WATCH footage of the AOPA D.C. Flyover


did not cooperate, and the event was canceled. For the 2024 flyover, Ginter’s goal was to


keep everything very simple. However, nothing is simple about wrangling the federal government to get a flyover approved in the most controlled airspace in the United States! A great deal of credit for making the flyover


possible goes to the chair and ranking member of the US House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Sam Graves (R-Mo.-06), who is also a pilot, and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.-02), respectively. The two leaders wrote to the FAA asking the agency “to support and assist in commemorating the 85th anniversary of the ‘Golden Age of Aviation’ and the many contributions the US general aviation industry has [provided] and continues to provide to our nation with a National Mall flyover [in spring 2024].”


Piloting my Robinson R44 over Washington, D.C.,


one of the most tightly controlled airspaces in the world. (AOPA Photo)


With this opening, AOPA started the laborious process of making the flyover a reality.


Coordinating 11 Offices, 54 Aircraft, and 210 Pilots and Passengers Eleven different federal offices, most under the FAA, needed to approve the plan. If the US Secret Service, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the US Capitol Police, or any of the other government offices objected, it was not going to happen. “Each of the 11 offices had the ability to end this


flyover before it even got off the ground,” Ginter says, adding that the offices were in fact sup- portive of the event. “From the outset, they were inclined to make it happen if we followed all proper rules, waiver requests, and other procedures.” I am a proud member of AOPA and have been


since 1987, and as the president and CEO of Vertical Aviation International, I was thrilled to be asked to lead the rotorcraft contingent of the flyover. After attending the first briefing for the


SEP 2024 POWER UP 51


US Secret


Service canine teams inspected every aircraft prior to liftoff. (AOPA Photo)


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