Plane Conversations

In a September 2 post I discussed Congressman Oberstar’s statement that possibly we should consider re-regulating the airline industry. His opinion is that the mergers happening between major carriers are bad for the consumer and will leave them with fewer choices, higher prices and less service.

I am opposed to regulation of the airlines in matters of customer service and free market competition. With the exception of matters of safety, I believe the government should step aside and let the market work things out. The government does not have a good track record meddling in matters of the free market.  

A September 5 blog by William Swelbar at www.swelblog.com has been posted that intelligently puts the facts out and further convinces me of the government’s need to get out of the way. The blog title, “Dear Chairman Oberstar: What Do You Mean This Is Not What You Voted For?” sets the tone of this post.

If you are interested in this issue Swelbar’s post is a well written argument on the history and merits of the deregulation of the airline industry that happened in 1978. Jump over to his site and take a read .

Even though business aviation and general aviation compete with the airlines for some portion of the travel market it is still good for the economy and the aviation industry as a whole to have a free market system of profitable and competitive airlines to keep our economy moving.

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What is General Aviation?  Mainstream media tells you that it is toys for the super-wealthy, chariots for the elite, excess for pampered executives.  Our purpose with Plane Conversations is to tell you that mainstream media is (we’ll be generous here) mistaken.  

We’ve shown you how corporate flight departments along with personal and chartered aircraft can save on the actual hard costs of travel.  We’ve demonstrated the savings you can find on a balance sheet.  We’ve talked how, yes, these are sometimes the toys of the very wealthy who have worked for the privilege of aircraft ownership.  But, we’ve also talked about the small business owner who uses his personal aircraft as an essential business tool.  We’ve demonstrated how general aviation contributes to mankind, specifically, how private aircraft were used to move tons of aid and NGO aid workers into Haiti.  Now, we’d like to tell you a little about how general aviation contributes on the ground here in Middle Tennessee.  

In the May 2010 floods in the Nashville area, Smyrna Air Center collected and distributed clothes, food, cleaning supplies, even televisions to hundreds of affected families.   McKenna Saunders, Director of Marketing, oversaw the collection and distribution of all items.  She said, “The most emotional moment for me was when I met a distraught mother who came into Smyrna Air Center to pick up donation items for her family. I helped her pick out boxes and boxes of goods as she tried to hold back tears, and when we came across a box of baby food, diapers, and wet wipes, her face lit up, and she started screaming with excitement! That’s when it really hit me that people are in desperate need of even the simplest of daily necessities.”  

The Smyrna/Rutherford County Airportis very active in community support projects like Meals on Wheels and clothing drives.  Each Fall, the airport collects new and gently used winter clothing for children attending the John Coleman Elementary School in Smyrna.  The school was originally constructed to serve the children of  personnel stationed at Sewart Air Force Base, which became the Smyrna/Rutherford County Airport.  Airport Manager Lois Vallance said, “When the Airport Authority was looking for avenues of community service, it only made sense to adopt John Coleman School.”  For the Meals on Wheels program, Vallance added, “Some Airport Authority employees and other volunteers are on a rotating weekly schedule to provide assistance to the Meals on Wheels program.  Whether its packaging the meals, delivering to a prescribed route–and sometimes staying to chat a few minutes–the volunteers are always as touched as those who receive the hot food.”  

CFM employee Shad Holloman (L) with a group working in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Employees at Corporate Flight Management are active in Habitat for Humanity builds and recently were able to volunteer helping out at Feed America First, which provides food to other relief organizations to distribute to rural populations that need a little help.  According to Executive Director Tom Henry, this Middle Tennessee facility will distribute some five million pounds of food this year to the hungry just in this area.  It was an eye-opening experience to see that we don’t have to look far from home to find people who need a hand.  Employee spouses and children also pitched in to repackage beans and rice.  Iowa native and recent Tennessee transplant Amber Sulzner said, “I thought this was a really good experience for us all to have a chance to give back to people who are less fortunate in our communities.  I wasn’t aware of how many families this organization helped and the amount of food that went in and out of the warehouse on a weekly basis.  Overall I felt this was a very good experience and I am now a pro at filling ziplock bags with rice. I also look forward to us hopefully helping this organization again and have even more volunteers.”  

