Phil Boyer will soon leave its job as US AOPA president after eighteen years spent serving the interests of General Aviation. Let me quote him 18 times to say good-bye.
1 – The White House is proposing to cut nearly $1 billion from the Airport Improvement program in 2007.
2 – The statistics don’t support planes falling out of the sky.
3 – There has been no history that having that medical exam creates a safer environment.
4 – The pilots of tomorrow are the plane buyers of tomorrow.
5 – One thing we have continued to overlook as an industry is what’s happening with the pilot population.
6 – More and more, we have to use our own eyes in good weather to look out for other airplanes.
7 – How ridiculous can you get?
8 – Enough is enough. What does one mile around his house and 1,500 feet do anyway? It is just nonsense.
9 – We want our billion dollars back.
10 – (To Fox News): In sum, your staff misrepresented themselves and the facts to obtain a sensationalistic story that unfairly alarmed a trusting public.
11 – Better service and no fees. That’s the bottom line for pilots,
12 – The thrust that drives AOPA forward comes from you, the members.
13 – AOPA has always argued that security measures taken should be predicated on the actual risk, and our small aircraft present minimal risk.
14 – Number of people killed by a terrorist attack using a GA aircraft? Zero.
15 – The marginal cost to add GA into the system doesn’t even rise above the noise level.
16 – It’s more runways, stupid! (about capacity problems)
17 – It is up to each of us as pilots to be responsible, check notams and stay clear (of the Washington, D.C., ADIZ).
18 – What part of the word retirement don’t you understand?
Thank you again Phil. I wish you satisfaction, fun, and many happy landings in your new life !
Read other Advent Calendar Posts – but no cheating !
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14

Vincent Lambercy is a Swiss private pilot now living in Germany. He holds a private pilot certificate with single-engine, multi-engine and instrument ratings and has logged more than 430 hours of flight.
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