Question about User Fees

Are the powers that be planning on lumping everything that isn't an air carrier into the category of General Aviation ? Because if so I really don't feel like I have much in common with some rich lawyer in a Gulfstream or even an Eclipse.

AOPA has some very good info. So it seems your an EMPLOYEE for some type of airline, hence [777 Driver]. What exactly are you implying?

User fees

From what I understand, the airlines are in cahoots with the FAA to push as much of their operating expenses as possible off onto somebody else -- in this case general aviation since everything else is either military or fed government. The current administration and, by association, the FAA support user fees and baling out the airlines (yet again) and are pressing hard to have them enacted into law. Few, if any, of the people in control are aware that there is a world of difference between our airplanes and a shiny new corporate jet. Marion Blakey, the FAA administrator is an idiot with NO aviation experience at all. She got her job as pay-back for something she has done for the administration, so, of course, she is going to push for user fees because that is what she was told to do. (BTW, the seven major airlines are quietly having their people appointed into senior policy-making jobs within the FAA.) She is on record talking about how GA pilots will soon be flying the new D-Jet into and out of O'Hare, etc. I don't know what a D-Jet is and never plan to operate anywhere near O'Hare, so I'm not sure where she's getting her info. Bottom line: Nobody in the FAA is on our side. I think they are really aiming user fees at the corporate and non sched stuff that uses the same airspace, services and facilities as their precious airlines. I think we are completely off their radar scope but the drafters of this stupidity are too dumb to realize we are included in their plan simply because we are part of GA. AOPA is doing yeoman work trying to put an end to this. They are taking the fight to The Hill and are getting right in the faces of the airlines and their FAA toads. As far as I can tell, EAA is doing nothing but paying lip service. They've spent more time and energy making sure the Beach Boys come to OSH this year than they have fighting user fees. I got an email from AOPA prez Phil Boyer yesterday after I sent him one pointing out the same thing 777Driver said. He agrees -- he flies a Waco, BTW -- but right now they are holding strong to the idea that NOBODY in GA gets user fees, but that may change as we get closer to a vote on this thing. Me? I write to every elected official I can think of and explain the kind of flying I do, the fact that I have never been the cause of any airliner being late, losing bags, fare hikes, babies crying in tourist class, etc, and that user fees will likely stop forever me and many of you from flying our old airplanes just for the pure joy of it. So, yes, 777Driver, it is very likely your employer and the FAA is out to get you and the rest of us. To everyone else, I'd say get on the horn and start talking to your elected reps and explain to them the injustice of what is about to happen. They are never gonna know and understand the difference between a J-5 and a G-V if we don't tell 'em. The United States of America gave the gift of flight to the rest of the world; it would be a damn shame to have it taken away like this. GBA forever, but not the airlines or the FAA.

Guys,
Relax, I was just asking. None of you know the power of the ATA lobby better than myself. I have been trying for years to get them to so much as aknowledge the causal relationship between fatigue and pilot error. They maintain against all common sense and logic that there is none. Airline ticket prices contain more tax than either cigarettes or alcohol combined. The ATA sees user fees as a panacea for all their members mis-management ills. From my years of negotiation observation I want to be ready in advance if we end up having to "move" a little from our position. The AOPA (of which I am a member) has an admirable stance of "We ain't giving nothing". Hopefully that will work, unfortunately I have seen this powerful lobby crumble many things that I hold sacred. So in the interest of horse trading I just want to know what we might have to put on the table.

User fees

I don't think we can relax on this one. The issue is too big and far reaching. And user fees aren't going away. If the Bush administration doesn't get 'em, Hillary will because she will have a friendly Congress on her side. If we don't at least make an attempt to educate our elected officials, they're gonna take whatever they want to from us whether they mean to or not. I saw this happen too many times in the Pentagon -- bad legislation would be passed, then the bill's sponsor would shrug and say I know what it says but that's not what I meant. DOD would be left holding the bag until Congress could get around to fixing the error. Cub drivers and others like us face the same peril right now. I don't want to have to listen to some senator in a couple of months say, "What's this about landing fees at grass strips for Cubs with no radios?! I was talking about fees for G-Vs sneaking into ATL during peak hours!" He/she might lament the error but the damage would be done. My Cub has been around for 61 years and could probably go for 60 more but if I were a betting man, I'd bet, based on the way things are going, that I'll be the last one who gets to fly it. None of this is histrionics, BTW. It is based on having worked inside the Beltway for 15 years and having watched the process up close and personal. The squeakiest wheel always gets the most grease. Right now, ATA has the noisiest PAC money of all.