Even Less Gloom?

From elsewhere to someone else from someone who was there...

===============

George:

The next time you bring something over from the CPA, bring THE WHOLE
THING, please. Had you bothered to wait a little bit, you would have
found that you were reading Jay's opinion, not a real news story.

The official statement from Piper was posted by none other than me.
Yeah, me. I spent most of Tuesday morning hiding from my boss so I
could work the phones, call Piper and deal with aviation magazine
editors because Jay waited 24 hours before he wrote down his
thoughts,
and GOT THE STORY WRONG. When Phil Boyer gets working the issue, you
know it's getting a lot of attention.

Now, for the speech. I was there. In fact, my job (volunteer job) at
the National Cherokee Fly In (which evidently NONE of you attended)
is
to find, invite, and 'handle' the keynote speaker every year. Jay's
summary of his speech is COMPLETELY his opinion of what Jim Bass
said.
I heard a different speech. We were both eating the same chicken and
drinking the same iced tea, and we all heard a different speech. So
did
everyone I called on Tuesday morning to make sure I wasn't going
whacko.

Problem is, I spent Sunday flying 4 + hours back to Lock Haven to see
the Piper Museum before I went home, Jay flew 1 hour back to Iowa and
had time to post his OPINIONS. His opinions are his, and he's
entitled
to them. But, they ain't what Bass said. Jay's a wonderful guy and I
look forward to seeing he and Mary every year, but he's NOT a
reporter.
He didn't take notes during the speech.

Bass did say that he expected the useful life of 'future' aircraft to
be
less than 50 years. But, he wouldn't put a specific timeframe on it,
and the comment was in context of the discussion of the PiperJet. He
did say 25 years, but that was during a discussion of the average age
of
the Piper fleet. He was (quite rudely) challenged on that number,
which
he says comes directly from the insurance company, who oughta know,
since they collect $ 2-3 M a year in premiums from Piper against
lawsuits from those same airframes.

The sad part here is that the CEO is a great guy (albeit not so great
a
public speaker) who is completely an engineer. He's into QA, customer
satisfaction, and building new planes. He spoke about the subjects I
asked him to, based on input from the organizing committee. He's
doing
a great job bringing the quality level up to meet customer
expectations,
while introducing new products, which Piper hasn't done since God
knows
when. Look at Cirrus and Cessna, and then look at the Piper website.
EVERY SINGLE ONE of Piper's airframe designs is over 20 years old.
I'd
say the guy has his priorities right - get good new airplanes out the
door, and keep the company solvent. That company can (as he said in
his
speech, but it wasn't reported) pull out the machines and crank out
parts for older planes. They won't be cheap, he said, but we can do
it.

So, relax, get over it (as others said), and remember: There are no
editors on the Internet. Think about that before you start forwarding
messages from chat boards. As others have noted, if it ain't in the
mainstream press (like AvWeb), it's probably not for a reason.

Jane Fonda never handed the POW notes to the guards in Hanoi, the
Arizona Highway Patrol never found a JATO-powered pickup truck jammed
in
a hillside, and Jim Bass never said he was cutting off parts for
Cherokees at 25 years.

Thanks,

Dennis

Dennis B. Boykin IV
Chairman
Leesburg Executive Airport Commission