So, what is General Aviation?  Are we an industry existing in the rarified air of the ivory towers?  Not even close.  We exist in local and global communities that experience disasters and need.  And we do our part to help in those communities whenever we can. 

(L-R) Amber Sulzner, Doug Cate, Jon Anne Doty, Jaegar Doty, Jeremy Gillard, Ken Dalton, Bill Allen, Tim Merenda, Melanie Howell, Annette Morton, Debbie Cate, David Augustin, Rachel Charlize, Jerome Vele Reece.

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Recently, as Tropical Storm Bonnie looked like she was going to take a walk up Carrollton Avenue in New Orleans, I was reminded of Hurricane Katrina, which, five years ago, lead to my unexpected move to Tennessee.  I was reminded of the powerless feeling of watching that kind of power approach my home and take nearly everything I had.  Remembering my own experiences always reminds me of the January earthquake in Haiti and how, in spite of the upheaval, I was among the most fortunate of people.

Ten months after Hurricane Katrina, my street was still without power.  Let that sink in for a minute.  Nearly one year later, in what is arguably the most advanced country on the planet, there were still people using generators.  We are now closing in on five years later and that region is STILL obviously recovering, but it’s old news.  The TV crews are gone.  The journalists are still busy covering the oil spill or some new sex scandal.  No one wants to hear about it anymore, even though Habitat for Humanity, Make It Right and many other organizations are still working tirelessly to put New Orleans and other affected areas back together.  Make no mistake, though.  It will take many more years, if not actual decades, before the area is fully recovered.  And the people still living there deal with it every single day.

Now, shift your attention to Haiti, one of the poorest countries on the globe, if not the poorest.  Some 250,000 people died and 1.3 million were left homeless in a country of 9 million.  A disaster with proportionate damage in the United States, with a population of some  307 million people, would have left 8.5 million people dead and 44 million homeless.  It’s the population of New York City killed and the population of California and Virginia left homeless.   Those numbers are approximate, but you get the idea – massive, massive impact.  As an industry, General Aviation has sent literally hundreds of flights into the area, landing even on dirt roads, bringing in personnel and supplies after the January earthquake.  As a company, we were fortunate enough to be able to help in some small ways to the relief efforts.  As individuals, we have contributed in private ways, as well.  In April, four months after the event, reports showed that donations and contributions were dwindling.  By now, they are minuscule.

I wasn’t in that earthquake and I don’t personally anyone who was.  I don’t have a personal agenda here.  However, I lost nearly everything I owned to Hurricane Katrina and I owe the lion’s share of my recovery to individuals and organizations who reached out to help me when I was all but hopeless.  I know what it feels like to face sudden, almost incomprehensible loss.  In the attached document, I’m sharing my story with you in hopes that you will remember them.  In the global scheme of things, I was so very fortunate, while they are not.  Just because they had fewer possessions to lose at the outset does not mean that they are any less shattered.

Shame on us if we don’t support the efforts of NGOs still in the thick of things, striving to make a difference – organizations like Can Do, World Vision, Feed the Children, Habitat for Humanity and others.  Shame on us if we allow that disaster to become nothing more than a sound-bite.

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Robert Cook in his July 8 Wheels Up post  writes about the challenges and opportunities of regional airports as they look to their future in the nations transportation system.

I would posit that the best and maybe only hope for these airports’ future viability is general aviation and business aviation.

Over the next five years airlines are not going to step in and save the day for these airports. The reality is that the number of airports being served by the airlines will most likely dwindle.

It would require a major strategy shift and change in the economic models of the airlines in this country to prove me wrong.   

