[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 12, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H3336-H3338]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     INTERNATIONAL LEARN TO FLY DAY

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
resolution (H. Res. 1284) supporting the goals and ideals of 
International Learn to Fly Day, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1284

       Whereas, since the birth of flight, aviation has had a 
     tremendous impact on the imagination, innovation, and economy 
     of the United States;
       Whereas many of the Nation's heroes have been pilots, 
     including the Wright brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia 
     Earhart, Charles ``Chuck'' Yeager, the Nation's astronauts 
     and military aviators, and the flight crew of U.S. Airways 
     Flight 1549, among others;
       Whereas every one of these individuals had to learn to fly 
     before they could achieve their greatness;
       Whereas there are approximately 600,000 pilots and 
     approximately 230,000 commercial and general aviation 
     airplanes in the United States;
       Whereas flight brings joy, inspiration, and a sense of 
     accomplishment to those who fly for recreation, pleasure, and 
     work;
       Whereas flight allows the movement of people and 
     commodities across the Nation and around the world quickly 
     and efficiently; and
       Whereas the third Saturday in May is an appropriate day to 
     observe International Learn to Fly Day: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) supports the goals and ideals of National Learn to Fly 
     Day; and
       (2) recognizes the contributions of flight instructors, 
     flight schools, aviation groups, and industry in promoting 
     and teaching the Nation's next generation of pilots.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Graves) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee.


                             General Leave

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 
5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Tennessee?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in support of the resolution, H. Res. 1284, as amended, 
introduced by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Boyd) which supports the 
goals and ideals of International Learn to Fly Day and recognizes the 
contributions of flight instructors, flight schools, aviation groups, 
and industry in promoting and teaching the Nation's next generation of 
pilots.
  International Learn to Fly Day was established on May 15, 2009, to 
increase interest in flying and to encourage the aviation community to 
get others involved in aviation. The event was announced at the 
Experimental Aviation Association's AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. 
Aviation groups, industry partners, flight schools, and flight 
instructors have come together to create a day dedicated to inspiring 
national interest in flight.
  On International Learn to Fly Day, flight schools, airports, and 
independent flight instructors will offer free or discounted flight 
instruction and other educational aviation events. The aviation 
community will lend its time and expertise to introduce people to the 
thrill of flying and the opportunity to reflect back on Orville Wright. 
Airlines must be able to attract the next generation of commercial 
pilots. International Learn to Fly Day will be an important day to 
promote the experience of learning to fly, and to attract people to the 
pilot profession, of which my home city is the home to Federal Express, 
which employs many fine pilots and will, indeed, many more in the years 
to come as they continue to deliver cargo to the world.
  International Learn to Fly Day will be observed each year on the 
third Saturday of May. I look forward to this first celebration on May 
15, 2010, and urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Res. 1284.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 1284, which is 
a resolution obviously supporting the goals and ideals of International 
Learn to Fly Day. And I would like to thank Mr. Boyd and Mr. Ehlers for 
sponsoring this meaningful piece of legislation. Both of these 
individuals are great advocates of aviation, and they need to be 
commended for this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, aviation plays an important role in America and 
throughout the world, and it expands business opportunities, creates 
very well-paying jobs, and it inspires innovation. Without flight 
instructors, flight schools, aviation groups, and industry promoting 
and teaching the next generation of pilots, many of these benefits are 
not going to be realized.
  Unfortunately, in recent years the U.S. pilot population has 
declined. And as a pilot, actually a commercial pilot, myself, it was 
easy for me because I grew up across the road from the airport. I 
played in airplane wrecks as a kid. I pumped gas and washed windshields 
and washed airplanes, any way to mooch a ride and get a lesson. I grew 
up with it and grew up next to it, so I was able to learn to fly.
  I find the news that the pilot population is declining extremely 
disappointing. In response, the International Learn to Fly Day was 
established, and it is the third Saturday in

[[Page H3337]]

