Time Magazine Ad Prompts Response

Perhaps AOPA should run a private screening of its upcoming TV commercials for the promotions folks over at Time magazine. As AOPA was set to hit the tube with 30-second clips extolling the virtues and importance of GA, Time ran an ad that shows two light aircraft tied down with a nuclear power plant in the background. The caption reads, “Remember when only environmentalists would have been alarmed by this photo? Join the conversation.” Well, AOPA President Phil Boyer was among the first to give Time an earful, as was the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). GAMA’s comments told Time, “Regrettably, your advertisement misinforms and a vital national industry is now left to deal with the consequences.” Boyer wrote Time a letter pointing to a prior study and the near impossibility of causing significant damage to a nuclear plant with a light aircraft. “AOPA welcomes a conversation about aviation security,” Boyer said in the letter. “(We) simply ask that if Time, Inc. would like to begin that discussion, you do so responsibly.” As a primer, perhaps the Time folks could tune into The Weather Channel this week, where AOPA will be running its ads. They could also have a look at GAservingamerica.org, the Web site AOPA created to help non-pilots understand GA.

NOTE: The study referenced in AOPA’s letter to Time is available in Adobe’s Portable Document Format, free readers for which are available at Adobe’s Web site.