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United States Pilots Association |
DeKevin Thornton, a member of the Associated Pilots of Iowa recently shared his feelings on USPA President Steve Uslan’s article, “Well, Here We Go on
the FAA Rollercoaster,” which discussed the closing of the Boise, ID, airport tower between midnight and 5:00 a.m.
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Among his comments: “I’ll take the closing of towers during times of little or no traffic before I’ll accept user fees. The system is heavily and
unfairly weighted toward commercial air carriers. Therefore, if user fees are needed, and ultimately I think there are enough folks in Washington
pushing them, they should be assessed only to commercial carriers. The rational for this is government should be there for the general populous
and not to subsidize business.”
He further went on to say, “I feel with the budget issues the way they are and the increased focus on Homeland security, we need all of our pilot
organizations to focus on ensuring that new legislation won’t impede our access to airspace. To me, the two most important things that impact our
freedoms are the over zealous creation of TFRs and AZIDs, and the threat of users fees. With fuel prices rising at the rate they are, we don’t need
additional fees that will drive us to reduce our use of ATC.”
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And here is a portion of Steve’s response to DeKevin: “Unfortunately it is the airlines who are lobbying the loudest for user fees to be assessed
against general aviation. I believe user fees will ultimately come. My opinion is, they should come in the form of higher ticket fees assessed to
the airlines and no change in the current fuel taxes we all pay. If the airlines cannot make a profit at present fares, they should raise the fares
to compensate. (Some already put a fuel surcharge onto a price of a ticket.)”
“What I personally find obnoxious is the constant grousing by Marion Blakey that she needs more money, while at the same time she is outsourcing
services and discontinuing others.”
“The whole Homeland Security issue is a joke. We are letting over 50,000 people a month cross into the U.S. undocumented, and when we catch some of
them, they are given a desk appearance ticket to never be seen and heard from again. Here in Odessa, TX, one of the local hospitals receives a
stipend from the federal government each year in the tens of millions of dollars. Why? To pay for the treatment given to indigent, undocumented
folks who are using the system but not paying for it. You and I are the ones ultimately paying. At the same time we have to put sky marshalls on bizjets
going into the Washington DC ADIZ. Cessnas and Pipers like you and I fly still cannot land at Reagan Airport.”
“Let us know what folks in your area think about these issues. I try to call things as I see them. Your input is appreciated.”
Steve later said he would like to add: “Last year a CareStar emergency medical Bell 407 transport helicopter was dispatched south of the Midland-Odessa area to pick up a mother and newly delivered infant. Weather was numerous thunderstorms over the area of flight. The aircraft crashed when the pilot lost sight of the ground, and the pilot, the two patients, and one other were killed. One paramedic/nurse survived. The point here is the patients were Mexican nationals using our medical transport system to their full advantage. We, the American taxpayers were paying for the EMS flight and all of the medical treatment. There is something radically wrong with a system being abused like this, and we the taxpayers are being made to pay for it. Oh yes, the baby was born in the USA. That makes the child an American citizen.”
“USPA has consistently fought against outsourcing, user fees, tower closings, and the wanton spread of cell and transmission towers close to airports. We successfully derailed a nationwide scheme to pull instrument approaches at over 600 airports. Yes. I have the actual documents.”
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Got comments? How do you feel? Let USPA hear from you.
Jan Hoynacki, Executive Director
United States Pilots Association