USPA News

BRANSON ANNUAL MEETING

It’s not too late to register! But do it NOW!

Look at these fantastic door prizes which will be awarded at the luncheon on Saturday:

David Clark H10-135 Headset from Kings Avionics, New Century Airport $312 $312
2 Tickets for 2 to SDC, White Water, Celebration City, or Ride the Ducks $ 96 $192
4 $10 coupons for Golden Corral $ 10 $ 40
2 Family Passes to the show “SIX” $ 89 $178
2 Family Passes to Hughes Brothers American Family Theater Show $ 89 $178
2 One-night stay, Lodge of the Ozarks $ 92 $194
1 Single engine oil change, Branson Aircraft Repair, PLK Approx.$300 $300
1 Box of dog treats from the Mule Barn, Branson $ 15 $ 15
1 Bicycle from Regions Bank $500 $500
25 gal. 100LL from Taney Co./Clark Airport Approx.$522 $522

Plus a road GPS, Aspen Avionics ball caps, and other items yet to come in!

You don’t want to miss out on one of these great door prizes, plus Fred Harms’ last safety seminar presentation for the FAA on Thursdaya evening, Pam Anderson of the COU FSS giving us information on their progress and plans, Mickey Gilley’s keynote address at the Saturday luncheon, a lunch cruise on a new Lake Taneycomo paddle wheeler, the Mickey Gilley Show, and free time to see and do whatever else you enjoy in Branson.

And last but certainly not least, showing up in large numbers at our MPA and USPA meetings shows solidarity and concern/action for GA in the US today. We need now, more than ever before, to show our strength in numbers and take a stand to protect our right to fly! Bring a friend!

To register on line, go to www.uspilots.org. You can pay with PayPal right there.

See you in the Family Fun Vacation Area next week.

Jan Hoynacki, Executive Director, USPA
Past President, MPA

USER FEES

This is being written on Friday, May 2nd. I have just been informed that after two years of begging, lobbying, cajoling, and other appropriate verbiage, we have gotten to the point where a no user fee bill is about to pass in both houses of Congress. To help you all analyze what comes next, I offer the following scenario.

The bill passes and President Bush vetos it because it does not give the airlines greater power to regulate the air traffic control system. His second reason to veto is that user fees to you and I are excluded in the current version of the bill as it comes out of the joint Senate-House conference. Both reasons have been stated by the President's advisors. (See the AOPA newsletter of today online).

I have a theory on why the President is doing this. First, John McCain (Republican) is on record as stating no new taxes. If President Bush forces the inclusion of user fees and permits the proverbial fox into the hen house by giving the airlines the ability to control the skies, Sen. McCain will not be blamed for the increases in fees, should he be elected. The dubious honor will fall to President Bush.

Do we really want the airlines running the FAA ATC system?. I think not. Every time deregulation has been tried, it ends up a disaster. Just look at your electric and phone bills. Look at the chaos in the airline industry with bankruptcies and mergers where the only ones who profit are the CEOs and upper level management. Look at the banking industry where greed leads to lending that requires the federal government to step in and bail them out. I see convoys of truckers surrounding the capitol protesting the price of fuel. Even the brilliant CEOs of the airlines missed that one coming. I also see many less of us out there flying every day due solely to the price of fuel. Even with all of the inconvenience, it is still cheaper for two people to fly in an airliner than to use their own plane.

It has become very apparent to me that our government is pro big business (the airlines) and wants to get out of the aviation regulation business by "outsourcing" as much of the FAA's functions as it can. The problem, as I see it, is: What happens when most of the remaining airlines are unable to stem the flow of red ink and succumb to their own greed by filing for bankruptcy protection? Who then benefits? Is the government going to spend our money bailing out the airlines as they have done the banks and the investment industry (Bear-Stearns)?

My suggestion is to get rid of the petrified wood running the FAA. Send Mr. Sturgell to a FSDO in Alaska and let him learn first hand what it takes to be an administrator. Send Nick Sabbatini to retirement. Anyone who grounds a fleet of MD-80 aircraft because of a possible half inch or less of spacing in wire bundles needs to be fired. Why was it OK to take the grounding action against American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, when all the furor raised over the weather delays last winter was legitimately blamed on the airlines, and here the FAA grounded hundreds of thousands of people for no legitimate reason?

