AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2018 - 20

WAYPOINTS

Kids today

BY THOMAS B. HAINES
Editor in Chief

NextGen isn't just about air traffic control

Editor in Chief
TOM HAINES joined
AOPA's media team
in 1988.

AT SOME POINT DURING SEVERAL DAYS of backcountry
flying late last fall, the thought occurred to me that I
was the oldest guy in the airplane-by at least a decade.
In fact, I was probably three decades older than the
youngest pair, a couple of California "surfer dudes"
shooting stills and video. Not sure how that happened,
as it seems like only yesterday I was the youngest one
at the photo mission briefing and sometimes carded at
the bar after the shoot.
The contrast to a couple of decades earlier was
remarkable. Back then you would see a bunch of smokers hanging out late at the bar, drinking heavily and barely
making it to the briefing the next morning, measuring the
eight-hour rule to the minute. (I've never known a pilot
to break that rule, and many use 12 hours.) These days, no
one smokes. The most anyone has to drink is one beer or
maybe a glass of wine. On this trip, we were all headed to
our hotel rooms by 8:30 p.m., with inboxes full of emails
to deal with and photo and video cards to be reformatted before getting some sleep.
Before sunrise the next morning we would meet for
breakfast, everyone on time and ready for another day of
flying. I was especially impressed by the millennials. In
their mid-20s, neither was a pilot and therefore would
seem to have some license to view the experience as just
another assignment. Instead, they relished the opportunity for adventure and openly displayed their excitement
at getting to shoot airplanes doing remarkable things over
some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country.
Contrast this with the too-frequent opinion of older
generations that "kids today" have no interest in aviation; aren't excited about it; and, generally, aren't willing
to endure what it takes to become a pilot. And those who
manage to run the gauntlet to a pilot certificate can't
really fly without a magenta line to follow. And, by the
way, get off my lawn!
Sharing the cockpit with me on this particular trip
was Mark Brown, who leads the sales, marketing, and
demo efforts at Quest Aircraft. We were flying the highly
capable Quest Kodiak single-engine turboprop into and
out of some challenging canyon strips in southern Utah.
Brown, who grew up in an aviation family, expertly
maneuvered the heavily loaded airplane into and out of
some challenging terrain and wind situations, making it
look easy. Later, he effortlessly flew the airplane during
an air-to-air photo mission, a challenging exercise he has
done many times before at places all over the world.

20 | AOPA PILOT February 2018

While in college he started a media company that had
11 employees by the time he graduated. He left a promising position in the world of New York City finance for a
flying job because metropolitan desk duty just wasn't his
thing. In addition to the brawny Kodiak, he routinely flies
a Piper Cub and his family's stunning Cessna 195. He's 29.
And although he's flown over this part of the world
quite a bit, he oohed and ahhed with the rest of us as
the unfolding light dramatically changed the colors of
the rocks below, the shadowed canyons giving up their
darkness to the unrelenting morning sun. Despite his
experience, he was not at all jaded about the wonders of
general aviation flying.
His passion and enthusiasm reminds me of a couple
of other general aviation professionals I met right after
they graduated from college. Ben Marcus and Cyrus
Sigari were eager young engineers at Eclipse Aviation
when I first met them. Within a couple of years, the college friends left Eclipse to start JetAviva in 2006, which
they grew into the world's largest light jet sales company.
Sigari still runs the expanding company while Marcus
has left to start his own company, AirMap, which provides airspace information to the drone community.
AirMap raised $26 million in funding in early 2017 and
has partnered with such companies as Microsoft, Airbus,
Sony, and Qualcomm. The two are in their mid-30s and
both fly as often as they can. And like Brown, neither is
wed to the magenta line in a technically advanced aircraft. They both fly all manner of GA airplanes, from
aerobats and Spam cans to warbirds and business jets.
Scanning the general aviation horizon, I see numerous other young entrepreneurs and executives creating
their own spaces in this business, and in other cases taking over family businesses, bringing new vibrancy to
companies such as Hartzell, Wipaire, and Maule.
And while not every capable, young pilot will end
up working for-or running-an aviation company,
these role models give me great hope that future
pilots will have someone they can relate to in general
aviation. The challenge for us all, though, is to make
aviation a welcome place not only for younger pilots
but also for minorities and women, all of whom are
vastly underrepresented here.
AOPA
EMAIL thomas.haines@aopa.org
SOCIAL

Follow on twitter @tomhaines29

AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2018

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