|
United States Pilots Association |
Recently I returned from a four day trip to Washington D.C. as a guest of The Alliance for Aviation in America. I now believe this group is our best hope of finally and permanently defeating user fees and all that goes with them. I attended a meeting in the Senate Office Building with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson and her staff. The Senator represents the state of Texas and also is the ranking minority leader on the Senate Aviation Subcommittee. She actually defied the President earlier when she voted against the FAA funding bill proposed by the President which included user fees. Thank God this woman votes her convictions, not her party. It was interesting to find out from her that her husband owns a Cessna and formerly flew her around the state on campaign swings. In other words, they know general aviation. The Senator stated to those of us in attendance that the FAA would NOT get their user fee bill nor would they get a four year refunding bill. It was stated that because of the FAA's stubbornness in settling the dispute with the Air Traffic Controllers, Congressman James Oberstar will not permit the FAA funding bill to go forward in the lower house. This also means that Bobby Sturgell, the proposed administrator, will not get confirmation very soon. He will be the "Acting" Administrator.
The Alliance is an organization staffed by very savvy Washington inside-the-beltway professional lobbyists led by Ernest Baynard. He does a wonderful job. They are primarily funded by AOPA and NBAA who certainly have an axe to grind in this fight. USPA has been a member of the Alliance for over a year. They are doing wonderful work. The Alliance is made up of members from all related positions including cities and counties, aerial applicators, agricultural and industrial firms that all rely on general aviation. I must give credit to AOPA for financially supporting this effort, instead of trying to hog the spotlight with ineffective pronouncements and editorial comments. There is unity in greater numbers.
Now, for a comment on the activities of the august body known as the FAA. While in Washington and walking through the Senate Office Building I saw several people I recognized as FAA employees who were doing the same thing I was--lobbying politicians. The only problem I have is they were doing it with my money and your money. When did the FAA become a lobbying group? Some folks in Denton, TX, were told by their FAASTeam safety rep from the Fort Worth FSDO that he attended these sessions in Washington. When confronted by several pilots at a safety meeting in Denton, he stormed out of the room and refused to discuss the matter. He had stated that the $25 user fee was a sure thing. I am a FAASTeam representative (volunteer) and put my heart and soul into the program because I believe it can ultimately prevent accidents. Why would I want to volunteer to participate in a program where those I work with (the FAA) are working against my best interests and yours? Already the FAASTeam program has been rejected out of hand in Alaska by pilots. Perhaps they know something we have yet to figure out.
Finally, I have watched the circus roll merrily on with a $10,000,000 fine levied against Southwest Airlines by the FAA for alleged failure to inspect for cracks in the sheet metal on their Boeing 737s. Most amazingly all of the affected aircraft were inspected overnight and returned to service the next day. I know because I flew on one from BWI to Little Rock, AR. Then comes this grounding of the entire MD-80 fleet of aircraft owned by American Airlines. There were over a quarter of a million people inconvenienced by flight cancellations, with no recourse, affected by this three year old AD concerning wiring bundles in wheel wells. While the FAA is quietly but effectively torturing the airlines; who by the way had a perfect year with no fatalities, the FAA is ratcheting up enforcement against them resulting in cancellations, etc. My opinion is that this has nothing to do with safety related issues. Instead, I believe the feds are reacting to Congress' refusal to provide the key to the mint in the form of a four year funding bill. I was very glad to see Nicholas Sabbatini, the number three man in the FAA, raked over the coals about this issue of inspections. Mr. Sabbatini and I have crossed swords before over the issue of pulling instrument approaches without any advance warning all over the country.
While all of this is going on, four airlines have gone out of business. Aloha Airlines (61 years in existence), ATA, and one other all discontinued operations and closed their doors. Frontier filed chapter eleven. Mesa's stock has fallen to about sixty cents and will probably be the next one to fall. United and Northwest are talking mergers. So is Continental. Oil is now at $114 per barrel and climbing every day. As radical as this may sound, I believe the airlines should cease service for as long as oil is above $75 a barrel. Then and only then will the government take action to open up exploration in this country and get us off the dependency for foreign oil. It also would not hurt to get the speculators manipulating the price of oil futures out of the market once and for all.
Steve Uslan,President
United States Pilots Association