Warbird Information Exchange

Not sure if posted before I just saw on news site.
john

Edward Stimpson, aviation advocate, dies at 75
By JOHN MILLER Associated Press Writer
Published: Thursday, November 26, 2009 at 1:56 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, November 26, 2009 at 1:56 p.m.

BOISE, Idaho - Edward Stimpson, an aviation advocate who pushed to rejuvenate struggling small aircraft manufacturers in the 1990s by limiting lawsuits against them, has died after an extended illness. He was 75.

His death Wednesday was confirmed by state Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum. A cause of death was not immediately known. Jaquet said doctors discovered cancerous lesions in his lungs this year.

Stimpson, president of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association for 25 years, was a major proponent of legislation signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 to prevent general aviation companies from being named as defendants in lawsuits in crashes of small planes 18 years old or older.

By 1994, a wave of lawsuits in crashes was being blamed for a downturn at small aircraft manufacturers such as Beech Aircraft Co. and Cessna Aircraft Corp., costing 100,000 industry jobs over the previous decade. Annual sales of single-engine planes averaged 13,000 from 1965 to 1982, but had dropped to only about 500 by 1993.

Stimpson also advocated against record attempts like 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff's 1996 bid to become the youngest person to fly across the country. Dubroff, her father and her flight instructor died when their plane crashed in Cheyenne, Wyo., prompting Stimpson to call for measures to "stop the circus-like, media-driven events."

In the late 1990s, Stimpson was chairman of "Be A Pilot," an industrywide education and research program aimed at increasing the number of people learning to fly.

"He was really interested in rejuvenating the spirit of flying," said Jaquet, a family friend.

Stimpson, who grew up in Bellingham, Wash., worked as an executive at Boise-based engineering firm Morrison Knudsen Corp. He graduated from Harvard College and received a graduate degree from the University of Washington in Seattle.

He and his wife, Dorothy, met as employees at the Seattle World's Fair in 1962. She was one of Idaho's representatives to the Democratic National Committee until 2000.

In 1998, Stimpson received the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy for public service in aviation, an honor he shared with aviator Charles A. Lindbergh, World War II pilot Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle and Apollo 11 astronaut Neil A. Armstrong.

In 1999, then-President Clinton appointed Stimpson to the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization, a Montreal-based group that promotes safe aviation around the world. He served until 2004.

_________________
Remember, the propeller is only there to keep the pilot cool.If you don't believe me, have it stop and watch the pilot start sweating!