I know several of us are real pilots and right now GA user fees are being discussed as part of the Deficit reduction talks taking place. There isn't any bill we can attack at the moment but we can reach out to our local Congressmen and have a say in what is decided.
Here is a letter I put together for my Congressmen to help save some time. Use it as you please but it is important to get the word out for no GA User Fees.
We in the General Aviation community understand "User Fees" are being discussed as part of the Deficit Budget negotiations that are currently taking place. Since there isn’t any specific piece of legislation we can point to and no specific proposal it’s even more difficult to understand what the impact will be if instituted. Some have speculated user fees could be $25 or $100 or more each time a Pilot would file a flight plan or contact air traffic control.
This is of grave concern not only for the obvious bureaucracy involved but for Safety as well. Regardless of the form these fees take, experience in other countries has shown that user fees stifle aviation and compromise safety. What's more, imposing user fees always creates a new, expensive bureaucracy just to collect the money; and over time, those bureaucracies expand, needing ever more money from more and more types of aircraft. It just doesn't make sense, and it completely unnecessary.
Time and again we've seen that fees designed to do one thing are actually used for another—and all too often the fee structure has unintended consequences. For example, a fee paid at departure could persuade some pilots to try to stretch their fuel to minimize the number of departures they make on a given trip. Fees on instrument operations discourage pilots from going out and maintaining proficiency.
This also has a rather large impact on the overall pool of available pilots. If it becomes too costly to train and maintain proficiency for our next generation pilots you won’t have any to fill the up and coming demand for airline jobs as they retire. I’ve seen figures as large as 5000 pilots a year as the most senior of airline captains are forced to retire at 65. So much for job creation...
We understand the challenge our nation faces. We have record high spending and record high deficits and a national debt that has also soared to new heights. These numbers must come down. In the process, the general aviation community may pay more. In fact, an increase in the aviation fuel tax is contained in the FAA Reauthorization Bill pending before Congress—a measure we’ve supported for at least three years. This provision would require us to pay more at the pump, but we’ve been paying into the system in this way since the beginning of powered flight. Our charges are applied and collected at the pump—no new bureaucracy required.
We need your help to stop this bad idea from turning air traffic controllers into tax collectors.
Sincerely
Joe Blow