A USA Today series "Unfit for Flight" published in June presented a negative and highly distorted view of general aviation safety. AOPA President Mark Baker responded with a letter to the editor pointing out that there has been a 75-percent decrease in fatalities from 1973 to today. "General aviation-and AOPA-has been aggressive in pressing the FAA to make it easier and more affordable for new technology and safety equipment to be installed in the existing fleet," Baker said. The three-part series written by Tom Frank portrays GA as unsafe and investigations into GA accidents as flawed, incomplete, and favoring manufacturers. The reporter ignored information AOPA provided that showed new tools, training, and technology that make GA safer.
展开▼
