In an effort to rebuild general aviation's bismirched reputation the AOPA ran a full-page ad in USA Today and Roll Call. (Click here to download a full-size copy of the ad in PDF form.)

To say that the AOPA was pissed might be an understatement. To use their words, they were "fed up at the litany of bad reporting" being done by the media. So, the headline of the ad read, "Last week one pilot made headlines. The other 588,656 did not."

AOPA said, "The ad is part of the association's ongoing effort to correct the many misconceptions and sometimes-outrageous statements about GA that have appeared in the media since a Pennsylvania pilot and his student-pilot passenger penetrated restricted airspace around the nation's capital in their Cessna 150."

I applaud AOPA's action for their feistiness and plunk. I doubt Jim Sheaffer will make it to the cover of AOPA Pilot anytime soon.