Regarding your Feb. 17 article “How innovation can save our airports” by Thomas F. Norton regarding the statement: “William T. Piper thought that every village in the United States should have an airport and, from the 1930s until his death in 1970, campaigned tirelessly and often successfully toward that end. Today it is Vern Raburn, Rick Adam, Alan Klapmeier and others…”
I hardly think Phil Boyer of the Airplane Owners and Pilots Association qualifies as “others.” It is too bad he was not mentioned in particular in this otherwise excellent article.
Eric Mehserle
via email
Editor’s Note: Mr. Mehserle’s point about Phil Boyer is well-taken, but there are several reasons why he was not included among the innovators. First and foremost, his message is not “build more airports,” as Bill Piper’s was and Raburn’s, Adam’s and Klapmeier’s are today. One of Boyer’s many messages is “save our airports,” which is equally important and often praised in our pages, but not what I was writing about in this case.
In addition, the innovators being discussed are manufacturers, as was Piper, with whom they were being compared.
Finally, while I am a great admirer of Phil Boyer and all that he does for general aviation, I would not place him among the industry’s true innovators. That’s a different category altogether.