barrydb

I saw a link in Flying magazine at NBAA.com. Just put in your information and they will send a letter to your congressman for you that expresses your opposition to user fees.

4N1flyr

I remember that promise when Lockheed was given the nod to take over the FSS system a year or two ago. I've been flying in Northern NJ for 10 years, just outside NY's bravo, which has got to be one of the busiest airspaces in the country. In all the time leading upto Lockheeds takeover, waiting more than 60 seconds for a briefer was extremely rare, and the only time that usually happened was during the height of the flying season(summer weekends, etc.) Now it is almost SOP to wait more than 2 or 3 minutes to get an answer, and thats not even when it gets busy.

(I miss Millville)

4N1flyr

As far as user fees go, the country is only going to be shooting itself in the foot with that move (Please forgive generalizations):

1. It is a significant compromise of safety - Most pilots are cheap, just look at sectional charts. How many pilots do you know of who aren't even willing to spend $8.50 every six months to pick up a new one (or a $4.50 A/FD for that matter). If they are going to be charged for each 20 minute call to flight service, file a flight plan, get flight service, and talk to a tower, they are not going to do it. Some pilots may become more cavalier about what they are willing to fly in to aviod the user fees. That is dangerous.

2. Where are future professional pilots going to come from? The way I've always seen it there are two routes a pilot may follow to the airlines - Civilian CFI-ing, or the military. Not to be claiming any expertise in the area, but as far as I've been lead to believe, the military is hurting for new recruits, that includes potential aviators across all branches. Therefore, in order to supply pilots for the airlines in the future they would have to come from the civilian path.

With user fees in place, it is going to be an even greater financial mountain to climb to get to the CFI certificate, and equally difficult to earn one's flight time because no one else can afford to take up training and be your student.

So where are the future airline/corporate/cargo pilots going to come from, if no one can afford to get there?

P.S. I was in the EWR CAL terminal 1.5 weeks ago and saw that advertisement running on a continuous loop.