The Visitor in the BMW 745i ...

... was NATA chair William Koch, president of Seven Bar Enterprises. His office is just a few miles from the Omni Dallas Park West hotel, at which the association’s committee meetings were held this week. A bit tall, a bit lanky, Koch leisurely walked from car to lobby for a day of NATA business.  Rewind to last October and that leisurely walk seems miraculous. On October 9, Bill and four kids – three of his own and a friend – were driven off a divided highway in Dallas in their SUV. Bill remembers swerving to avoid the careening offender; then the lights went out. The result was four kids physically uninjured but emotionally traumatized; Bill was unconscious and left with severely damaged upper vertebrae. “Oh, and a big ol’ hole in my head,†he says.  He spent the next five weeks locked in place by an upper body bracket, with a “halo†over his head to keep everything in alignment. By Thanksgiving, he was back at the office at Seven Bar, which operates three FBOs and fixed wing air medical services under contract. And by this week, he was back in action for the trade association as it takes on the battle on how the aviation system is funded, among other issues.  I first met Bill back when we were aviation kids; he was doing FBO marketing then. Bill would move up to become president of the AMR Combs chain of fixed base operations when they were owned by AMR Corporation. He was hired in 2003 to head up Seven Bar by the Black family, ranchers who’ve been in business for three generations. They liked Bill’s experience and his history – father Don was a well known long-timer at AVIALL and other aviation companies. Both have a reputation for being gentlemen who understand the business of aviation.  For an idea of how he’d like the association to respond to new funding proposals from the feds, consider what he told AIRPORT BUSINESS in our March 2006 issue: “For FAA to continue to ask industry for more funding, when it appears that FAA is absolutely incapable of controlling costs, is an unacceptable position.â€Â  We wish him good health. Thanks for reading.  jfi