Call to Action: Tell Congress to Oppose the Airlines' FAA Funding Plan

[Jason]

Letter sent from NBAA President, Ed Bolen:

A recently released FAA funding proposal represents one of the greatest threats business aviation has ever faced. To keep this proposal from becoming law, you need to take action now.

The recent news excerpts alongside this message demonstrate that airline lobbying has succeeded in getting the FAA to unveil a funding plan that gives the giant airlines a major tax break while imposing massive tax hikes and onerous new user fees on the businesses that rely on general aviation.

The airlines' FAA plan also dramatically reduces Congressional authority over the air traffic system, gives airlines a bigger say in FAA operations, and establishes a huge new multi-billion dollar bureaucracy to assess and collect user fees.

NBAA is fighting this toxic mix of massive tax increases, user fees and airline power, but our success depends on you. Your elected officials need to hear from you about the airlines' FAA proposal, because you can be sure that every Member of Congress is hearing from the big airlines and their army of lobbyists.

Please take a minute to voice your opposition to the airlines' FAA proposal by using NBAA's online resource for communicating with Congress (if you have used the resource before, I urge you to use it again to send a new letter that has been prepared specific to the FAA proposal). To access Contact Congress, visit:

www.nbaa.org/userfees

Once you have accessed the resource, fill in the information requested and NBAA's software will automatically prepare an email you can send to your Senators and your House Representative in opposition to the big airlines' radical scheme. You can edit the letter before sending it if you wish.

I also urge you to forward this email to others you know who care about the future of business aviation in the United States. Encourage them to make their voices heard on Capitol Hill. If we act collectively, we can not only defeat the big airlines' FAA plan, but modernize our air traffic control system to ensure that all Americans have access to the largest, safest and most efficient aviation system in the world.

Sincerely,

Ed Bolen
President and CEO
National Business Aviation Association

[Greg01]

User fees are a huge mistake!

Greg

[pilotman1260]

The tax hikes are too 350 % for GA aircraft.

[KSYR-pjr]

Letter sent.

I also edited the letter to include the point that aviation accidents will most likely rise as more pilots look to fly outside the ATC system in an attempt to skirt the fees.  For IFR-rated pilots, this could mean flying  VFR into deteriorating conditions without contacting ATC for an IFR clearance.

[RV1]

In addition to the actual IFR flight plan, consider how much IFR practice approaches and even touch and goes will cost student pilots. It is my understanding that in countries with a userfee-based system, there are very few GA's flying around. By the time you add up the cost of the plane, the license, insurance and fuel and then add in user fees...
  This is a bad idea on many fronts. This is definetly going to hurt the weekend flyer. The small corp businesses that fly will take a massive hit. It will make using the NAS system a rich man's game. It will remove the FAA from being under the appropriations and oversite of Congress. The FAA has such a good track record already of using intelligence and funds...
   Find the email address of your congressman and send a note. Doesn't even cost postage!

[KSYR-pjr]

   Find the email address of your congressman and send a note. Doesn't even cost postage!

I may end up printing my canned email and snail-mailing it to my reps, too.  I have heard rumors that email is still not a respected medium for communicating these types of objections.

[Jason]

   Find the email address of your congressman and send a note. Doesn't even cost postage!

I may end up printing my canned email and snail-mailing it to my reps, too.  I have heard rumors that email is still not a respected medium for communicating these types of objections.

I've tried both.  My reps don't even read my postage paid mail either; however, occasionally I get a canned response from them in the mail.

[tyketto]

   Find the email address of your congressman and send a note. Doesn't even cost postage!

I may end up printing my canned email and snail-mailing it to my reps, too.  I have heard rumors that email is still not a respected medium for communicating these types of objections.

I've tried both.  My reps don't even read my postage paid mail either; however, occasionally I get a canned response from them in the mail.

Not to take this offtopic, but it all depends on who you are contacting, as well. I have a bit of a story to tell that is related to this.

In 1995, I took a trip to Australia, and was amazed about the lack of crime I saw when I was there (Melbourne, to be exact). In the 3 months I was there, I saw only 3 major crimes commited in a town of nearly 2.5 million people (2 muggings and a burglary which ended up with the burglar getting the bejeezus kicked out of him by the person being burglarized (85 y.o. guy) ). Not bad for 90 days, and seeing people of different races and cultures getting along was pretty eye-opening for me.

I make it back home (Omaha, Nebraska), and hear of 3 shootings in one night (2 of them gang related), and a guy who was kidnapped and carjacked at the same time, killed, car took on a joyride, dead body put in the trunk of the car, and the car set on fire. All on the night I get back home. I wanted to get back on the plane back to Oz right then and there.

Instead of doing that, I started writing email and snail mail to my elected officials at the time (remember, this is 1995; email at the time was for geeks). Canned response from the President and VP. Canned response from the Representatives at the time. No response from one of my Senators (the guy was an absolute jerk anyway), but did get a response, in writing, no doubt, from my other Senator, and was a very thought out response. This other Senator used to be governor of Nebraska as well. I still ahve that letter, and am never getting rid of it.

Anyway, If your elected officials give you nothing but canned or no responses at all, go over them. Find out which committee is heading or discussing it, and mail the people on that committee. If they won't tell you who, use the FOIA. Then constantly mail or email them about it, and tell them what you think. Enough of that should either get them to really listen to you, or classify you as a spammer. Either way, they've received your message. If they don't do anything about it, make sure they don't have a job in the next 2 - 4 years.

That's how you roll with this.

BL.

[RV1]

Last year, I emailed a political, running for election, advising him of the FAA's latest attemps to undermine the ATC system, he snail mailed me a response that said he didn't feel it was worth looking into and was sure that it would work out. Within the week, Airforce1 arrived in town to attend a fundraiser dinner for this person. I quickly realised why I got the response I did!

[w0x0f]

Here's a positive indication on how this could turn out.  Several Republicans have voiced their opposition to the Bush administration's policy on user fees.  Ms. Blakey is just W's mouthpiece.

http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2007/070308inhofe.html

w0x0f