pensacolaFrom aviation maintenance, sales, instruction, and pure entertainment, the act of flying is embedded deep into the very fiber of this region. Flight schools and airplane maintenance businesses abound in Pensacola, Fla. Bumper stickers sport a variety of aviation messages, including the popular “I’d Rather Be Flying.” Blue Angels logos appear on overpasses and on the sides of Interstate 10, and area companies carry the name of the famed flight-demonstration team. Residents like visiting the nearby Naval Aviation Museum and the Air Force Armament Museum.

Lt. Tony Cowart can’t help but run into someone who is a pilot or a relative or friend of one—“you probably can’t throw a rock without hitting a retired aviator here,” he said. That’s because, in addition to Naval Air Station Pensacola, where Cowart is a naval flight officer (NFO), military pilots are based at nearby Hurlburt Field in Fort Walton Beach, at Eglin Air Force Base in Valpariaso, and at the Coast Guard’s site in Mobile, Ala.

It’s no wonder, then, that flying is so much a part of the city’s and the region’s self-image, Cowart said. For that reason, threats to general aviation and the possibilities of paying additional fees alarm Cowart. He is concerned that he will be among those priced out of GA, with the ripple effects harming the livelihoods of area residents—pilot and nonpilot alike—and Pensacola itself. He is worried, he said, that “the very backbone of a region could be irrevocably damaged.”

“GA is the whole identity of the city and the surrounding area,” he explained. “It is a community that received its passion for aviation from the military.

“From aviation maintenance, sales, instruction, and pure entertainment, the act of flying is embedded deep into the very fiber of this region.”

“… Aviation has bled over into the community. It’s so intertwined with the community. It’s very difficult for anyone in this region not to be involved with or affected by aviation. There’s lots of integration between military and civilian, and pretty much the common thread is aviation.”

His flight training from 2001 to 2003 deepened Cowart’s love of the air, so much that he began his private flight training in January. Flying now “is the biggest passion that I have in my life” besides his wife and children, Cowart said.

“As soon as I got back here” from a year’s service in Iraq, “I hit the ground running and wanted to build up my aviation knowledge and abilities,” he explained.

“I wanted to build up my instrument rating. Most NFOs don’t get their private pilot license, but I wanted to know more about the actual flight side. I wanted to be more proficient on communications radios, talking to the ATCs, [things] that everyone who flies in the United States has to abide by regarding GA. The more I know about flying, the more I can assist young future aviators. [Flying is] also for my personal growth.” — By Hillel Kuttler