This is off-topic, but a subject near to my heart.

I'm a pilot.  Have been for decades, and flying airplanes is among my very favorite things.  I'm a general aviation pilot, “general aviation” being defined as everything that flies with a pilot on board that isn't airline or military.

In NJ the small, usually family-owned airports that serve general aviation have been under relentless pressure from developers, politicians, and sometimes the communities that grew up around them.  People complain about the noise that planes generate, even though many modern conveniences and contrivances are at least as noisy, and often far noisier.  Think lawn mowers, leaf blowers, jet skis, power boats — the list goes on.  Yet aviation gets singled out for legal and sometimes political attack in a way that other noise-producing activities don't.

Thus, it is particularly gratifying to learn today that Governor Chris Christie has signed into law a bill that designates May of each year as General Aviation Appreciation Month.  The bill was enacted through the sponsorship and hard work of Assemblywoman Betty Lou DeCroce, following a proposal from the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Coalition (or MAAC).  (Full disclosure: it has been my privilege to serve as president of MAAC for the last year and a half.)

My personal thanks to our elected officials for the designation of May as the month when we as a state acknowledge the benefits and accomplishments of general aviation.