Thank God We Don't Get All The Gov't We're Paying For...

It's not at all uncommon to find people in general aviation, or elsewhere, who believe the US Federal Aviation Administration sees its mission as accommodating the operation and profits of the airlines.

To some degree, it's understandable. Until just a few years ago, the FAA's official mission included promoting airline travel, and the number of airline passengers each year obviously outnumbers the number of people travelling in general aviation aircraft by a wide margin.

But it's still a little surprising when a sitting US Senator, in this case New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, writes to NTSB Acting Chairman Mark Rosenker regarding Flight 3407, and says this.

Quote...

"The Federal Airline Administration must accept some of the responsibility for the tragedy in Buffalo, or these systemic risks and failures will continue." If a US Senator thinks that second "A" is for "Airline," is that a symptom, or a cause, of the agency's realtionship with general aviation?

Yes, that's a rhetorical question.

One joke has it that the two big problems with the relationship between the FAA and the airlines is that the airlines uncontrollable snoring keeps the FAA awake, while the FAA keeps hogging the sheets. Kate Hanni, founder of FlyersRights.org, quips, quote - "...and those are some really nice, expensive, 2-thousand-thread-count sheets, too!"

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.house.gov, http://gillibrand.senate.gov