User Fees: A Reasonable Analysis... AOPA President, Phil Boyer,
Discusses The User Fee Issue At AOPA Expo 2007
For those of us who wearied of all the "Bravo-Sierra" that came
our way from the airline side of the equation, it is a breath of
fresh air to see a reasoned approach to the User Fee dilemma.
Watching the AOPA crew, especially Phil Boyer, shoot down all
the nonsense about various user fee arguments is a bit of art...
simple, verifiable, straight-to-the-point, honest. And he uses
facts and verifiable details, even!!
Who'da thunk it?
Boyer's "Reasonable
Analysis" of the matter at the 2007 AOPA Expo just a few weeks ago
is one of those presentations that must be seen... and despite the
fact that we were short a camera crew, the right gear, and
all, we went ahead and did our best to capture the gist of a GREAT
presentation... see if you agree that AOPA's "Reasonable Analysis"
is just what every flyer, pilot or passenger, needs to see and
hear more of...
AOPA President Phil Boyer spent the lion's share of Saturday's
general session on the status of the user fees for General Aviation
debate. Despite recent victories for GA, Boyer warned that the
fight isn't over yet. "We're in the Terminal Area, we are within
site of the airport, but there is some convective weather ahead,
and that's probably the best way to describe where we are right
now."
After displaying several anti-GA advertisements currently found
on airport terminal televisions, airline seatbacks, and newspapers
throughout the country, Boyer shared counter-ads produced by the
Alliance for Aviation Across America (AAAA) and funded by the AOPA
and NBAA. These responses highlight DOT studies that claim most
delays are caused by weather and the commercial airlines
themselves. "The airlines would have you believe that General
Aviation is the cause for all the delays at the major airports,"
explained Boyer. "In fact, we're only 4% of the traffic at the top
10 airports."
Speaking about General Aviation's (then) most recent victory in
the House of Representatives, Boyer said that "on that side of
Capitol Hill, they passed the House bill that we support by 267 to
151." H.R. 2881, or the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2007, passed on
September 20th with no mention of user fees, but instead includes a
small tax increase on AvGas and a slightly larger tax increase on
turbine fuel.
The Senate Commerce Committee had previously passed its own bill
which included user fees for turbine aircraft and a 100% increase
on the turbine fuel tax and eliminated the only aviation tax paid
by the airlines. "In effect, the Senate Finance Committee rejected
their ideas, changed the taxes keeping the airline fuel tax
… and kept our GA taxes at a reasonable level."
In its state as of AOPA Expo, however, the bill still contained
a $25 user fee for turbine aircraft. "We hope to be able to take
care of that in a different kind of way," said Boyer, who hopes for
an amendment to remove the user fee during a full Senate vote.
Afterwards, the Conference committee brings both bills
together and sends the finalized bill to the White House to be
vetoed or signed by the President...
But... Never Mind All That -- See It For
Yourself With AERO-TV!
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E-I-C Note: The complete AOPA User Fee
feature (above) is embedded in this story, with most of
the slick and useful functionality otherwise available on the main
Aero-TV site (which will
be upgraded aggressively over the next few weeks. The ability
to embed a video on another web page is but one of the
hundreds of amazing little features that we've worked hard on, for
many months now, to implement in different phases of the
initial release of Aero-TV. It is, BY NO MEANS, the only way to
enjoy unaltered Aero-TV programming on other parts of the web... as
we have extensive plans for future functionality, but this
feature allows those with an interest in a specific Aero-TV News or
Feature program to embed it on a different web site, though we
must note that we reserve the right to forbid such use for those
sites or purposes that we do not feel fit in with the proper
mission of the Aero-News Network, Inc.
Webmasters or Administrators of well-trafficked aviation or
aerospace related sites, are welcome to contact the Publisher to
start conversations on how they may be able to leverage some of the
immense power of Aero-TV programming for their sites and
constituency by clicking the I Want Aero-TV For
MY Website! link.
Coming Soon!
Aero-TV Flies With The 920th Rescue Wing, A SpaceX
Update With Elon Musk, Flying The Piper Matrix, Thielert Diesel
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MUCH MORE!!!!! Do NOT miss them!
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