|
United States Pilots Association |
At the LIT meeting last week, members and officers were encouraged to contact Senator McCain about his position on general aviation user fees. USPA Great Lakes Regional VP Bob Frantz wrote on March 17, and a portion of his letter follows.
We should all follow Bob’s lead and query Senator McCain, as we know he was pro GA user fees before. Please copy me with any responses.
. . . . . . . . . .
I am a pilot with an Airline Transport Pilot certificate and a lifelong dedication to flying (sixty five years). As I see news clips of you flying about the country campaigning I can’t help but notice that you use, at least sometimes, charter air transport. These aircraft are operated in the segment of aviation which is GENERAL AVIATION. In the United States there are only three classifications of aviation, Airline, Military and General Aviation.
Your past position on supporting an attempt to load the General Aviation with USER FEES to support the Federal Aviation Administration is setting a dangerous precedent. There are other generally accepted proposals to provide taxes to fund the FAA, including an aviation fuel tax increase. The Airlines don’t pay user fees and I doubt that the Military pays user fees, per se. Yet General Aviation is proposed to be singled out to pay a user fee for virtually every service that is provided by the FAA that is critical to safe and regulated flying. The Airline Industry is attempting to gain control of the skies for their own use. They haven’t done an enviable job of controlling what is their own business so what could we expect of them in controlling Air Traffic Control. This must not happen!
. . . . . . . . . . .
User fees to finance the FAA could mean the diminishment or demise of a very necessary US transportation infrastructure and the many businesses that are supported by it.
I appeal to you in your coming campaign to include your commitment publicly of NO NEW TAXES to include NO USER FEES for General Aviation. You might be surprised how many votes you might garner with this position.
. . . . . . . . . .
Jan Hoynacki, Executive Director
USPA