In the absence of the DOT’s  Essential Air Service Program, most of the 100 plus airports receiving the subsidy, by way of the airlines serving them,  would lose their commercial air service. That’s roughly 20% of the airports in the US that have airline service due to government subsidy.   

As I hear from representatives of airports about what they believe they need to serve their constituents, they all seem desperate for scheduled airline service.

I sometimes wonder if we forget the true purpose of traveling by airline – to save time!

Business travelers have not forgotten the purpose of air travel. If it doesn’t save them time they don’t buy it, they drive, or just don’t travel at all.  

If marginalized air service to a regional airport doesn’t meet the market that demands time saving and convenient travel then why waste valuable resources to develop it, only to end up with a losing proposition?

Just like the airlines, business and general aviation do not meet the needs of every traveler. Business aviation cannot provide the same low cost service that Southwest can provide. What it can provide is efficient travel solutions to the small, medium and large businesses that will create the jobs in communities served by regional airports.

The prosperity of the communities and the small or regional airports that serve them depends on job creation and being connected to the market, both domestically and internationally.

A regional or small airport’s success should not be measured so much on having cheap airline seats to tourist destinations, or inconvenient scheduled service. Success should be measured  by having  viable and efficient ways for the community’s businesses to connect to their vendors and customers.

Maybe the small and regional airports should consider ways to develop alternative air travel by promoting and investing in the development of general and business aviation solutions.

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It’s almost absurd to think that is a possibility these days.  Just think about it…. you’ve been longing for your annual vacation which you’ve planned with your partner, friends or family for a long time.  You’ve spent hours researching the most desirable location, you’ve packed your best vacation clothes, you’ve booked a wonderful hotel on Expedia, you’ve planned your activities, you’ve practiced your golf swing, and you’re thinking about your first margarita.  Now you just have to get there. 

But you know your vacation isn’t going to start until you actually arrive at your destination.  You know you have to go through the battle of travelling on the airlines with the road warrior, the mother and wriggly child, or the stranger who saw your socks when you removed your shoes at the longer-than-long secuity line.  You know that you won’t truly be able to relax and be in vacation-mode until you actually step out of the bustling airport.  But is there an alternative? 

I can tell you that there is.  Before I started working in general aviation, I never even thought it a possibility that I could fly on a private jet or turbo-prop airplane.  It seemed way beyond my reach…they’re just for rockstars flying to resorts right?  Wrong.  CFM has just started operating a 30 seat Jestream 41 which would be perfect for a group of people to get together and fly to a beach destination like Destin for the weekend, maybe hunting in Arkansas, or shopping in New York?  These airplanes are economical, time saving, comfortable and you get to skip the big airline terminal experience entirely. 

So how does your vacation start at the airport?  This is how, and I know because I’ve done it:

You arrive at the airport 15 minutes before your wheels up departure time.

You grab yourself a coffee and hand your luggage to the crew (you can see your bags being handled and put gently onto the airplane).

You step out onto the ramp and take your seat in a comfortable aircraft with smiling crew and passengers who are as excited as you are to be heading to their destination. After all, the passengers are your friends or family.

You land at your destination and walk through a lovely lobby of an FBO to your waiting transportation, and head on to your resort to enjoy your one vacation a year! 

So, now you just have to find some friends to travel with right?  How many friends do you have on facebook?  And how many friends do your friends have?

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I have an interest in the development of aviation bio fuels. After riding through too many volatile price swings in aviation fuel (sometimes for reasons no one can explain),  I think it would be nice to one day wake up with some predictability in one of the majors costs to fly aircraft – fuel. And what if the solution happened to be much more carbon neutral? That would be a nice bonus!

Both General Aviation and the Airlines are subject to world price swings in fuel that can destroy profits overnight with no ability to control it on our end. The airlines who sell many seats far in advance are especially vulnerable to fuel price swings since they can not go back to the consumer and ask for more money when they have sold a seat on next months flight.

