Taking A Break From The "Logic-Free Environment" Of Washington,
DC
by ANN Correspondent Maxine Scheer
Congress is in session, but five members the House of
Representatives took a break and came to Oshkosh for the day to
hold a town hall style meeting at AirVenture on Monday, July 28,
2008. Their purpose was to answer questions and brief attendees on
issues being discussed in the House Aviation Subcommittee.
The committee representatives first provided a status report on
the Aviation Reauthorization Bill. Rep. Jerry Costello
(D-IL), Chair of the Aviation Subcommittee mentioned that he was
pleased with the Bill approved by the House (H.R. 2881) and (with a
round of applause) noted that "it does not contain user fees."
One year later, the Senate version remains stalled. Congress has
approved multiple extensions to FAA's budget, the latest of which
is due to expire the end of September 2008. Rep. Costello
encouraged everyone at AirVenture and in the GA community to call
and ask their Senators to take the necessary actions to get an
aviation bill passed so FAA can move forward with an ambitious
program that includes more funding for airport improvement projects
and modernizing the air traffic system.
Rep. Costello (above) acknowledged the presence of Acting
FAA Administrator Bobby Sturgell, who was sitting in the back row.
Interestingly, Sturgell did not participate in the discussions.
Rep. Thomas Petri (R-WI), Ranking Republican member of the
committee, spoke to challenges FAA faces in moving major
initiatives forward and encouraged attendees to continue to support
industry organizations, most notably AOPA, NBAA, GAMA, and EAA that
are actively participating in committee events and providing
critical input into the legislative process.
EAA President Tom Poberezny asked
for committee members thoughts on how to keep GA affordable with
potential mandates for ADS-B. Robin Hayes (D-NC) had some strong
words directed to FAA, emphasizing the need for the agency to
change their focus and aggressively market the benefits of ADS-B to
general aviation users and create incentives for the US
manufacturers to mass produce the equipment for a broader
international market and significantly lower prices. He used a
fishing analogy and said that "FAA has been given the hook, now
we're waiting for FAA to swallow so we can yank and reel them
in".
As a GA pilot, Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) expressed his concerns
about the ADS-B equipment costing more than the resale value of
many GA aircraft.
This year, most of the questions from the audience were on the
subject of fuel, and what was being done to lower the price and
improve the supply. Rep. Hayes spoke about the development of
a National Policy, based on what he considers to be a "common
sense" approach to energy that should include expansion of nuclear
power, expanding refineries, and cleaner methods of using coal.
Rep. Hayes mentioned that there was a Bill moving through the House
that speaks to the needs for increasing the supply of US produced
sources of energy. He emphasized the importance of creating a sense
of urgency that would support and incentive the US to become
leaders in alternative transportation and clean energy.
Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), the only nuclear physicist in
Congress, expressed his concerns that the US made a big mistake in
curtailing the development of nuclear power and quoted statistics
on safe, nuclear energy use in countries such as France (80%
nuclear) and encouraged GA enthusiasts to think about the possible
uses of nuclear generated electricity for powering aircraft.
Rep. Graves (below) agreed that Congress needed to apply a more
common sense approach to energy and described Washington DC as "17
square miles of logic-free environment". He emphasized that
increasing the supply of US produced fuel in the most
environmentally way possible was key to reducing dependence on
foreign oil. Rep. Petri and others commented that the US may be
approaching a "tipping point" with localized increases in
production, refinement and other improvements.
One member of the audience asked the panel members for
statistics reflecting the breakdown of actual costs of the
extraction, production, and delivery of aviation fuel. He also
asked for statistics on how much foreign aid is provided by the US
to foreign oil producing countries. None of the representatives
chose to respond to that question.
The Aviation Subcommittee representatives also expressed their
concern about changing how the general media portrays aviation.
Rep. Ehlers, who is pursuing is Private Pilot Certificate,
commented that the safety of aviation is well documented and that
repeated headlines of aviation disasters were often unfairly and
inaccurately being reported.
Tom Poberezny asked about how the committee was being briefed on
Security. This led to a series of comments about how TSA, while
having a difficult job, is going overboard with requirements on GA
Airports. Rep. Ehlers gave the example of his local airport which
can't afford to build a fence to TSA standards. He gave another
example of when Capitol Hill was recently evacuated because of a
single-engine GA aircraft's inadvertent infringement on the
Washington DC, ATIS. Rep. Petri was also critical of TSA and
expressed that "funding should be on more intelligence based
systems that generate better returns vs. screeners searching
people's purses."
At the close, Rep. Costello reminded AirVenture participants to
call their Senators to get the Aviation Reauthorization moving
again.