The Illinois Pilots Association

Next Generation Air Transportation System

Financing Act of 2007

A POSITION PAPER OPPOSING AND RECOMMENDING OPPOSITION TO THIS PENDING LEGISLATION IN THE U.S. CONGRESS,
by Dr. A.O. Griffiths DVM. Private pilot, board of directors and past president of the Illinois Pilots Association, February 21, 2007.

Personal Utilization of a Private Aircraft

As a sole practitioner in a for-profit veterinary clinic the utilization and management of finite time is of the utmost importance and of great significance for travel and transportation. In recognition of this I obtained (paid for the training) a private pilot license in 1964 and used rental aircraft until 1975 when I purchased a used aircraft, which I have operated until 2006. When I purchased it, I paid what would have bought a nice Mercedes automobile, in 2006 it was insured for what would buy a nice Mercedes.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, I was an officer of the state veterinary association with offices in Aurora, IL. To drive I would leave at 7:30 am, and get back at 6:30pm. Flight time was 45 minutes and I could be in my clinic for an hour or so at each end of the day. How do you get from Urbana, IL to Burlington, IA; by air, and leave when you are ready. Philadelphia; 4 hours east bound, 5 hours west bound, direct. The IRS audited me - three times - and agreed that flying was a legitimate business tool.

Law and Regulation

Earning the pilots license depends on learning, understanding and complying with Federal Regulations as promulgated and enforced by the Federal Aviation Administration, implementing successive acts of Congress. The thousands of regulations start with these words: No person may…. Or: Each person who….shall…

These laws and regulations, presumably, arise from the Congress’s decisions to enact legislation based on the (so called) Commerce Clause, which I take to be Section 8, P1, which states: Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States. It continues: but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States. From this it is construed that legislated laws and regulations are for the common good and safety and are to be funded in a uniform way. User fees imply that the government is in the business of selling services and conducting a business enterprise, as opposed to regulating for the public good. Should the FAA with the connivance of Congress, decide to impose user fees on the aviation industries; should not user fees be uniformly imposed on all federal departments and agencies?

The Department of Labor might be a good place to run a pilot program – there is a lot of services and money there. But how would the congress deal with the Department of Health and Human Services, or the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or the Department of Education? How do you charge user fees on individual and organization users when the service is giving them money?

The word, privatization has been mentioned; this sounds like an oxymoron, the government has the power and the duty to legislate and regulate in the common good and has police powers to enforce the laws. This is the function of the government – not private businesses with a delegated license.

The real problem here is that the Federal Government has presumed to socialize society and has exhausted the taxpayers ability to finance all its programs. Now this government is attempting to hijack industries which have capital invested in commercial enterprise, in order to redistribute wealth to the tax eating programs.

It should be noted that aviation industries are more tightly regulated than perhaps any other area of federal regulation.

Aviation Commerce

Keeping aviation industries in proper context of the economy and commerce is both challenging and necessary in the populist charged political environment of activist special interests and the pervasive social animus toward private business enterprise.

It should not be forgotten that aviation came into being by the vision and persistence of private individuals pursuing their dreams and financing their endeavors. The culmination of useful aviation completes the triad of land, sea, and air transport systems. On land the vehicles range from the bicycle to the bus, but the largest component is the car. On water the range is from coracle to the cruise ship, but the largest component is personal use sail and motorboats. In the air vehicles range from paragliders to passenger airliners, but the largest component is piston powered personal aircraft, which makes up the bulk of activity known as General Aviation.

Virtually, every pilot learns to fly in general aviation aircraft functioning in general aviation facilities and businesses. Pilots who make aviation a professional career in the airline industry enter at this level and use this modality to build the experience and thousands of flying hours necessary for qualification for the commercial and airline career (ATP) ratings; as required by the FAA. Most commonly these pilots progress through the system by teaching other new pilot candidates (CFI and CFII ratings). Pilots in general aviation either rent or buy the airplanes, either way they pay for the airplanes, which, by extension, support all the upstream industries that constitute the design and manufacturing process – an extensive list of component industries. Even military pilots initial training occurs in general aviation manufactured aircraft. This list is greatly expanded by the service and support industries catering to general aviation commerce; in total a significant repository of jobs and commerce and income and commercial tax base, not forgetting the induced commerce associated with the utility and value of aviation to local and regional commerce.

The Air Traffic Control System

The navigable airspace above the United States is held in the public domain and is accessible to all legitimate users. The Air Traffic Control System (ATC) was implemented following midair collisions by scheduled passenger aircraft and requires those flights to file and fly IFR (instrument flight regulations) FLIGHT PLANS. General aviation may file IFR flight plans, but the majority of flights are conducted under VFR (visual flight regulations) conditions, which require no contact with ATC except at tower controlled airports and Class B restricted airspace. Class B airspace is promulgated at the Hub airports of the commercial carriers hub and spoke system; that airspace has been literally ceded to the airlines.

FAA regulations require the pilots of all VFR flights to obtain all the information necessary for the safe conduct of the flight, such as weather and other briefings and notices to airmen, etc.

There are some 500 air carrier airports in the U.S. while there are some 5000 Public Use Landing Sites and another 1000 Private Use Landing sites in the U.S. which are available for general aviation direct flights to locations not served by scheduled airline service.

A general mandate to the FAA was to promote and facilitate all aspects of aviation. However, private flying has been under pressure from economic, social and regulatory burdens for the last 30 years, to include tort law suits and egregious awards to discriminatory flight restrictions (TFR) since 9/11.

This valuable national asset cannot survive in the face of costs and regulations the like of which has all but eliminated general aviation in the socialistic countries of Europe and never was permitted at all in the Communist countries.

Recommendations

The radical changes proposed by the FAA are not needed to keep the U.S. aviation system functioning properly and should not be adopted, but opposed. Knowlegable entities, such as the AOPA (Airplane Owners and Pilots Association) and the projections of the Office of Management and Budget find that the FAA is adequately funded by the present system of fuel taxes and airline passenger taxes.

The National Aviation Transport System must not be subjected to change and disruption by special interests and vicarious policy making dependant on selective presentations and sound bites, but by full understanding and analysis.

To boot, general aviation needs to be promoted and protected as a valuable national asset.

A.O. Griffiths DVM