The GMAA provides a forum for the sharing of opinions and concerns of the industry, government, civic leaders and others with an interest in the past, current and future activities of aviation.
From the President:

Blue skies to you this day!

It only seems like yesterday when I first took this position of president and yet time does march forward much like the aviation industry.

I want to take a moment to thank Dan Sullivan for his able leadership to GMAA over these past two plus years as he filled in rightfully for me when I was out towards the end of my first term as president and during his own two terms as leader.

As this organizations heads towards the fulfillment of its 83rd year of existence, we are at a point in our existence where we must build on our strengths and grow to become an organization that other groups look to for guidance in the aviation field.

Our strengths are the monthly luncheon that many of you have attended on a regular basis, listening to experts in the field describing what is going on in their area(s) of expertise; and the other is the annual gala that has brought many a speaker to podium, like former American Airlines CEO Robert Crandall, plus honoring deserving local industry luminaries. Add to these the scholarships we provide to the future of aviation; the students of area aviation schools.

These are great, but we must go further than that in order to sustain and grow our membership. We as a body should be ready to offer comment about trends in this challenging field to those who make comment about what the aviation issues are.

What about NextGen; will the planned merger between Continental and United work for the industry as a whole, the employees in particular and the traveling public in general; what will be the effect on airports due to this merger; will the industry continue to suffer from the lingering recession and how bad will the economic impact be from the Icelandic volcano. A consistent voice on all these and other aviation topics can show GMAA is more than just a lunch, dinner and dance.

We must form better partnerships with other non-profit organizations to foster a stronger community in both spirit and actuality.

I don’t have all of the answers and I and the board of directors welcome your comments and suggestions on how to improve this storied organization as we move forward in 2010 and beyond.

May the sun brighten your day and the good spirit radiate your soul,

Marc T. HendersonMarc T. Henderson
President
GMAA
president@gmaa.aero
www.gmaa.aero