AOPA Taps Harrison Ford For GA Campaign

Benet Wilson benet_wilson@aviationweek.com

Actor and aviator Harrison Ford is the center of a new $1.5 million advocacy campaign unveiled today by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association - General Aviation Serves America.

The multi-year campaign designed to show the benefits of GA to key policy people and decision makers, said spokesman Chris Dancy. "We met Ford, an AOPA member, when he did an interview with AOPA Pilot editor Tom Haines, and he kept in touch with him," he recalled. "When Ford heard about what we were doing, he volunteered to get involved. He's already done television ads and is willing to do more, but we haven't defined what that will be yet."

"At the heart of many of those challenges is a general lack of understanding about the role general aviation plays every day in the nation's transportation system, in our communities and in our economy," said AOPA President and CEO Craig Fuller in a statement. "We are fortunate to have someone as well known as actor and avid pilot Harrison Ford volunteer his services to help explain all that GA is and does."

A central part of the plan is to ask members to share their general aviation stories in an effort to show the benefits of GA to key policy people and decision makers.

AOPA sees the General Aviation Serves America campaign a complementary to the current "No Plane, No Gain" campaign being run jointly by the National Business Aviation Association and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, said Dancy. "We're really targeting the opinion leaders and policy makers across the country at all levels of government. It's an education campaign," he explained. "We want to show everything general aviation does for America, and that it's not just pilots and passengers."

At the root of many problems the industry has is a lack of understanding on what GA is and how it works, said Dancy. "We're prepared to keep it going as long as needed. It's too soon to say how long that will be."

Photo credit: Beechcraft