Small Flyers Mount PR Push After Lidle Crash
That's the headline in a CQ article ($) about the political reaction to the small plane crash in NY City last week. Putting aside two deaths, the security of New York and other large cities, and reports of unsafe conditions flying around Manhattan, the Aircraft Operators Association is in full damage control mode:
After the propeller plane piloted by New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle crashed into a Manhattan apartment tower last week, killing both Lidle and his flight instructor, Tyler Stanger, fresh alarms went out about the security vulnerabilities associated with small aircraft flying out of regional airports. The celebrity component of the story soon overshadowed security worries.
But there's another reason that security-conscious lawmakers didn't rally to review the protocols of flight plans for hobbyist aviators such as Lidle: the lobbying clout of the 408,000-member Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. The AOPA's political action committee doled out $544,504 to candidates for Congress in 2004. By Labor Day this year it had already surpassed that total with $645,600 in donations.
This quote says it all:
"They're a very powerful political entity," says Bill Johnstone, a former Senate aide who also served on the transportation security staff of the independent Sept. 11 Commission. "Low-income folks typically don't dispose of their money to buy planes."
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