Mark Baker, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilot Association, told a U.S. Senate subcommittee this week that regulatory reforms for general aviation, including changes to the medical certification process for certain pilots, are key to the industry’s future.
“General aviation is at a critical juncture where regulatory changes, medical reform and grassroots efforts can strengthen this important American industry,” Baker said, according to a report from AOPA.
Citing continued safety improvements by the industry in recent decades, Baker added that education and technology are the best ways to continue those improvements, not additional government oversight and regulations.
Baker was speaking support of the “Pilot’s Bill of Rights 2,” legislation that was previously introduced in both houses of Congress and includes an expansion of the Federal Aviation Administration’s current third-class medical requirements for sport pilots and other general aviation pilots within certain designations, meaning they would no longer have to carry the medical certificates.
That specific reform, Experimental Aircraft Association Chairman and formerCessna CEO Jack Pelton told the WBJ earlier this year could be a shot in the arm for the industry by removing a barrier to people becoming and remaining pilots.