Washington, DC – The Board of Directors of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has selected former employee John A. Pope as the first recipient of the NBAA Staff Lifetime Achievement Award.
This award recognizes Pope for his years of service to NBAA Members as a Staff member between 1961 and 1984. In particular, it honors Pope for his energy in building the Association’s Membership, his focus on the safety standards of business aviation through promoting a company operations manual, and his overall dedication to the safety and efficiency of business aviation.
Pope became the third person on a three-person Staff when he joined NBAA in July 1961 to serve the Association’s 325 Members. During his career with NBAA, Pope was responsible for many diverse duties, including:
- Acting as liaison to the NBAA Technical Committee and Corporate Aviation Management Committee,
the latter of which he founded. - Writing and managing publications, such as NBAA newsletters, a basic guideline for corporate aviation management titled NBAA Recommended Standards Manual and a series of publications offering aviation department advice titled NBAA Management Aids.
- Planning and managing the Annual Meeting & Convention.
- Founding the NBAA Advisory Council, now known as the Associate Member Advisory Council, to provide a means of interface for the Operating Members (or Voting Members) and Associate Members (Nonvoting Members).
- Handling Membership development and retention.
- Founding and conducting the NBAA Operations Manual Workshop in response to urging by the National Transportation Safety Board.
He also was involved in providing national and state tax information to NBAA Members, conducting aviation salary surveys for the Association, and administering recognition programs for outstanding fixed-base operators (FBOs). The NBAA Membership had grown to about 3,000 Members by the time Pope retired in 1984.
After his retirement from NBAA, Pope founded his own company in order to provide guidance to aviation department managers in writing useful operations manuals, among other things. He has been a freelance writer for employers such as Aviation International News, for which he writes a “Congressional Observer” column, and Flight Safety Foundation, for which he has written more than 50 articles on the topic of safety.
Pope also possesses a distinguished military career. He retired as a colonel from the U.S. Air Force Reserve after nearly 34 years of service, which included flying transport aircraft during World War II. He was recalled to active duty three times – for the Korean, Berlin and Pueblo crises – during 22 years of service with the Air National Guard.
A native of New York and an English major from Pace College and American University, Pope worked in sales, public relations and management before joining NBAA in 1961. As part of his Air Force training, he completed studies at the Air Tactical School, Command & Staff School and the Air War College.
Pope will receive the NBAA Staff Lifetime Achievement Award on September 20 during the Association’s Awards Banquet, which will be held at the close of the NBAA 54th Annual Meeting & Convention in New Orleans.
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.