Every year on August 19 the aviation industry celebrates National Aviation Day, established in 1939 by a proclamation of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The day also falls on Orville Wright\u2019s birthday, and in fact was chosen in part to commemorates the Wright Brothers\u2019 achievements in making aviation flight a reality.<\/p>\n
Today, people often visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial at the U.S. National Park Service in Kitty Hawk, N.C. to honor the brothers\u2019 contributions to the aviation industry. \u00a0The memorial marks the spot where in 1903, Orville Wright took off for that first successful flight of 12 seconds and a distance of 120 feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust look at how far we’ve come since that day,\u201d emphasizes Stanley Kowlessar, Jr., vice president of sales and marketing at Thrust Tech Accessories (TTA), an experienced MRO\u00a0 services company in South Florida. He points to the fact that nowadays, the Federal Aviation Administration\u2019s (FAA) air traffic organization (ATO) in the U.S. alone handles more than 44,000 flights daily, representing nearly 3 million airline passengers across more than 29 million square miles of airspace. And globally, air traffic increased 13.6 percent in 2024, with capacity up 12.8 percent, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).<\/p>\n
Proud to be Part of this Business<\/strong><\/p>\n Today, the diverse world of aviation spans regional and international airlines, private planes, corporate aircraft, mainline air carriers, and rotorcraft operators. And as National Aviation Day approaches, TTA, with more than three decades of MRO experience, is proud to salute all the players in this vital industry \u2013 aviation operators, vendors, partners, and of course, MROs like Thrust Tech, and each of their employees. \u201dEvery day, each of you makes us proud to be part of this business,\u201d states Kowlessar, Jr.<\/p>\n \u201cHere\u2019s a great way to honor all those over the past decades who\u2019ve contributed to aviation history \u2013 visit an air museum or important aviation spot around the country,\u201d continues Kowlessar, Jr. \u00a0For example, in South Florida,\u00a0the Wings over Miami Aviation Museum at Miami Executive Airport\u00a0is an\u00a0excellent half-day outing.<\/p>\n Even closer to TTA\u2019s headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, you\u2019ll find the small Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum on the perimeter of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. In addition to air station artifacts and historical documents it preserves the memory of Flight 19, a military flight that took off from the station on December 5, 1945 and vanished within the Bermuda Triangle. Today, that remains one of military aviation’s greatest mysteries.<\/p>\n Throughout the U.S., you\u2019ll also find many other enticing museums that showcase aviation history. For instance, the largest wooden airplane ever built was Howard Hughes\u2019 famous Spruce Goose, a prototype H-4 Hercules flying boat. It flew only once in 1947 and is now proudly on display at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, OR.<\/p>\n Another storied aircraft is the \u201cMiracle on the Hudson\u201d aircraft, an Airbus A320 operated by US Airways. When a bird strike took out the aircraft\u2019s engines on takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York in 2009, Captain Chesley \u201cSully\u201d Sullenberger, assisted by First Officer Jeffrey Skiles, landed the plane on the Hudson River, an incredible feat that resulted in no casualties to passengers or crew members. The A320 was raised and is now on display as the centerpiece of the Sullenberger Aviation Museum in Charlotte, NC.<\/p>\n Alternatively, you might visit<\/p>\n If traveling in Europe, the Museum of Air and Space (Mus\u00e9e de l\u2019Air et de l\u2019Espace), Le Bourget, France, or the Imperial War Museum Duxford, U.K., are great spots to also delve into aviation history.<\/p>\n Kowlessar Jr. Visits SAC in Nebraska<\/strong><\/p>\n This summer, Kowlessar Jr., visited one of TTA\u2019s valued customers during a supplier summit, and one of the events during the trip was a visit to the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum in Ashland, Neb. \u201cIt was a fabulous experience to see such a wide array of aircraft,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom a B-52 \u2018Stratofortress\u2019 to a B-25N \u2018Mitchell\u2019 to a B-17 \u2018Flying Fortress\u2019 and others, I\u2019d definitely recommend a visit.\u201d<\/p>\n Evolving every day, the aviation industry benefits local, state, and national economies, as well as the personal lives of many, by expanding the ability to explore the world. In fact, commercial aviation drove 5 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024. That\u2019s $1.45 trillion dollars and 2.3 million direct and indirect jobs. In all, general aviation contributes $178 billion to the GDP and supports approximately 1.33 million jobs.<\/p>\n And in TTA\u2019s important MRO sector of the aviation business, those companies that are certified by the FAA under Part 145 are actually the largest MRO employers. Nearly 189,000 MRO technicians all contribute each and every day to maintaining, repairing, and overhauling aircraft. \u201cThey keep planes in the air and foster safe flying,\u201d stresses Kowlessar, Jr., \u201cIt takes a village for sure.\u201d So, Happy National Aviation Day!<\/p>\n About Thrust Tech Accessories<\/strong><\/p>\n Now in business for more than three decades, TTA is certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), European Aviation Safety Association (EASA) and the U.K.\u2019s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). \u201cWe strive to provide our valued customers with high-quality, on time, cost-effective MRO services with a strong focus on customer service as well as aircraft reliability and safety,\u201d stresses Kowlessar. \u201dLet\u2019s discuss your MRO needs and how TTA can assist your business.\u201d Visit the TTA website <\/a>for contact information.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every year on August 19 the aviation industry celebrates National Aviation Day, established in 1939 by a proclamation of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The day also falls on Orville Wright\u2019s birthday, and in fact was chosen in part to commemorates the Wright Brothers\u2019 achievements in making aviation flight a reality. Today, people often visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial at the U.S. National Park Service in Kitty Hawk, N.C. to honor the brothers\u2019 contributions to the aviation industry. \u00a0The memorial marks the spot where in 1903, Orville Wright took off for that first successful flight of 12 seconds and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","post--single"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thrusttech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thrusttech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thrusttech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thrusttech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thrusttech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thrusttech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":832,"href":"https:\/\/thrusttech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828\/revisions\/832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thrusttech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thrusttech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thrusttech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thrusttech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n