I have written a couple posts on our site about the development of bio fuels for aviation. Over the long haul this could provide an answer to the problem of price volatility. I also like the idea of our country becoming energy independent. It seems to make sense to not be reliant on other countries for a commodity that keeps the country running, especially since many of the countries we buy that commodity from are not our friends.

I have been to Brazil twice to visit the Embraer factory and on my trips I noticed that Brazil offers more choices to the consumer when you pull up to the gas station to fill your car up. On my first trip when I asked our driver about it he commented proudly that Brazil it energy independent.  The country has developed a variety of fuels for their cars and trucks including Liquid Natural Gas and Ethanol or Alcohol based fuel. They have cars that will run on multiple fuels so as not to be limited by supply of one fuel or the other.

So it does not surprise me that the country’s airlines, bio fuels producers and agricultural producers of the raw products for bio fuels have come together to form an alliance to develop bio fuels for aviation.

The blog site http://www.biomassintel.com reports on this alliance (Aliança Brasileira para Biocombustíveis de Aviação – ABRABA) in a May 20 post.

Quoting from the post:

According to a statement released by the alliance, ABRABA argues:

“The use of sustainable biofuels produced from biomass is key to maintaining the growth of the aviation industry within a low carbon economy.  The proven ability of Brazil to develop alternative energy sources, combined with its knowledge of aviation technologies, will result in a significant gain for the environment by minimizing the impact on economic development.”

The Bio Mass Intel site has a whole section on Aviation Bio fuels under the heading “Aviation 2.0” (link – . http://www.biomassintel.com/category/transportation/aviation-2-0/)  It is worth checking out.

This is part of the innovation that will be required to keep our industry sustainable into the future – both from an economic standpoint and environmentally.

Maybe our country should consider a national policy that orients development of bio fuels for aviation. I can’t see where anyone could complain about it in light of the mess we have in the Gulf of Mexico?

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In a May 12 USDOT press release DOT Secretary Ray LaHood announced the members of the  Future of Aviation Advisors Committee.

Quoting from the press release: The Future of Aviation Advisory Committee was formally established in March to provide information, advice, and recommendations to the Secretary on ensuring the competitiveness of the U.S. aviation industry and its capability to address the evolving transportation needs, challenges and opportunities of the U.S. and global economy.

“Aviation is essential to our nation’s economy and our ability to compete in international commerce,” Secretary LaHood said.  “This committee, which represents a broad cross-section of the aviation community, will begin the important conversation about how to ensure the industry remains vital and competitive.”

The committee will focus principally on five issue areas:  ensuring aviation safety, ensuring a world-class aviation workforce, balancing the industry’s competitiveness and viability, securing stable funding for aviation systems, and addressing environmental challenges and solutions.

The advisory committee grew out of a forum last November hosted by Secretary LaHood on the future of the U.S. aviation industry, during which he urged attendees to nominate potential committee members. The members selected represent airlines, airports, labor, manufacturers, environment, finance, academia, consumer interests, and general aviation stakeholders.  The committee will meet at least four times over the next year, after which it will issue its recommendations to the Secretary.

You can go to the link above to see the rest of the press release and get the full list of the names of the members to the committee. Here is the basic rundown of the committee members by who they represent:

• Academia: 2
• Airport Management: 3
• Government: 1
• Airlines: 4
• Airline Unions: 3
• Airline Manufacturers: 2
• Investment Banking / Analyst: 2
• Consultant Consumers Union: 1
• General Aviation Manufacturers: 1
• General Aviation Operators and Small Business: 0
• General Aviation Associations: 0

In the press release, they mention that general aviation stakeholders are represented. The only General Aviation Stakeholder I can find in this group is Jack Pelton, CEO of Cessna.

What about the rest of GA including any of the associations like AOPA with 500,000 members or NATA or NBAA, or any air charter company, or small aircaft maintenance company?

