Beyond the massive hall filled with the latest in aviation technology and the scores of aircraft on static display, the NBAA Convention is at its core “a celebration of people, people who are passionate about aviation,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen in welcoming attendees at the opening general session of NBAA 2016 in Orlando, Fla. The kickoff proved his point, featuring tributes to recently passed aviation legends Bob Hoover and Arnold Palmer, and addresses from champions of general aviation, among them U.S. Congressman Sam Graves; David McCullough, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Wright Brothers; and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske.

Bolen noted that Hoover and Palmer were strong GA advocates, and said the best way to honor them is to “take up that mantle of advocacy and make it our own,” and he announced NBAA has launched #bizavworks, where attendees can Tweet their stories of business aviation’s benefits under the new hashtag’s banner.

With a new Administration coming to Washington in January, Bolen called community involvement vital, singling out an anticipated renewed fight over ATC privatization, and urged attendees to “be advocates in every way possible.”

Rep. Sam Graves (R-Missouri)—co-chair of the House General Aviation Caucus, the largest caucus in Congress, and a staunch advocate for business aviation—said in his opening remarks, “I would submit we are stronger as an industry than we have ever been before.” He also recognized aviation luminaries Clay Lacy and Sean Tucker in the audience, and noted two of his flight instructors were also in attendance. Looking ahead, Graves said the new Congress will likely take up FAA Authorization in “the February to March time frame,” and noted successes of July’s temporary reauthorization that included third-class medical reform and UAV regulations.

McCullough recounted the ridicule and failure through which the Wright brothers persevered, as had other figures he’s written about, among them John Adams, Harry Truman and John Roebling, builder of the Brooklyn Bridge. “Be very skeptical of a leader who’s never experienced failure, who’s never made a mistake,” McCullough said, “because failure is a part of life.”

Kerlikowske recounted the collaborative work between CBP’s general aviation working group and the GA community, as well as agency plans to expand programs such as the Southern Border exemption, after-hours processing of GA arrivals and the Apis Single Syntax program. “We’re going to continue, whatever Administration” comes to Washington in January, he vowed.