With the need to authorize the FAA before Sept. 30, 2017, a number of general aviation association leaders joined together to send letters to House and Senate transportation leaders underscoring “real and long-standing concerns” about a concept being pushed by some airlines regarding air traffic control.
Specifically, the GA organizations cited concerns over a proposal to create “a new governance and funding model for our nation’s aviation system, based on systems in other parts of the world.”
“The general aviation community has very real and long-standing concerns, which include, but are not limited to, user fees,” the letter states. “These concerns are based on our operating experiences in these foreign systems and the impact they have had on general aviation.”
The letters were signed by officials with the Air Care Alliance, Aircraft Electronics Association, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Citation Jet Pilots, Commemorative Air Force, Experimental Aircraft Association, General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Helicopter Association International, International Council of Air Shows, National Agricultural Aviation Association, National Association of State Aviation Officials, National Air Transportation Association, National Business Aviation Association, Recreational Aviation Foundation, U.S. Parachute Association and Veterans Airlift Command.
The letters were sent to House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee Chair Bill Shuster (R-PA), Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-OR), T&I Aviation Subcommittee Chair Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) and Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA), as well as Senate Commerce Committee Chair John Thune (R-SD) and Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Aviation Subcommittee Chair Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA).
These letters support the concerns expressed last week by EAA CEO and Chairman Jack Pelton, responding to news that the White House included an endorsement of privatizing air traffic control services in its budget proposal.
“Under such a system, ATC would be overseen and managed by a board made up of commercial interests, with the nation’s airlines having the most powerful and numerous voices,” Pelton said last week. “These interests would inevitably drown out whatever token representation and economic impact GA would have on such a board, creating an ATC system that would serve commercial interests with the greatest financial resources.”
Massively decomposing and then reformulating FAA from first principles, while splitting off ATS as a separate ANSP, managed by real AIRSPACE USERS, including GA, would likely be the best thing for the long term that has happened to GA since 1946. It is critical that real airspace users (not consultants, avionics companies, and contractors) lead the complete reassessment and redesign of NextGen, which now is headed straight for a $40B failure. Further, the 2020 ADS-B deadline is going to be an unmitigated disaster for GA [airlines already have an extension to 2024, and DoD and foreign airlines will likely NEVER comply within the inappropriate and strict definitions of 91.225/91.227]). So don’t be so sure that the seriously misguided political efforts of NBAA, AOPA, and EAA opposing “FAA and ATS reform” are acting in the best interests of GA at all at this point.
I’m a student pilot and have no interest in taking ATC to the commercial level. I was looking to enjoy a new hobby and experience some of the last remaining freedoms this great country has to offer.
As a student pilot, I am helping support the GA community AND local economy in many ways…
I pay for my Instruction
I pay for the fuel
I pay to rent the aircraft
I pay for ground School
I pay for training materials and such
and much much more
the trickle down effect on the economy is fairly substantial when you multiply my contributions with all the other students and GA Pilots alike
The cost is steep enough as it is, and if this transition were to move forward, the costs would most definitely be prohibitive and likely put an end to mine and many others GA contributions.
If they kill GA they kill GA….there are just too many headwinds on the sport now. This is just one more to add to the list.
That’s the spirit gbigs. That’s not the spirit of how this country came about, though. Yet, because of the never give up spirit our forefathers had, we prevailed as the free country we are. If you truly had a passion for aviation, you would not have this give up attitude. So sorry you feel this way. I guess it’s time for you to crawl up in the fetal position and go to your safe space.
Woah Ray. Better watch your back. I hear gbigs is Huerta’s pseudonym. 😮