By J. DOUGLAS HINTON, For General Aviation News

The 2009 National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Convention held last month in Orlando, Florida, might best be characterized as a mixed bag of gloom and hope.

First day registrations were down 22% from last year, there were lots of empty display spaces in the convention hall and three of the “biggies” — Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft and Piper — elected to forego the convention hall for static display only at Orlando’s Executive Airport.

Putting a brave face on it, both NBAA President Ed Bolen and GAMA President Pete Bunce expressed confidence that the worst is over, that the stock market has rebounded, that Congress and the White House have stopped their attacks on business aviation, that banks are beginning to lend again and that used aircraft inventories are beginning to dwindle.

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