Airlines and their Unions get 7 committee members and if you add up the rest most are tied to or affiliated to the airlines. General Aviation which represents 1.3 million jobs in this country doesn’t seem to have much of a voice in this administration and their committee.

Rob Mark in his May 17 Jetwhine Blog post says it better than I could ever say it. We ought to be Mad as Hell and we should not take it anymore. Thanks, Rob, for bringing this to our attention.

What do you say about it?

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After a six month hiatus from flying, I am finally back in the left seat!  And the one thing that has become apparent to me since starting up again is how the end result of some things we choose to do is worth enduring discomfort or hard work.  And this pertains to everything we choose to do in life.  If you don’t enjoy it, then why do it?  Well, of course sometimes there are things we have no choice in, but with flying, this is something I choose to do.  It can be uncomfortable at times  – like the first time Kirk pushed my head into my lap, put the plane in an unusual attitude and said “your airplane.”  He then gave me controls while I was wearing a hood which didn’t allow me to see outside of the cockpit; so, I had to use only the instruments to regain control, returning to normal and level flight.  It can also be hard – like when I have to spend my weekends studying for a ground school test, while everyone else is out having a good time in the gorgeous Tennessee spring weather.  But if you love something, all the other “stuff” becomes worth it. 

During the time I was not flying, I studied only a little (because I hate to), but then ramped up my efforts as the time I knew I would be back up flying again drew closer.  On Monday of this week, I took my first flight in the Katana DA20.  Now you might remember I was flying a Cessna 152 last year, but due to maintenance issues, I had to change to the DA20.  The switch was what took me so long to get back to flying; but, now I’ve done it and and I’ve jumped back in. 

I was nervous about flying again after so long, and especially because I had never flown this type of aircraft before.  But let me tell you, I love this airplane!  All the line service staff at CFM told me I would, but I still had a soft spot for the Cessna 152.  Well, now that I have flown this airplane a few times, I think it is just wonderful.  The canopy allows for a better visual, and it is a very easy airplane to fly.  Steering with brakes is the one thing which has me a little rattled.  Because the nose wheel of the DA20 is not linked to the rudder pedals, turns while taxiing must be made with differential braking.  I was a little swirly on the runway the first time I had to takeoff, but thankfully, Kirk was there to keep me on the runway.  I know in a few lessons I’ll have that down.

I’m somewhat starting all over again lesson-wise, but I’m okay with that because I’m excited to be flying again!  And all the study and discomfort that I know I will sometimes experience in this learning process will pay off with the fact in all the fun I have flying.  I guess the one thing I’m saying here is that sometimes we have to do things we don’t like, but look at what you get at the end.  What do they say?  No pain, no gain?    

I’m going to be blogging about my experiences on a regular basis again.  So follow me along the path to becoming a pilot, because I am definitely going to be sharing some interesting stories, on life in the left seat, and life in general.

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The Battle of a Thousand David’s against the one Goliath.

The title could be both looking back in retrospect, looking at the situaiton in the present tense, and looking at the future.  How did we beat back the powerful lobbyists when General Aviation took on the Airline Transport Association that represents the mainline airlines?  Did we really beat them or is it an ongoing battle with a brief respite?

The battle I speak of was over proposals to put in place European style aviation user fees that would eventually cripple general aviation as they have in other parts of the world.  The old style of slugging it out on “the hill” in D.C. would have left General Aviation (GA) in the dust licking it wounds.  ATA had the money and the mainstream media (via advertising dollars) on its side.  GA, with several less powerful organizations fighting the battle itself and the big media perception problem, appeared to be outgunned.  

What these organizations did have was numbers.  1.3 million aircraft owners, pilots, and aviation workers who make their living flying, maintaining and fueling general aviation aircraft every day, as well as small and medium sized businesses who use small aircraft to grow their businesses.  Big media portrayed our industry as one that serves what they called the “fat cats” who ride around in big corporate jets wallowing in corporate excess while asking for government bailouts.

