promotion, great! There should be no such thing as "class warfare" such as displayed in these comments. Jealously is a natural tendency that we need to suppress, but that some politicians take advantage of. It has no place here or anywhere else. It's just sad.
Keep that in mind when at the airport. Why shouldn't someone be proud of their new high dollar airplane? They aren't rubbing it in your face. They stretched their budget and fantasized for years over the purchase and are finally able to do it. Just like the gal pulling up in the new-to-her C172 or beat up Cub or RV-7. They are all cool. Embrace them all. Just like you would want to be embraced. Leave the jealousy where you left your morning BM.
Regarding your first paragraph, how can a modern democracy like the USA not be sickened by four hour lines to vote on election night in Florida's most populous counties? I live in an urban are in Vancouver, BC and have never stood in line to vote for more than five to ten minutes.
I suggest you folks ask the federal government provide more resources to increase the capacity of your election infrastructure, specifically devote more resources into places where there is a history of long lines on election night. Either have more polling places or larger ones with more staff, voting booths, ballots, etc. How can a voting place run out of ballots for Christ';s sake. Are they worried about killing trees?
Even better, begin to set up a computer network where voters can makes their choices via their personal computers. That would speed up the counting of votes and eliminate human factors like slow counts or miscounts.
Last Tuesday was a black mark on your system of elections, with states enacting partisan voter suppression laws. The most glaring example was the Florida State Government's failure to create adequate polling infrastructure in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, the intent of which can be none other than to suppress votes by minorities, primarily African American Democratic supporters. Other states created new voter ID cards, when a driver's license with a photo is clearly adequate to prove one's identity. I agree with Mr. Goyer that counting absentee ballots on any night other than election night is ridiculous and should be changed as soon as possible.
This will not change until everyone demands it. So start writing to your elected representatives. And ask them to get those dishonest, distorting and unaccountable Super Pacs out of your election process.
On the subject of bizjets, relating Obama flying in Air Force One as a business jet is missing the point. That plane is a dramatic and powerful symbol of America which can be brought to every spot on the globe with an adequate runway. That is a lot different than corporate fat cats, the 1 %, who use their planes to leverage their effectiveness or impress their partners. My guess is that you could eliminate sixty percent of the corpjets and have either no affect on businesses' bottom lines or even make more money. Have any of these CEOs ever tried a conference call, to hold a meeting with someone thousands of miles away? Are the big suits so affected by the lack of somebody's bizjet that they won't make a deal they otherwise would? Ridiculous.
In a world whee most peoples' earning have been stagnant for a generation or more, I have no sympathy for billionaires bitching about the cost of their personal magic carpets going up a few percent. Talk about your myopia.
Douglas G
Surrey, British Columbia
Mattwemb,
I agree completely Reading the comments in this article worries me that the class warfare attitude coming from DC is really having an affect. FirstFlightMike says "the heart of the problem is that you believe “…that rich guys who fly bizjets care the heart and soul of America, It’s the MIDDLE CLASS that powers the economy" I'm sorry but its ALL of us that power the economy. Everyone plays a role, including the wealthiest Americans. They provide the required capital to expand goods and services as well as create jobs. Again, I hope we can move past the us versus them mentality because it will hurt all of us, we're all in this together.
man, the weather sucks today - must be Obama's fault.
My dog is sick, too....must be Obama's fault.
Get over yourself, Goyer, most of us are sick of your whining about Obama. Roger up and stop complaining.
Hi Mattwemb,
No doubt that every one of us has a role in the economy, and you point is well taken. But it's the middle class that have the dominant economic impact, delivers the greatest percentage of GDP productivity, and consumes the most product.
It is a fallacy that the wealthy create the most jobs... 74% of new jobs created are created by small businesses owned by the middle class.
I think this is all important to GA because the class warfare being waged on the middle class has decimated our ability to buy GA aircraft and maintain the associated jobs. I think that FLYING and AOPA focus far too much attention and resources that benefit jet buyers and owners and I believe that is a direct reflection of a bias toward and for the wealthy.
We shouldn't be moving past the us vs them mentality because as Warren Buffet said... “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
GA would be much healthier if the top 2-3% of the population hadn't received all of the economic gains over the past 30 years.
One more thing Mattwemb... Mr. Goyer's blog struck me as strange because the first half was essentially a rant against the reelection of President Obama, and the second half about fossil fuels. Two unrelated conversations smooshed together.
I felt the first part deserved a response.
Sheesh, everybody is just aching for a fight.
There's only one personal opinion here.
Fact #1: President Obama won re-election. (I might have voted for the guy for all you know...stop making foolish assumptions)
Fact #2: He wasn't kind to GA first term. User fees, carbon taxes, negative comments about bizjet use, a steady stream of negativity toward GA for four years. Don't believe me, ask GAMA, NBAA, AOPA or EAA. It's just the way it is. My saying it didn't make it so. As far as bizav creating jobs: it's a fact. Millions of high paying jobs, in fact.
Fact #3: We need fossil fuel now. Don't think so? Answer this question: my buddy flies an older Mooney 231. He called and said he was interested in alternative fuels and wondered what I would recommend for a trip he planned later that week in the airplane. His options are, 100LL, low lead 100, reduced lead avgas and all of the above. In five or ten years might he have options? Sure. But he doesn't today, and neither do you. It's a fact. It's the same for the guy who flies a King Air or a Gulfstream. It's the way it is, people.
Opinion #1: While we develop alternatives, something that will take time, we need to stand up for fossil fuel and our way of flight or we're going to take a hit. You can disagree with this, but don't create opinions I didn't express--I said nothing about the middle class and didn't remotely imply any such thing. Again, you have no idea what my politics are and I'm offended that you would suggest you do know.
And, yes, I'll happily fly on hydrogen if it proves itself. Or batteries. Or Jet-A. Or Javanese orchid blossom-derived bio-fuel. I'm fuel neutral and flying positive.