I was there when the Aloha 737 shed it's cabin roof in Hawaii. I totally agree with the required inspections for fuselage cracks, now mandated by the FAA. Could someone please explain to me how an airline can perform dye penetrant or eddy current inspection on a fleet involving hundreds of planes and get it done in one night. This is what was done by Southwest. The wiring bundle problem (?) involving the American Airlines MD-80 fleet astounds me. I think this is all part of the "feel good" mentality the government is trying to promote.

My conclusion inevitably comes back to this. George Bush has an agenda favoring big oil, the airlines, and big business. He apparently owes some folks big time for getting him into his present position. There is no doubt in my mind that the price of oil will sooner or later fall back to far more reasonable costs. Will we be flying when this happens? Only time will tell.

Steve Uslan, President
USPA

VOLUNTEER PILOT ORGANIZATIONS

This information was sent to USPA President Steve Uslan, and he is forwarding it to our membership:

From: Jerry Dorre
To: airone@troychesnut.com
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 9:31 AM
Subject: The FAA Bill to extend liability protection

Dear Grace Flight and Angel Flight Pilots:
Yesterday (April 30th), U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) introduced an amendment (S.A.4606) to the FAA Reauthorization bill to extend liability protection to volunteer pilots, volunteer pilot organizations (VPO), such as Grace Flight of America and the various regional Angel Flight organizations.
We would like to ask all of our pilots to call their 2 Senators in Washington as soon as possible to voice support for this amendment. Phone numbers for your senators can be found at www.senate.gov.
PLEASE, make your voice heard by calling today! This legislation has been in the works for 8 years and this is the closest we have come to success.
Thank you for the gift of Wings and everything else you do to help people in need!

Jan Hoynacki, Executive Director

WHAT 501(C)(3) ORGANIZATIONS MAY AND MAY NOT DO

On April 17 the IRS announced its Political Activities Compliance Initiative once again will be in effect for the 2008 election season. By law, 501(c)(3) organizations (such as USPA) may not “participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.” However, these organizations can engage in advocating for or against issues and, to a limited extent, ballot initiatives or other legislative activities.

For more information, go to http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=181570,00.html.

This information provided by USPA ByLaws and Finance Committee Chairman Arnold Zimmerman.

Jan Hoynacki, Executive Director
USPA

USER FEES, LOBBYING, AIRLINES, OIL, ETC.

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

BRANSON MPA/USPA ANNUAL MEETING

Because the printed meeting registration form was late in getting into the mail, we have decided it was appropriate to extend the registration deadline to May 1 before imposing the $10 late registration fee.

We greatly appreciate all of you who have already registered, as it is extremely helpful for us to have a “heads up” on attendance. For instance, it appears we will need to increase our reservation on the paddle wheel boat as more are signing up for it than anticipated. Although we’re having a flood in Branson at the moment, we expect things will be “under control” on Lake Taneycomo by May 15. Stand by for further information.

If you haven’t already done so, please take a moment now to register and reserve your room. Since the attendance is very good, we may have to attempt to increase our reservations for some events. As stated before, if you register and pay and then cannot attend, all monies will be refunded to you, except any that may have already been paid in your behalf if the time is too close, such as a couple days out.

Thank you! We look forward to seeing you in Branson next month!

Jan Hoynacki, Executive Director, USPA
Past President, MPA

WINNING ASTRONAUT SPEAKS IN LUBBOCK

Friday 4/11/08 Brian Binnie, the astronaut who completed the record and claimed the Ansari $10,000,000 prize, will be speaking at The Holiday Inn Civic Center in Lubbock, TX. You don't want to miss this event. Tickets are $15.00 each at the door. You can email Herb McGregor at hmcgregor2@suddenlink.net for confirmed seating. The remainder of the afternoon will be taken up by flying sailplanes from Littlefield, Texas.

Fly into Lubbock Aero at LBK, enjoy a once in a lifetime event, and talk airplanes, or fly, your choice that afternoon.

Steve Uslan, President of USPA, will be MCing the luncheon.

Jan Hoynacki, Executive Director
USPA