User Fees: A Dark Day for General Aviation

Have you ever heard anyone say they are thankful about gas prices these days? Actually, if you ever have a discussion with a pilot from Germany or England they are usually extremely grateful of having the opportunity to fly in the United States. You may ask yourself why they would be saying these things when there is an uproar on gas prices in America, but the truth is that to get a Private Pilot’s License in Europe costs almost four times the amount that it does to get the same license in the United States. This is due to user fees being imposed on all general aviation flights throughout most of Europe. The prices oversees are so outrageous that they are beginning to render the extinction of general aviation itself. Now, general aviation in the United States is being threatened with the same issue, which includes having to pay 25 dollars per flight just for air traffic control.

The FAA's government funding will run out on September 30, 2007, forcing Congress to act to keep the agency operating, either by reauthorizing the existing tax-based funding system, accepting the Bush administration's proposed FAA funding scheme of increased taxes and user fees, or by writing Congress' own new funding legislation. Advocates of general aviation say that user fees have proven to be unsuccessful and insufficient in other parts of the world. It would be a mistake to burden pilots with expensive fees and sacrifice safety, when the past system has proven successful. The United States has more general aviation aircraft than any other country and also has more airports, money, and pilots than most places in the world. With the new user fees, airplane rental costs could rise to at least an extra 5 dollars per hour, air traffic control and landing fees will be imposed, and charges for weather briefings.

However like the FAA, the airlines have proposed user fees as a way to give them increased control of the air traffic system while lowering their out-of-pocket costs. However, it is the taxpayers that have been bailing the airlines out over the years from bankruptcy and bad management. Also, the airlines require much more expensive equipment for both air traffic control, and the airport itself, such as including low-visibility taxi lights, precision approach monitor radar, ground radar, low-level wind shear alert systems, snow removal, and huge ramps, taxiways, runways, and parking areas.

Many organizations such as the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) are opposed to proposed Senate legislation that includes aviation user fees. Many experts agree that user fees would be the first step toward privatization of the aviation system, stripping the role of Congress in preserving all aviation interests, including those of general aviation. That is why we must support any opposition to user fees and preserve what America stands for by flying in a free country. We must preserve the system that has remained efficient over the past decade and allow anyone with a strong determination to take to the skies.