For a while, we let them get away with it. Then the voices started speaking up.   

The fight looked pretty dismal two years ago when we were up on the hill going around to different congressional offices asking for support.  We had some friendly receptions but we also had some chilling ones.  You could tell who had been visited by the ATA lobby and their PACS.  It was not a partisan issue we experienced.  In fact, the most chilling reception we had from the Tennessee congressional delegation came from an East Tennessee Republican congressman who we wrongly assumed to be a supporter of small business (GA).

Most of us thought it to be a losing battle but, still, none of us would go down without a fight.  I can’t speak for the organizations that represent us, but at the time I think they probably saw the battle as an uphill fight.   The organizations that supported our interests seemed to be behind the power curve and lacked the money to work the hill the old fashioned way.  What we did not understand at that time was the power of the grass roots organizations like AOPA (www.gaservesamerica.com) that mobilized their 500,000 plus membership to inundate congress with calls and letters.  Alliance for Aviation Across America formed in 2007 to take on the cause and now has over 4,400 members, including all of the major associations that represent GA.  www.aviationacrossamerica.org  The formation of this alliance was probably the most brilliant strategy of this game.  Politicians can’t ignore the sheer numbers and the broad cross section of this alliance.  They realized they were taking on mainstream America – famers, small business, factory workers, pilots, maintenance technicians….. Not good politics in the middle of a recession!

We also did not understand the power of social media and the technology surrounding it.

All of this tells us that the power should no longer be allowed to rest in the hands of the paid for lobbyists and politicians in DC.  The power rests in the consumer, the individual voice willing to comment on the articles and blogs, the activists who send emails, write letters and make visits to the hill in DC.  Alliances whether informal or formal take on a new power that money can’t silence.  Whether you agree with the Tea Party movement or not, you have to agree that it represents a shift in power that comes from the bottom up and it is only the beginning.  More ground swell movements will follow and emulate.   

 The politicians are scared of this new shift in power. It is not business as usual.  As a good friend says, “it is business as unusual”.

 For the first time in the history of our great country, since its founding 225 years ago, the term “We the People” may have new meaning and significance.

 So looking forward, how do we keep winning the battle?

 First we have to be right.  And if we are right, then we have to win the hearts and minds of the consumers (the people), because the real power moving forward rests in the pocketbooks of the consumers who have gained a voice in the market place.

Do not expect them to relinquish that voice. In fact, expect it to grow louder and stronger as social technology allows the voice to be heard loud and clear.

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Recently I was having a conversation with a Charter Operator’s team about possible ways to increase their visibility and market share.  I mentioned the use of customer testimonials as part of their advertising.  They responded, “But our customers won’t do it.  They feel like people will judge them negatively because they used a private charter.”

I haven’t been able to get that thought out of my head.

There is a stigma about general aviation- that somehow these planes are the wasteful toys of the “rich”.  To admit to flying one or utilizing one for business seems to be tantamount to admitting you have stock in Exxon, own a Hummer, or that you were involved in clear cutting a rainforest.  There’s a stigma.  And ironically it doesn’t matter if you’re flying a Cessna 172, a Cirrus, Baron, or a Phenom.  People will look sort of sideways at you and wonder if somehow you’re the clandestine “millionaire next door”

There are several things that we need to understand about “Plane Guilt” if we hope to overcome it:

