We are under Attack

[bailey3083]

This website is really trying to distort the truth about our flying. If you look at any of the real info we make up a fraction of what the Airliners make up but yet there is a movement to tax us heavier. Is it really our fault that ticket prices have fallen so the FAA is not taking in as much per ticket as before?

http://www.smartskies.org/

 

[NJAPLT]

Come on, with the track record and great business practices the airlines have demonstrated in the last few years you don't want them to run the air traffic control system also?

I would say they should stick to what they are good at, but I have no idea what that is.

 

[bailey3083]

They are great at driving more business to the Fracs so I say keep it up.

 

[glasspilot]

The point is the airlines are pressing congress to enact legislation that would overhaul the FAA's revenue system by placing user fees on GA and us. If it goes through get ready to pony up to the FAA every time you get a medical, apply for a new type, apply for a new rating, land at a towered field, use an airway, get a vector, and fly an approach. These fees will have a HUGE impact on all of our companies.

I wish I had a link to the site that's fighting this. It would be appropriate here. I do suggest you call your congressmen as I have done.

 

[pilotpat]

$25 might not seem like a lot to the non-flying public, but when you figure how many frac flights per day there are, it boggles the mind. I'm looking for a website glasspilot...I'll post one if I find it. I know the NBAA, EAA and AOPA have info against this, but I'm looking for another grass routes type website.

I call BS only because it seems the big guys are just looking for someone else to help them out since the gov't obviously is over it. Hey, sorry Orbitz and every other site like it has cut so deep. I'm all for "cheap" tickets, but gimme a break.

EDIT: Check out this PDF file if you haven't all ready seen it. http://web.nbaa.org/public/news/200607eaa/GAUnitedAgainstUserFees.pdf

 

[wolfpackpilot]

You wanna play, you gotta pay.

If they tack on another $25/per flight our owners will just chuckle and say............

Here's $50, make mine a round trip! They could give a rats *ss about this.

 

[bailey3083]

You wanna play, you gotta pay.

If they tack on another $25/per flight our owners will just chuckle and say............

Here's $50, make mine a round trip! They could give a rats *ss about this.

That is what one member of congress wants to do. These people are pushing for user fees where when we get our clearance we pay..when we take off we pay..when we do anything we pay. This can add alot of money to a flight and then the airlines get to drop the taxes that they are charging so they can be that little bit cheaper.

Bailey

 

[dalegribble]

NEVER GIVE THE GOVERNMENT AN EXCUSE TO COLLECT $$$$ It will cost more to administer than it's bringing in probably.

Don't forget the govt's way of increasing these or any fees to suit the whim of the GREAT FAA mgmt

 

[glasspilot]

NEVER GIVE THE GOVERNMENT AN EXCUSE TO COLLECT $$$$ It will cost more to administer than it's bringing in probably.

Don't forget the govt's way of increasing these or any fees to suit the whim of the GREAT FAA mgmt

That's actually a very good point. The government already concedes that it will cost much more to administer this program. (Picture some bean counter trying to figure out how many time each airway got used and by which aircraft.) They admit that it will not bring any more money into the system for this reason. However, once the program gets in then it's just a matter of raising the $40 medical fee to $75 and the $85 approach fee to $120.

The goal is to bring the system in, save the airlines a few dollars by shifting the load onto GA, and then raise the fees to make the same money. All in the name of "Making airfare cheaper for the flying public". We're talking pennies per ticket.

If it does go through then the flight instructor mills will have to raise their rates from the already staggering $60,000 to North of $100K for a Commercial Multi Instrument rating. Even a private license will be North of 10K. This will kill pilot start ups, take the "fun" out of private flying, and turn our open skies into the strict and tight corridors that make up the European airspace.

I encourage everyone to get involved. This is a major threat to the way we all view American aviation.

 

[pilotpat]

It will now be called the $500 hamburger run!

 

[SpaceBall 1]

For those of you that think user fees will not impact our lives as corporate pilots, you need to pull your head out and look around. The airline lobbists are pushing for the user fees and the FAA is favor of it as well. Irregardless of the fact that the proposed system will yield less money. I encourage all of you to go to www.NBAA.org. In the upper right hand corner you can click "Contact Congress". There you will find form letters opposing user fees. Tell everyone.......our jobs may depend on it!

 

[Dooker]

Hmmm ... so we can finance a two-billion-dollar-a-week foriegn misadventure in the Middle East, award hundreds of "no-bid" contracts to companies most of us have never heard of who do everything from serve hamburgers to G.I.'s to conduct dubious "reconstruction" projects in Bagdad, and yet there's just not enough money left to fund GA in the U.S?

WTF???!!!????

 

[gunfyter]

These are really cool videos!

http://www.smartskies.org/News/Videos/

 

[milkjuggler]

Hmmm ... so we can finance a two-billion-dollar-a-week foriegn misadventure in the Middle East, award hundreds of "no-bid" contracts to companies most of us have never heard of who do everything from serve hamburgers to G.I.'s to conduct dubious "reconstruction" projects in Bagdad, and yet there's just not enough money left to fund GA in the U.S?

WTF???!!!????

Exactly.

In 1983 there was a viable plan to send a manned expedition to Mars. Cost? $80 billion. 1/5 of what we've wasted in Iraq. Not to mention the countless Iraqi civilian and American lives. But hey, if the government needs more money, just ask the Federal Reserve and they create it out of thin air!! YAY!

This user fee system just has government mismanagement written all over it. I'd really prefer not to trust some staff in the FAA to keep track of how many approaches I shoot or towers I talk to and then invoice my company. No thanks.

Also I love how that website singles out three or four special events to claim that bizjets are taking over the skies. Take a look at O'Hare any day of the week and see how the numbers play out.

 

[gunfyter]

...And if you like that plan ... just wait till the government takes over HealthCare! Cost of Iraq war will be like a drop in the bucket.

 

[Jack Schitt]

Alliance for Aviation Across America
http://aviationacrossamerica.com

 

[flyer172r]

If the worst of the user fees comes to pass (and if they get the first ones through, more will follow), I've heard it would cost $1,000 to take a written exam. That's over 1500% more than it costs now. Somehow I doubt that the cost of administering a written exam has gone up 1500%.

 

[Semore Butts]

Leave the GI's out of it milk

Look Man/Girl, (milk)

One of the decent things that some could count on in Iraq, and less could count on in Afghanistan (been to both) was the hamburgers your talking about. (some half way decent chow)

So you wanna jack food and ammo from the troops??? Eat Sh$t.

Troops are living in 8X8' hooches jack. (Those are the ones in the big town, not the ones out in the boonies (forward operating bases (FOB's)). (tents/mud/mortars)

Jeez man, I don't know you but I thnk I can speak for them all when I say enjoy your freedom of speech......

(Enjoyed a rainstorm and some beers with my wife, its good to be home, sorry about the "eat sh$t)

 

[Semore Butts]

And Dooker too

Don't know you but I don't think youve been to any of the places your commenting on.

You may not be old enough to have been to them as an aviator.

(Unlike the teenagers through senior citizens (Thank you guard and reserves) that are serving)

I could preach all day and if you weren't there, ya just wouldn't get it.

Cherish your way of life while you can "amigos".

(I go for another beer shaking my head and feeling guilty for being home)

Sheesh......

 

[Ultra Grump]

...And if you like that plan ... just wait till the government takes over HealthCare! Cost of Iraq war will be like a drop in the bucket.

As evidenced by Dubya's Medicare prescription drug plan. But hey, it helped him win reelection so who cares how much it costs?