Will Charge Flight Schools For Operation In Simulated Controlled Airspace

ANN April 1 Special Edition

The FAA has posted an NPRM in the Federal Register proposing a $25 per flight user fee for every simulated flight in controlled airspace.

"With the preponderance of flight training being done on the ground, we needed a way to capture revenue from the one-percenters who think they should learn to fly," said White House spokesman Jay Carney in a media briefing. "Everyone knows only rich people can afford to learn to fly, and they can certainly should not be able to avoid paying their fair share just because they aren't actually using the national airspace. We thought 25% of the $100 per flight fee was reasonable given that they aren't actually in the airspace and they are not using the services of actual controllers," Carney said.

Redbird president and founder Jerry Gregoire was speechless. "Really," he said, "I just don't know that to say."

Under the NPRM, all commercial flight simulators will be required to include an ADS-B-type transponder that will transmit to the FAA each time a simulator enters simulated controlled airspace over the Internet. The flight school will then be billed monthly for the number of times its devices are noted to be flying under such conditions.

Carney said that he administration had contracted with the same Canadian firm that developed the Healthcare.gov website to work on the reporting system, that would eventually also track home simulators that are approved for FAA currency.

The NPRM also says the agency will monitor simulators for airspace busts and is enforcing active, simulated TFRs. Said a spokesman for FAA Administrator Michael Huerta (pictured), "We [the govt.] built and established the internet, and can apply user fees as we see fit. We are exercising cost recovery algorithms developed by the same team who wrote policy for the Affordable Care Act, and welcome the positive feedback we have received so far, however, we are short on manpower to log these calls and responses to our other initiatives. Therefore, a five cent per gallon aviation fuel tax increase is being applied by virtue of cost estimation projection, and will herewith be rolled into the online user fee structure.

Alternatively, we are hearing proposals for virtual ramp checks and a virtual pilot certificate valid for, and required in advance, before taking to the simulated skies."

FMI: www.whitehouse.gov