A pilot with a commercial rating and more than 3,000 hours of flight time, Sam Graves co-chairs the General Aviation Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. He helped found the annual Wing Nuts Flying Circus, an annual airshow in his hometown of Tarkio, Missouri, and is restoring a 1943 Beech AT-10. He talked to Air & Space Editor Linda Shiner in October.
Air & Space: Why did you see a need for a congressional General Aviation Caucus?
Graves: When I got to Washington [in 2000], I noticed that there are so many people who are regulating aviation who don’t understand it. And in Congress, there were very few people advocating for aviation. And you have people out there who have medical issues related to pilots’ licenses and are trying to sift their way through. Or they have certification issues, or problems with their local [Flight Standards District Office]. When they would go to their member of Congress, there was very little understanding of what the problems was, or what the regulations are. That’s how I got started doing this stuff, and trying to help…