General Aviation in America - RIP

CFI1513840 · #1 02-05-2007, 03:44 PM

If you guessed this was about User Fees, you were right. This may signal the ultimate end of General Aviation in America as we now know it. http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news..._194396-1.html.

Jamie · #2 02-05-2007, 03:57 PM

No surprise here...

This has been anticipated by all the GA organizations for some while now.

Amazing that our government is so willing to turn control of the NAS over to the airlines -- the same airlines that received more than $16 billion in bailout money after 9/11 but now claim that GA needs to pay it's "fair share". The same airlines that include American Airlines, which shelled out $218 million of it's $230 million FY06 profits to it's top 50 executives while non-management employees took more than $1.6 billion in wage concessions.

Yeah...let's turn everything over to airline management. They're VERY RESPONSIBLE with money.

jcoloccia · #3 02-05-2007, 04:13 PM

Don't give up just yet. This is far from a done deal and can be fought if we all bug our representatives. Remember, they work for you and are paid with your money. Don't be bashful to write letters, call them up and encourage all your friends and family to do the same.

::: obligitory RV related comments follow :::

If you assume someone else will fight this battle, it will cost a whole heck of a lot more to fly your RV

jantar · #4 02-05-2007, 04:54 PM

If you look at the budget you will see what happens with taxes like aviation fuel tax. All of it goes to general revenue same as our social security premiums. There have been Social Security surpluses for years but they just get spent instead of being put in a social security fund. Then the government has guts telling us there is no money in Social Security and because of baby boomers they need to tax us more. I am asking where the premiums are baby boomers have been paying for so many years. I am getting tired of all these new programs (read income redistribution) at the cost of honest hard working people. It is just another tax and we need to stop it now. Not a single representative will remember or want to remember how we pay for our aviation services because they want to spend money on their own programs (read make society dependent on government so they get re-elected based on people fear of loosing services). Please be generous supporting AOPA and EAA in their fight against this proposal. Our failure will cost more in the long run. We need to unite against subsidizing airlines and against loosing control to airlines. If we loose this battle ?God help America? we will be sliding fast in the direction of Germany and France were their governments made large part of population dependent on them effectively supporting them out of fear of loosing services). Our tax code is terrible, full of special privileges for some. It is a shame. Look what happened to aviation in Europe. Ultra light aircraft are most popular and people do not fly IFR.

Maybe I am exaggerating a little bit, yes, I am angry we are becoming a pray.

I will be the first to demonstrate against this in Washington.

Bryan Wood · #5 02-05-2007, 05:53 PM

Northwest's CEO started this, Jet Blue and Southwest are pushing it too. Try to remember that when buying tickets for those times when you can't fly youself.

jantar · #6 02-05-2007, 06:54 PM

The FAA funding debate and user fees
How should the Federal Aviation Administration be funded? Should Congress retain the existing system, which provides funds from excise taxes and from the general fund, or move to an entirely new system of user fees?

The Administration is telling the country that the FAA must have a funding system that ties the agency's revenues to its costs of doing business. To do that, the president is expected to propose a radically different user fee system, a proposal strongly supported by the airlines.

This would be a mistake. The current tax system serves the aviation sector extremely well, having provided the FAA with the funds it needs for nearly four decades. But wherever user fee funding systems have been implemented, they have proved onerous, ill-conceived, and ultimately damaged general aviation.

"There is no bigger issue facing general aviation today. Our future is hostage to the FAA funding decision. If we choose user fees or radical new taxes, America's unique personal aircraft transportation system will die."
AOPA President Phil Boyer

The issues:

Does the FAA need more money?
Is the current tax system "broken"?
Are individual airspace "users" paying enough?"
Who controls the airspace system?Congress or the airlines?

The players:

The FAA and Department of Transportation...

... want user fees to "match revenue to costs," to eliminate congressional controls on what they spend, and to charge pilots directly for FAA services.

The big airlines...

...want to shift some of the costs to support the FAA onto GA, and they want to control the air traffic control system and access to "their" airspace.

The White House...

... wants to take FAA funding "off budget" by charging user fees to free tax revenue for nonaviation uses

General aviation...
...wants to preserve a robust aviation system that is the envy of the world and that serves all citizens, not just the wealthy.
The timeline:

Congress must take action by October 2007, either to renew or modify the taxes that currently fund the FAA or to institute user fees.

"This isn't about blips, or funding, or whether individual pilots pay enough. It's about creating a radical new way to pay for government safety services and turning control of safety over to private industry. It's about cost, safety, and freedom. It's about preserving general aviation and the freedom of average citizens to fly for business and pleasure."
Phil Boyer

briand · #7 02-05-2007, 07:18 PM

I see flight schools all over the U.S. closing their doors. People come to the U.S. from all over the world for pilot training because we have the best and most AFFORDABLE system. CFI's will be lining up in the unemployment lines soon.

jdmunzell · #8 02-05-2007, 07:48 PM

Remember that we now have a Democrat controlled Congress. Keep your memberships up in EAA and AOPA, and be ready to SPEAK LOUDLY when those guys say to. Believe me, Phil Boyer knows how to organize the troops....so be ready!

Our President (among others) has done more damage to this country and to our freedoms than I ever thought possible!! He just can't leave well enough alone! If I didn't know better, I'd swear he was in cahoots with Daly in their mutual disdane for aviation!

LettersFromFlyoverCountry · #9 02-05-2007, 08:07 PM

I recommend everyone get off the list, stop banging rivets, and pick up the phone and a pen & paper. Remind them that the '08 campaign is already underway and you'd be more than happy to escort your local congressman out of office.

Now is not the time for resignation.

grover · #10 02-06-2007, 05:11 AM

NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen today issued a statement concerning the fiscal year 2008 budget, released by the White House today. "It appears that, after more than a year of intense lobbying by the nation's big airlines, the White House has decided to introduce a budget that shifts airline costs to other segments of the industry and gives airlines more control over the air traffic system," Bolen said. "NBAA and the rest of the general aviation community will oppose this toxic mix of higher taxes, new fees and airline control."