May. This goal is to increase interest in flying and to encourage the 
aviation community and others to get involved in aviation.
  There are a lot of groups out there, the Experimental Aircraft 
Association, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. I know the 
General Aviation Manufacturers Association, which are all here this 
week, they are all coming up with programs and working on programs to 
encourage young people to fly and trying to either get them their first 
lesson or get them ground school, whatever the case may be. But this is 
a very worthy cause, and I am very proud to support it.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, with your indulgence, I recognize the 
gentleman from west Tennessee (Mr. Tanner) out of order for such time 
as he may consume.
  Mr. TANNER. Mr. Speaker, I was in a conference committee and could 
not get to the floor when the Tennessee delegation was speaking about 
the unprecedented flooding. Sixteen of the 19 counties in the Eighth 
District have been declared a disaster, and we expect the other three.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 1337 to acknowledge 
the difficulties facing many Tennesseans as a result of the severe 
weather that struck our area recently.
  Sadly, the storms that hit our area took seven lives in the 19 
counties that make up the Eighth District, which we are honored to 
represent in this chamber. Our thoughts and prayers are with those 
families.
  Additionally, there remains damage in all 19 counties that make up 
the Eighth District. We are appreciative that at the time we consider 
this resolution, 16 of those counties have been declared federal 
disaster areas, giving Tennessee families and businesses access to 
much-needed assistance as they get back on their feet. We are hopeful 
that the necessary assessments will be completed soon to allow federal 
assistance to all the counties we represent and others across the 
State.
  Tennesseans always rise to the occasion when our neighbors are in 
need, and that was the case in this disaster as well. We commend the 
swift response from first responders, State and local leaders, 
volunteer organizations and members of the community. Both the 
Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, TEMA, and the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency, FEMA, were also on the ground immediately to begin 
their work helping those affected and ensuring assistance is on the 
way.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Cooper and our colleagues from Tennessee for 
bringing this resolution forward so the House has an opportunity to 
express its condolences to Tennesseans who are just beginning the 
recovery process.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I now yield such time as he may consume to 
the author of the resolution and a pilot himself, Mr. Boyd of Florida.

                              {time}  1145

  Mr. BOYD. I thank my friend, Mr. Cohen, for yielding me time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today as cochairman of the General Aviation 
Caucus, with my friend, Vern Ehlers, my fellow cochair, in support of 
this resolution honoring International Learn to Fly Day. I want to 
thank Chairman Oberstar and Ranking Member John Mica for their work on 
this bill to get it out of the Transportation and Infrastructure 
Committee. I also want to thank the original cosponsor of the bill, 
Representative Graves, for his work.
  International Learn to Fly Day will be celebrated this Saturday, May 
15, with opportunities throughout the country to learn more about the 
wonders of flying, how to get your pilots license, what to expect 
during flight training, and career options for you once you achieve 
that goal.
  As many of you may surmise, I am a pilot myself, and I would 
encourage anyone I know to pursue their desire to learn to fly. You 
will not be disappointed. It's never too late to learn. Unlike Mr. 
Graves, I didn't grow up around flying, but in the service I became 
very interested in flying when I got an opportunity to spend a lot of 
time in a plane. When I came home and went into my profession, I 
continued to do that from time to time, and then, only less than 4 
years ago, I achieved a lifelong goal of getting my private pilots 
license. I'm telling you, it has not been a disappointing experience.
  I think it's very clear to us that when you travel around the country 
from time to time and go to these airports, particularly some of the 
smaller municipal airports, and see the general aviation activity, we 
learn how dependent we are in this country upon flying, and 
particularly the general aviation business. We have seen a good example 
in the recent volcano activity in Europe that our economies and our 
lives are limited without the ability to fly.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress will surely earn its wings today if we pass 
this resolution. I urge support of H.R. 1284, and your local 
International Learn to Fly Day activities.
  Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I would yield such time as he may consume to 
one of the original sponsors, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers).
  Mr. EHLERS. I thank the gentleman for yielding and I also want to 
recognize that Mr. Graves has been a real stalwart on the 
Transportation Committee, particularly the Aviation Subcommittee, with 
his wealth of experience in flying. The knowledge that he brings to it 
has just been invaluable. I really appreciate all that Mr. Graves has 
done for aviation in the Congress. That's very important because last 
year the Congress developed a negative impression of flying. You all 
recall, I suspect, that some corporate leaders came in asking for 
government funds, and they flew here in their private jets. That made 
headlines across the country. Unfortunately, the news media didn't 
leave it there, but continued to pursue the entire issue of flying and 
presented the portrait of the average flyer as being very wealthy and 
having an airplane as a toy to play with. That is far from the truth. 
Most pilots do not have a lot of money. Very few of them own their own 
airplanes. This negative impression that was formed here by the 
Congress and in the Congress really troubled those of us who know 
something about flying.
  I am not a professional pilot. I would love to be, but I've never had 
either the time or the money to do it. But I recognize injustice when 
it takes place. It took place right here in the Congress of the United 
States. And that led to a lot of activity on our part to try to educate 
the public about flying, about who the pilots are, what they accomplish 
for the economy as a whole, and in particular, what good works they do. 
A good example of that is the tremendous amount of effort the private 
pilots of the United States exerted in helping the island of Haiti.
  Just last week, we had Harrison Ford here to describe what he had 
done. He owns several airplanes and did a number of flights into Haiti 
transporting doctors, medicines, and so forth. He is an example of what 
I'm talking about. Not everyone who took part is a movie star, as 
Harrison Ford is, but he was representing a lot of people who expended 
a lot of their own money to aid the people in Haiti through the use of 
airplanes flying goods in and out, flying patients out to the United 
States for medical treatment when they were in serious trouble, etc. 
And this is just one example of the many things that pilots and 
aviation in general do to help the public at large.
  So I'm very proud to stand here and say we have to help aviation and 
private pilots in every way that we can. And one good way is to 
encourage them to learn to fly. Many individuals normally would not 
think of flying, but when they see that they can accomplish so much 
good with aviation, we hope that they will take the time to learn how 
to fly and to at least join a flying club or perhaps eventually own 
their own airplane so that they can really go forth and help a lot of 
people.
  It's amazing how many people do this sort of thing in various fields. 
For years, I was interested in ham radio. Again, a tremendous help to 
the economy and to the people at large is done during emergencies by 
ham radio operators. It's very similar with pilots. When the need is 
there, they will rise to the occasion and they will provide the 
transportation that's necessary.
  In my area, we have an Angels of Mercy program, which has done 
tremendous good work flying people to hospitals. The patients cannot 
afford to take a commercial plane to get distant medical treatment. 
They're not in good enough shape to travel by car. And so the Angels of 
Mercy fly individuals at essentially no cost or very low cost so that 
the patients can get medical treatment in the right place at the right 
time.

