Write them a letter

Don't call or email your representatives, that means nothing. Send them a letter, you know, whit a real stamp and everything.

In this day an age of spam agents, email doesn't count for anything.

Contact your EAA chapter for the letter templates that came with the following email. All chapter President's received this email and the templates.

EAA said:
Subject: EAA Chapter E-alert to All North Carolina Chapter Presidents - FAA Funding Proposal


This EAA Chapter E-alert is provided as a member service to EAA Chapter Presidents in the State of North Carolina:

You and your EAA chapter members can help to block an FAA funding proposal that would severely impede our ability to enjoy personal flight. The conflict over user fees - the FAA funding proposal driven by the big airline lobby - has escalated into a battle for the future of general aviation. Keeping user fees out of U.S. aviation will require a concerted effort from all participants in our community.

The fate of the FAA's user-fee funding proposal currently lies in the hands of the U.S. House and Senate. Their aviation-related and budget committees are examining the FAA's proposed reauthorization legislation, which calls for the introduction of user fees to pay for FAA services. These committees will determine which provisions of the FAA's proposal to bring to a vote of the House and Senate.

Meanwhile, the big airlines continue to push for user fees and oversight of their structure and administration. The result would give them greater control over the nation's airspace while pushing more of the cost of managing that airspace onto the very group being restricted: general aviation.

The airlines' rhetoric asserting that "fat cats" in private jets should pay more for using the nation's ATC and other services overlooks the oppressive effects their proposals ultimately would have on average aviation enthusiasts like you and me. We are people who already make sacrifices to afford our enjoyment of personal flight. We should not have to underwrite big businesses' use of, and attempts to commandeer, the nation's airspace.

Given the issue's current status, the time for grassroots action is now. To stave off this proposal and its disastrous consequences for recreational aviation, those of us who fly for pleasure must persuade the committee members and all other national legislators that user fees are unwarranted, unfair, and ill-conceived. This is an opportunity for all of us to defend the pastime that we love - and that we have a fundamental right to pursue without shouldering an unfair cost burden and being nudged out.

Please enlist the support of your chapter members in combating this threat (toward this end, I have included your chapter officers, newsletter editor, and webmaster in the distribution of this e-mail). Ask your members to write a letter or send a fax to their delegates in the U.S. House and Senate. Although they require a bit more effort, letters and faxes make a stronger statement than e-mails, which often go ignored because they are too easily generated en masse through automated processes.

The attached documents below serve as templates and guides to assist members in crafting their letters. The names and addresses of the appropriate U.S. Senators are already provided - but don't forget to tell members to look up and correspond with their delegates in the U.S. House of Representatives, too. They may obtain the contact information at www.house.gov.

Furthermore, the attachment UF-ARTICLE.DOC is an article for use in your newsletter or website urging members to join in the battle. Feel free to tailor it to the particulars of your chapter and its activities.

Please use these tools to inspire your members to take action. Our continued efforts to make flying more affordable and our right to enjoy the sky are at stake.

Sincerely,

Earl Lawrence
EAA Vice President
Industry and Regulatory Affairs
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Better yet...

Here is one of the letter templates. You will have to find out who your rep's are and address accordingly.

EAA said:
Honorable Elizabeth Dole
U.S. Senate
555 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Dole:

I am writing to request that you strongly reject the terms calling for user fees contained in the Administration?s proposed FAA reauthorization legislation entitled, ?Next Generation Transportation System Financing Reform Act of 2007.? [Say what you think the result of the proposed user fees would mean to you ? e.g., would cause you to sell your aircraft, would reduce the amount of flying you do, would prevent you from obtaining a private pilot certificate, etc. Try to keep the statement to one or two sentences.]

[State who you are and give some information on your aviation frame of reference. For example, ?I am a private pilot and owner of a small homebuilt aircraft, which I fly for recreation.? Another example could be, ?I am a USAF-trained pilot with over 50 years? experience in the flying game and, although I very seldom write letters to elected officials, this problem has caught my attention.?]

The present funding system for the world?s biggest, best, and safest Air Traffic Control System is NOT broken. The OMB agrees with this assessment as well. The Aviation Trust Fund revenues are at a record level and are projected to increase at a rate of approximately 6% annually for the next five years. The President?s own FY 2008 budget estimates indicate there are adequate tax revenues to fully fund the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF), if extended. Conversely, the user fee proposal would raise nearly $1 billion LESS between 2008 and 2012 than would be raised under the current system.

[Pick one or two of the following points to use in your letter.
 User fees are a bad way to fund a new system, as projected collection costs would eat up much of the potential revenue.
 FAA failed its accounting audit this year, indicating the agency still cannot identify an appropriate cost structure for services.
 The current system of excise taxes and the method of collection are extremely efficient. A user fee system would be complex, bureaucratic, and expensive.
 Congress plays a critical role in providing budget and management oversight of the FAA and must not be cut out of this oversight role.
 The U.S. air transportation system is a national asset that benefits every citizen of this country. Accordingly, every taxpayer should help pay for it through a healthy general fund contribution to the FAA operations budget.
 As a national asset, the U.S. air transportation system does not belong to any one set of users: military, airline, or general aviation. It is a shared asset and no one constituency should attempt to usurp control.
 There are no financial constraints on the FAA?s ability to modernize the air traffic and national airspace systems. The agency need only develop a plan that is sound, accommodates the needs of all users, and contains appropriate cost accounting and controls, and then present it to the aviation community and Congress.
 User fees have proven time and again to be expensive, inefficient, and damaging to general aviation in every country in which they have been introduced. Canada, Germany, Australia, the U.K., the Netherlands, the Philippines, Austria, Israel, and many other nations have implemented user fees in one form or another ? all with disastrous results for their general aviation communities.]

[Closing paragraph: Thank your Senator for giving attention to this matter. Ask the Senator to remember and share your concerns in the debate on this issue.]

Sincerely,

[Your name
Address
E-mail]
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Please don't send your representative the link to the video - when they see all those fees their mouths will start watering, and they will become supporters of the Bush plan!
 
I guess I just have more than a couple issues with this entire concept. First of all, we as private/recreational/whatever pilots, are such a small entity. It takes a very large percentage of us responding to an issue that effects us, to even remotely appear to be seriously concerned as to the issue problems, as we see them. Thus, if we live the adage that "someone else will do it", we lose. Write, email, do your small part to make a small sector heard.

Second issue is the inherit safety issues involved with this being implemented. The airlines, Part 135, cargo will have all these fees included in their cost/profit calculations. We as XXX/@@@/??? will not. As indicated in the video, here they are planning an ILS, canceling, then scud running all for saving the landing fee. If you listen, one of the key money makers is the unscheduled use of the facilities, ie. ATC, IFR system or unscheduled landing. "Fly 250, maintain 3500' until established, clear for the ILS 22" Pilot inside head voice, "Hang tough through the cloud deck, maybe I can cancel before I grab the localizer, save $22, what was that heading, 350?, no 250, here comes localizer....there goes my $22........or is that runway 22?" ATC. "contact tower 118.20" "voice inside, "DH 200, but I want to cancel at 500 so I can scud run" ATC "did you copy contact tower 118.20" Voice inside, "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$"

This thing is just plain dangerous and stupid. I hate to get on a soapbox, but remember, we are a small group that can only be heard with a consolidated voice. If they implement it with a large outpouring of our displeasure, then so be it, if they do it with us tucking our tails between our legs ............remember, we are their boss not the other way around.

Off the soapbox, I've got a 22 mile marathon training run to do at 9AM..........I'm liable to set a new world record if I don't settle down:)
 
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