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United States Pilots Association |
UAVs are unmanned aerial vehicles, the most common being the military "Predator" drone used in Iraq and Afghanistan. USPA has taken issue with the willy nilly operation of these aircraft in the Southwestern United States because there is no air traffic control facility monitoring or controlling their operations. The New Mexico Pilots Association is deeply concerned over the operations of these machines along the interstate 10 corridor, north of the Mexican border and into Arizona. There have been several crashes, at least one due to computer failure. This is a big issue now that the USAF is moving some 3,500 men and 90 aircraft into Cannon AFB in Eastern New Mexico. These things may well be flying around day and night (no lights at night) in areas regularly used by civilian aircraft. The Air Force has put this movement of men and aircraft on a fast track, and I have no doubt this will become another fight for airspace usage.
Now comes an even more disturbing development. Here comes the "invisible" drone. VeraTech, a Minnesota company, continues work on an aircraft that uses the principle of "persistence of vision" to make itself appear as nothing more than a blur against the sky. The physics of operation of this spinning vehicle are complicated, but there are models flying. VeraTech says cameras could be mounted on the drones and provide panoramic images, after decoding by computer. The Predators are the size of Cessna four-seat aircraft. You can see it during the day when it is flying. How do you see and identify a "Blur"? This information was extracted from the AvWeb Flash of Thursday October 5, 2006 issue.
On another subject dear to all of us the NBAA convention this year will host representatives from GAMA, AOPA, EAA, NATA, and NBAA in a seminar protesting the proposed imposition of user fees on general aviation. The discussion will center on the airline industry attempt to foist $2 billion of their costs onto GA, and to try to gain effective control of the National Airspace system as well. Of course the airlines, through their lobbying organization, The Air Transport Association (ATA) claim they are subsidizing you and me. Frankly, when the retiring President of America West Airlines walks away from his position with $49 million dollars, give or take a few, I say, “Airlines, clean your own houses before you come looking for somebody else to bail you out.”
I was pleased to see the appointment of Mary Peters as Secretary of Transportation. I feared that Marion Blakey might get the position which would not have boded well for GA. I found it interesting that Ms. Peters’ seat was not even warm when the President of AOPA dropped by for a "frank discussion" with her. One wonders whether Ms. Peters has found out the FAA is operating on a surplus of funds generated in no small part by the taxes we all pay on fuel purchases and that there is no foreseeable need for "user fees" to be imposed. I suggest that Ms. Peters call a meeting of all of the alphabet organizations representing general aviation, including USPA and the larger state associations, to give her a truer picture of what is really going on. The airlines should not be rewarded for shoddy management and antiquated thinking. Actually, I would like to see the airlines go back to government regulation, etc. where they all made money.
Steve Uslan, President
United States Pilots Association