FAA Administrator Marion Blakey

"During Marion Blakey’s tenure as FAA chief," says EAA President Tom Poberezny, "EAA has enjoyed the best and most collaborative relationship with the FAA in EAA’s 55-year history.

"She found the value of reaching out to the community, of coming here to AirVenture to experience and interact with all things aviation," he said. Her leadership and example filtered down through the agency, Poberezny added, so that today FAA officials at all levels are actively engaged in meetings, dialog, and discourse at AirVenture. "It is a relationship between the aviation community and the decision-makers that exists nowhere else but here.

"EAA’s relationship with its members gives us a breadth and depth of knowledge to bring to the table on any issue," he said. Blakey and her team recognize that and, "No other organization has been afforded the kind of trust and respect that the FAA has given us."

As Blakey nears the end of her official five-year term as FAA administrator, Poberezny reflected on the extraordinary changes she has wrought in the way the FAA sees and interacts with EAA and the whole general aviation community.

Previous FAA administrators visited the Oshkosh fly-in for half-a-day or a day, Poberezny noted. "Marion Blakey turned that into a three-day visit."

In marked contrast to some of her predecessors, Blakey is "very engaged" during her visits here, said Doug Macnair, EAA’s Washington, D.C., representative. "She is here at the grass roots, actively listening, talking about the issues and solving problems."

On earlier visits to AirVenture, Blakey heard a litany of complaints from pilots about the FAA’s delays and backlogs in reviewing and issuing airmen’s medical certificates. "She heard it loud and clear," said Macnair. In response, she and FAA Air Surgeon Fred Tilton pushed through substantial changes that make the process substantially better. It’s significant, he said, that at last year’s "Meet the Administrator" question/answer session, most of the questions were not about medical issues.

Blakey has a strong personal interest in youth education and outreach. At AirVenture, she always makes time for Young Eagles and Teachers’ Day activities, and she has actively promoted and fostered FAA’s own outreach programs.

Sport pilot and light-sport aircraft (SP/LSA) are part of Blakey’s legacy, Poberezny said. "There would not be an SP/LSA rule without Marion Blakey." The proposed SP/LSA rule caused a lot of consternation within the FAA, he explained. The use of ASTM standards was a big issue, but the biggest disagreement was over medical self-certification for sport pilots.

"The entire rule was hanging in the balance," Poberezny said. "Marion listened to her staff and then came here and listened to the community. Then she stuck her neck out and said, ‘We’re going forward with this rule—because it’s the right thing to do.’" That decision was a huge political risk for her; but she did it," Poberezny said. "And it was her personal courage and fortitude that moved the rule forward at the FAA."

For many years, the general aviation community has been calling for more pilots, more affordable airplanes and a break in the medical certificate logjam. "Look at where we’ve come in three years with SP/LSA," said Poberezny. "Thirty-three manufacturers offering 50 models of light-sport aircraft, more than 2,100 new pilot certificates, medical self-certification for sport pilot and a much-improved process for airmen’s medical certificates. And LSA has cut the price of a new certificated airplane in half, with even-more affordable aircraft on the horizon.

"SP/LSA exists because of the collaborative and cooperative relationship that now exists between EAA and the FAA. The next FAA administrator will inherit a different agency than the one Blakey took over. At every level of the FAA, officials are here at AirVenture for days on end, listening and talking with the aviation community, solving problems and creating opportunities. That culture, which Marion Blakey fostered, extends deep into the FAA and it will continue beyond her tenure.

"Marion Blakey has truly earned the respect and gratitude of EAA and the general aviation community," Poberezny said.