Aviation View - Dec 2023

70 AVIATION VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 3, ISSUE 4 PREFERRED VENDOR/ PARTNER n Hanson Professional Services, Inc. www.hanson-inc.com n Decatur Area Convention & Visitors Bureau www.decaturcvb.com Airport as he looks ahead to the future? One is finding a big business that would like to be located in central Illinois at an airport and then begin that expansion to that growth on the north side of the airport for business development. He also rectifies public misperceptions and fears of flying. Statistically speaking, as Wright points out, flight is still far and away the most secure way to travel. “Aviation is still one of the safest modes of transportation in the world,” he says. “I think that people need to restore their faith in the aviation community. The key is—and I’ll use this for pilots as well and all the people who work at airports—we need to be mentors. We need to go out and help.” He hopes more young people will choose aviation as a career. “Do they want to go into aviation?” he rhetorically asks. “They need to encourage people to take back an interest in aviation. I agree with that 100 percent.” “It starts with the youth, and it starts with igniting that passion, because there’s one thing we’ve learned, and I’m sure you would agree. That is, to work in aviation, you have to love it. Absolutely. You know, they say that if you love your job, you never work a day in your life. For the last 20 years, I guess I’ve never worked!”