Peter Bunce President & CEO, General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA)

“We’re encouraged by this type of growth and it’s certainly exciting to see the worldwide recognition of what general aviation brings to economic progress,” Bunce explains. “We still see growth in the market beyond North America, which is very encouraging because when you spread your growth worldwide, you insulate yourself from the economic perturbations in any one area.”

And by all accounts, general aviation continues to spread its growth — particularly in Europe and specifically in Russia and the former Soviet stans, where much of the economic activity is centered around oil wealth. Bunce notes, “We’re seeing some growth there … some fleet sales are happening to transport people to and from centers of economic activity and the energy sector has spurred some of this growth.”

What then, are the next frontiers for general aviation? “We keep hoping that the markets in India and China — once we get airspace and infrastructure issues solved — will follow the lead we see in Europe,” Bunce says. The concern in India is a simple one, he adds — building sufficient infrastructure to service the growing economy and in the increase interest in business aviation.

In contrast, China has made great headway in building infrastructure, but the issue is convincing the military to free up some of the airspace to accommodate business jet traffic. “We’re hoping that the Olympics in Beijing will spur that and we’ve seen some very positive signs from the Chinese government,” Bunce explains. “They’ve built a beautiful terminal there — and we’re thinking the momentum gained by allowing business aviation to enter the airspace during the games will continue well after 2008.”

On the topic of China, he adds, “The Chinese are recognizing that in order to meet the needs of training pilots, they need to invest in equipment — so we’re seeing more and more sales on the lighter end of GA going there.”

Setting China aside, we asked if Bunce saw the positive trending experienced by general aviation manufacturers continuing into 2008 in the rest of the world. “We see that trend continuing — the order books for this industry remain strong. We’ll get another outlook in September that will coincide with National Business Aircraft Association convention — but the predictions look strong.” He concedes that terrorist activity on the scale of the 9/11 attacks could curtail growth, but barring such an event, the momentum should continue.

While Bunce is clearly comfortable and even excited to discuss the causes for the growth experienced by general aviation in recent years, the intensity of his voice rises up a notch when it comes to discussing the jets themselves. For this former Air Force pilot with 26 years of military service under his belt, it’s all about the jets. When asked about the technological advances made by the general aviation manufacturing sector in recent years, Bunce speaks both prolifically and passionately.

“Our suppliers and OEMs are proving easier and safer technology across the industry and it’s being incorporated fleet wide,” he notes. “But if I had to narrow it down to the one thing that is making the biggest difference in having flying be safer now, it would be the glass cockpit technology. Not only are we seeing this technology on new aircraft as they roll off the production line, but we’re also beginning to retrofit the fleet — and the fleet is huge.”

He adds, “ The capability of glass cockpits exceeds what we had with the standard six pack or what some people euphemistically refer to as the steam cage. If you look at safety enhancements that you get with glass — the terrain avoidance warning system alone is tremendous. Add to that the capabilities gained by having a moving map display where pilots on longer have to do mental calculations like ‘What radial am I on? What’s my to-from? What’s the terrain out there?’”

Drawing on his military experience, Bunce explains the use of color allows pilots to process much more information while flying. “Folks have always been concerned with inundating pilots with too much information, but color makes a tremendous difference” he says.

“Another safety enhancer comes with having weather information being pumped into the cockpit. It’s not real time, but it’s only a few minutes old — and that’s tremendous. Knowing where the terrain is, is tremendous and our cockpits have evolved to where they are ergonomically very good at allowing the brain to process all this information very quickly.

“Now you can couple having a moving map display — or ‘God’s eye view’ — with some of the very recent advances like synthetic vision and enhanced vision.” He explains that enhanced vision uses infra-red technology that allows pilots to see in low light conditions.

“Synthetic vision uses very good databases that know what the terrain is and where the towers are — and these databases are kept up to speed and are very precise,” he says. “These are all safety enhancers. Add all of this technology together and then factor in the fact that our airframes are much stronger through our use of metallurgy and composite materials. On top of that, our engines are becoming more reliable as we use new material and gain experience with them … all these add up to greater fuel efficiency and that, of course, impacts the environment.”

Bunce concludes, “You know, there are so many good things happening right now with aviation in so many ways. And I think that there’s a direct correlation of how we’re making flying easier with the safety record of general aviation as well as commercial aviation.”

In last year’s industry issue of the Monitor, the association went on record by voicing its concern over proposed user fees being assessed to general aviation. We asked where things stand one year later. “Obviously we’d all like the issue resolved and we think the House crafted a very good bill. We also think that there are positive elements in the Senate bill, and Senators Rockefeller and Lott did a very good job on trying to focus on modernization. But they do have a modernization surcharge that we’re concerned about — not for how much it is, but for the precedent it sets,” Bunce states.

“The goal of everyone in general aviation is to see no user fee established — it makes bad economic sense. If the economy sours like it did at the beginning of this decade and you have a fee-based system based on the number of people flying, then some people will stop flying…at least those in the margins. Then your only choice is to ratchet up the fees and guess what…then even fewer people will fly.

“This creates more instability, which will absolutely hurt the airlines. We’re hoping that Congress sees the wisdom of this argument, and we finance the system through a tried and true method — the mixture of taxes that exists today. Will GA pay more? Sure we will, but we want it through fuel taxes and we want to make sure everyone pays more because we need to modernize the system.”

A soar spot for Bunce is the airlines’ spin on the topic, particularly as they assign airport delays to general aviation. Bunce says the claim is ludicrous and without merit. He asserts that if the FAA could hang the blame for airport delays on general aviation, it would without any misgivings.

“It’s human nature not to want to pay more in taxes. That’s fine … I just take offense at the dishonesty about it. The FAA has data that points to the delays as attributable to the hub-and-spoke system and the congestion caused by business operations caused by that system,” Bunce notes. “But that’s the long answer … we’re still in the middle of the ball game and we’re encouraged by the House and hope that the Senate Finance Committee sees the wisdom of the House’s position and in turn, follows suit.”

We asked, what else is first and foremost on the collective mind of the general aviation manufacturing sector? “Once we get through this funding debate, hopefully by September 30, I’d say modernization of the system is our greatest concern. Beyond that, we’re concerned about the environmental mindset going on in Europe. There’s a lot of emotional speaking going on over there without any science to back it up. We look from a scientific standpoint. How do you compare emissions when transporting people through several countries with byproducts created by using other modes of transportation? Some view the business aviation users as ‘rich cats’ who pollute more than they should. We see it as we make industrialized economies work.”

Bunce points to business aviation’s good record as it relates to improvements in fuel efficiency. “One thing we do is burn more efficiently,” Bunce says. “With jet fuel, when you burn more efficiently, you burn hotter and you’re going to get a greater number of miles per gallon. But that heat generates a byproduct and some think we should regulate that too — but they are mutually exclusive of one another.

“That’s what I mean when I say that there’s a lot of emotional speaking without science to back it. I guess I’m concerned over the environmental fervor currently in Europe. If the Europeans start regulating aircraft from outside the EU without internationally accepted standards — that again is a dangerous precedent.”

In spite of it all, Bunce sees the association’s mission as a simple one — to have people experience not only the utility of flying, but the joys of flying as well. “General aviation is doing well because people are looking at how we can conduct business more efficiently, at how we can transport ourselves more efficiently,” he states.

In terms of the joys of flying, Bunce says: “With all of this going on, there’s excitement down in the light sport end of aviation and we’re very excited about that. Two of our GAMA members have just started producing in that end of the market and I don’t think they are doing it to make a lot of money. They’re doing it to stimulate people to fly — and that’s important.”