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.

FMI: www.congress.gov, www.faa.gov, www.airventure.org