The relative nature of the argument. When someone uses what is perceived as “rich toys” either for pleasure or as a part of their business, there is a judgment that happens in many people’s mind.   “Mr. Jones is so extravagant and wasteful to be using that business plane. ” And many clients/owners/operators are very aware of this stigma. The argument that aviation is simply an extravagant and wasteful tool for the wealthy is completely relative.  It’s relative based on one’s perception of affluence and wealth.  What is extravagant to one may not be to another.  In many ways Americans have blinders on and miss the fact we are, in general, an affluent people.  Consider the fact that Americans and Europeans  spend enough on ice cream and pet foods to provide  water, health, nutrition, and education for the entire planet.  Also, consider that 80% of the people on the planet live on less than $10 a day.1  Of course Americans are a generous people too.  Even in the economic hard times we are facing at home, over $200 million was raised in short order for the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti. 2   But realize that this relief was only possible because we, as a people, are successful.  And never mind the crucial role, dare we mention it, that private aviation continues to play in that recovery effort.  Nonetheless, we need to understand the argument that somehow Aviation is more wasteful than something else is really to give in to a selective form of logic that ignores the larger picture.

In fact, most of the pilots I know are far from wealthy (including yours truly).   Most would fall into the middle-class.  They work hard, have families, and developed their flying hobby. Even professional pilots aren’t soaking up the dollars.  The  average salary for a new corporate pilot is $32,500.   Flight Instructors average about $25 per hour before taxes (at 30%).3  Of course these can increase with seniority, but very few are making anywhere near the six-figure income many people wrongly assume. Somehow people have gotten it into their heads that pilots and those involved in GA are wealthy (which equals ‘suspect’).   Those who work in the industry know better.  Flying has a wonderful cross-section of people.  Yes, there are celebrities and wealthy people, but by far most GA patrons and operators are not.

There are plenty of other expensive hobbies that consume thousands of dollars in discretionary income each year.  Is golf looked on with equal disdain?  What about bass-boat owners?  Or Harley-Davidson riders?  There was a time when it was a bit pretentious to have a cell phone (remember when they came in those gigantic brief-case-sized bags?)  Not that long ago to have more than one car or a flat-screen television was a sign of excess.  But times, and stigmas can change.

The Expense of Charter? Charter flying can be expensive.  But it can also be surprisingly affordable.  As I was working on this article I looked at what the cost difference was between airline and charter flights for a trip from Evansville, Indiana to Atlanta.  The average price for the airline ticket was $800.  The charter price was around $780 in a modest Cessna 310.  For a bit more speed, a King Air was $944.  Jet service in a  BeechJet was $1300.  This illustrates the idea that charter can be had for less than most people realize.  Perhaps that would be worth the cost to avoid the hassle and extra fees of today’s airline travel.

But it’s the perception, right?

Overcoming the Stigma by Stories How can we overcome the stigma of Charter/Corporate flying?  We tend to argue from the statistical side, particularly the cost and relative affordability of flying.  But there’s one critical feature missing: emotion.  People often pay for a good or service because of emotion and perceived value.  One of the most effective means of doing this is through the use of stories.

Aviation needs a Jared.

When Jared Fogle was a junior in college he weighed a whopping 425 pounds.  His father, a doctor, warned him of his weight and the dangers it posed to his health.  After his roommate noticed signs of edema (fluid retention that can lead to diabetes) Jared decided to get serious about losing weight.  He discovered Subway’s new line of low-fat sandwiches and developed his own diet based on eating one veggie sub for lunch and a turkey sub for dinner.  The rest is history and marketing genius by storytelling.  Most of us have seen Jared’s commercials and know that dropped to 180lbs.  The story caught on, despite the initial resistance of Subway’s marketing firm.

In their book Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath make the point that this serendipitous campaign contains all the things necessary to be successful and “sticky”.  It is simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional and given by a story.  They note, “Inspiration drives action, as does stimulation.” Later they note the surprise in the story, “[Jared's story] violates our schema of fast food…the guy who wore 60-inch pants is giving us diet advice!” (Heath and Heath, p222)

Can we find a story like Jared’s?  We need a story that violates the schema, the stigma, currently popular about flying.  Aviation has tended to depend on celebrities to make its case.  That has its advantages.  But perhaps a far more effective and change-inducing idea is to find the “ordinary person” who is utilizing and benefiting from charter aviation and has the courage to tell their story.

Because, we have a story worth telling.  Can we find our Jared?

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