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INTRODUCTION                                            5
  We must penetrate world and domestic markets with our own aviation goods, competing in many instances with Government-subsidized industry on both sides of the Iron Curtain.  We must equate a competitive air transport system, domestic and international, with the requirements for economic soundness at home and equitable contest with our neighbors abroad.  We must strengthen our own aviation economy without unjustly penalizing our friends and those we wish to become our friends.
  Aviation goals cannot be profitably examined in isolation.  Aviation is a part of our national transportation complex.  Its contribution can and should be greater than it is, but means to that end must be measured, not only against the unique nation of the air resource but against its proper place in the development of a strong national transportation system.
  It is not enough to say that our transportation systems must be tied more closely together.  The combination of two weak units does not necessarily produce strength.  Unneeded duplication of transport services wastes limited resources.  Competition solely for the sake of competition is a fallible thesis, whether applied to one form of regulated transportation or to a number.  Essentially aviation goals inevitably must be modified by consideration of facilities and competence in other transportation fields.. Aviation must meet the criteria of economy, reliability, and safety in the competitive travel marketplace if it is to make its full contribution to the national transportation structure.
  We can never afford, from whatever viewpoint-economic, social, or political-to fritter away the national natural resource of air.
  In the last decade there have been considerable analysis but little action.  During this time there have been at least 75 comprehensive Government reports on aviation subjects, ranging from broad air policy to narrow, technically oriented studies.
  These studies have made important contributions to aviation literature and research. Many of them have achieved laudable results, notably the reports on aviation facilities, which ultimately resulted in the Federal Aviation Act of 1958.  But, in general, the tendency has