NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen last week commended Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) for outlining the value of business aviation in remarks he made on the Senate floor. “Some federal officials have recently been making the use of business aviation a matter of derision,” the senator told his colleagues. “Well, there is a lot of good that this business–a U.S.-dominated business–does, and we ought to support it, not hurt it.” Brownback also hammered the points that NBAA has been trying to make: business aviation employs more than one million people in manufacturing and support services; companies located in areas without robust airline service often rely on a business aircraft to conduct business elsewhere; only 500 of the nation’s 5,000 public-use airports are served by the airlines, making business aviation the only option for accessing most airports; and 86 percent of those flying aboard business aircraft are mid-level employees, including salespeople, engineers or other technical specialists. “The people of the business aviation community applaud Senator Brownback for explaining what business aviation is all about, and correcting some of the misstatements and mischaracterizations about business aviation that have recently been made,” Bolen said.