[[Page H3338]]

  It is high time that we recognize the good service that these pilots 
provide and that we do everything we can to help them in that effort. 
This resolution is part of that--simply encouraging people to learn to 
fly. I know there's a local group in my district that has taken 
advantage of this to publicize flight lessons in my area. They have a 
number of people signed up already who are willing to learn to fly so 
that they can accomplish good for other people.
  So I strongly urge that we adopt this resolution and recognize the 
good work that aviation does for the general welfare of our Nation.
  Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I would 
just, again, like to express my strong support for this resolution. 
There's a lot of groups out there, again, that are encouraging flight. 
The Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagles program will give 
that young person their very first flight for free. I'd encourage 
anybody that would like to take advantage of that for a young person 
and to learn the joys of flying, to do that at their local airport.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution, H. 
Res. 1284, as amended, introduced by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Boyd), which supports the goals and ideals of International Learn to 
Fly Day, and recognizes the contributions of flight instructors, flight 
schools, aviation groups, and industry in promoting and teaching the 
nation's next generation of pilots.
  As an effort to increase interest in flying, and to encourage the 
aviation community to get others involved in aviation, International 
Learn to Fly Day was established on May 15, 2009. Learn to Fly Day was 
announced at the Experimental Aviation Association's AirVenture in 
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with the support of aviation groups, industry 
partners, flight schools, and flight instructors. The day was founded 
to cultivate a new generation of pilots to act as role models and to 
ensure that airlines are able to meet future needs for airline travel.
  On Learn to Fly Day, flight schools, airports, and independent flight 
instructors will offer free or discounted flight instruction courses 
and other educational aviation events. The aviation community will lend 
its time and expertise to increase public interest in flying.
  Many of the nation's heroes have been pilots, including the Wright 
brothers, Amelia Earhart, and most recently, Captain Chesley ``Sully'' 
B. Sullenberger III and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles. Flight has always 
been a national and international source of fascination and 
inspiration. To continue the significant legacy of flight, the United 
States needs to ensure that it can attract the next generation of 
commercial and recreational pilots.
  International Learn to Fly Day will be an important day to promote 
the experience of learning to fly. This year will be the first year 
that the day will be celebrated, with events taking place across the 
country, and some internationally. International Learn to Fly Day will 
be observed each year on the third Saturday of May.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Res. 1284.
  Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, the resolution before us--introduced by the 
co-chairs of the GA Caucus, Dr. Ehlers and Mr. Boyd--expresses support 
for the designation of the third Saturday in May as ``International 
Learn to Fly Day.''
  The resolution recognizes aviation's tremendous impact on the 
imagination, innovation, and economy of the United States.
  Pilots are obviously a critical component of our aviation system and 
this resolution recognizes the need to cultivate the Nation's next 
generation of pilots.
  It is fitting to recognize the international nature of aviation. The 
era of flight has certainly brought the world closer together.
  Positioned between two major general aviation events in the United 
States, Sun and Fun in Lakeland, Florida and the EAA AirVenture in 
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, International Learn to Fly Day is a great time to 
encourage young people to take an interest in flying.
  These air shows offer a great opportunity to get an up-close and 
personal look at the aircraft and interact with the pilots who make 
general aviation such a vibrant part of the aviation community in the 
United States, and around the world.
  The International Learn to Fly Day is also a great way to encourage 
would-be aviators to follow in the footsteps of other aviators who have 
helped create the aviation system we all enjoy today.
  Mr. Speaker, I support the adoption of the resolution, and urge my 
colleagues to support the resolution.
  Mr. GRAVES. I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Boyd and Mr. Ehlers for bringing 
this resolution, and ask that all Members unanimously support H. Res. 
1284, as amended.
  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 1284, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution, as amended, was agreed to.
  The title was amended so as to read: ``Resolution supporting the 
goals and ideals of International Learn to Fly Day, and for other 
purposes.''.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________