Election results may bring good change to aviation

[Corky Scott]

I did not vote for Bush, and so consider his re-election a catastrophe
in many ways, however there is some good news. AVWeb has just posted
the following: Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska is taking over the Commerce,
Science and Transportation Committee, which they explained sets policy
for the FAA, from Sen. John McCain of Arizona. AOPA is said to be
glad to hear this as they never could get McCain to see their point of
view regarding user fees. AOPA claims Stevens is "a strong and
forceful friend to General Aviation."

http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/avflash/308-full.html#188473

We'll see.

Corky Scott

[Bob Gardner]

McCain's antipathy toward GA turned me off of him for good. An Alaskan
understands general aviation.

Bob Gardner

"Corky Scott" > wrote in message
...
>I did not vote for Bush, and so consider his re-election a catastrophe
> in many ways, however there is some good news. AVWeb has just posted
> the following: Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska is taking over the Commerce,
> Science and Transportation Committee, which they explained sets policy
> for the FAA, from Sen. John McCain of Arizona. AOPA is said to be
> glad to hear this as they never could get McCain to see their point of
> view regarding user fees. AOPA claims Stevens is "a strong and
> forceful friend to General Aviation."
>
> http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/avflash/308-full.html#188473
>
> We'll see.
>
> Corky Scott
>
>

[C Kingsbury]

"Bob Gardner" > wrote in message
...
> McCain's antipathy toward GA turned me off of him for good. An Alaskan
> understands general aviation.
>
> Bob Gardner

McCain has a major bug up his tailpipe about corporate welfare (not that I
disagree) and I suspect he's got corporate jets in his eyes when he talks
about this stuff. Which means he may or may not realize that his policies
wouldn't mean much to the whales but would kill off a lot of us guppies.

Anybody know how much we pay into the federal till through taxes on Avgas?

-cwk.

[G.R. Patterson III]

C Kingsbury wrote:
>
> Anybody know how much we pay into the federal till through taxes on Avgas?

I haven't bought fuel in Carolina in a few years, but RDU used to list the taxes on
the bill. The last time I was there, the Federal tax was a bit over fifteen cents a
gallon.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

[Newps]

Corky Scott wrote:

> I did not vote for Bush, and so consider his re-election a catastrophe
> in many ways, however there is some good news. AVWeb has just posted
> the following: Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska is taking over the Commerce,
> Science and Transportation Committee, which they explained sets policy
> for the FAA, from Sen. John McCain of Arizona. AOPA is said to be
> glad to hear this as they never could get McCain to see their point of
> view regarding user fees. AOPA claims Stevens is "a strong and
> forceful friend to General Aviation."

Yes and my Senator visited my Tower this morning saying he would
probably be moving to the Aviation committee because of McCain moving to
a different committee. We of course lobbied him about putting radar
into an airport about 140 miles SW of us and having us work the traffic.
That will probably happen. Then his cell phone rang. He got a report
that Arafat had died. His response..."Good, the little good for nothing
prick gummed up the works." High fives all around. A later call
reported that he is just near death, more jokes all around.

[John Galban]

Corky Scott > wrote in message >...
> I did not vote for Bush, and so consider his re-election a catastrophe
> in many ways, however there is some good news. AVWeb has just posted
> the following: Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska is taking over the Commerce,
> Science and Transportation Committee, which they explained sets policy
> for the FAA, from Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

This can only be good for us. Being from Alaska, Ted Stevens has
an appreciation for the value of GA. John McCain (former Navy pilot)
has proven over the years that he hasn't a clue what GA is all about.

John Galban=====>N4BQ (PA28-180)

[Mike Rapoport]

"C Kingsbury" > wrote in message
nk.net...
>
> "Bob Gardner" > wrote in message
> ...
>> McCain's antipathy toward GA turned me off of him for good. An Alaskan
>> understands general aviation.
>>
>> Bob Gardner
>
> McCain has a major bug up his tailpipe about corporate welfare (not that I
> disagree) and I suspect he's got corporate jets in his eyes when he talks
> about this stuff. Which means he may or may not realize that his policies
> wouldn't mean much to the whales but would kill off a lot of us guppies.
>
> Anybody know how much we pay into the federal till through taxes on Avgas?

The total collected is around $60 million which is about 11% of what it
costs to run FSS alone. These numbers were in a recent AOPA magazine. GA
is not paying its way.

Mike
MU-2

[Jose]

> The total collected is around $60 million which is about 11% of what it
> costs to run FSS alone. These numbers were in a recent AOPA magazine. GA
> is not paying its way.

What is "its way"? Remember, GA uses less runway and probably (because so much of it is VFR) less ATC than the airlines. That spam cans are slower isn't an issue really, since their trips may well take the same number of minutes or less, on
average, than airline trips. How much would it take for bicycles to pay "their way" of the land transportation infrastructure?

Jose
--
for Email, make the obvious change in the address

[Mike Rapoport]

To start with GA is just about the exclusive user of FSS. It is also pretty
much the only user of the majority of airports in the country.

Mike
MU-2


"Jose" > wrote in message
. com...
>> The total collected is around $60 million which is about 11% of what it
>> costs to run FSS alone. These numbers were in a recent AOPA magazine.
>> GA is not paying its way.
>
> What is "its way"? Remember, GA uses less runway and probably (because so
> much of it is VFR) less ATC than the airlines. That spam cans are slower
> isn't an issue really, since their trips may well take the same number of
> minutes or less, on average, than airline trips. How much would it take
> for bicycles to pay "their way" of the land transportation infrastructure?
>
> Jose
> --
> for Email, make the obvious change in the address

[Jose]

> To start with GA is just about the exclusive user of FSS.

Fair enough, though this is pretty much by law (and by TFR).

> It is also pretty
> much the only user of the majority of airports in the country.

.... most of which are self supporting, no? I don't see any airline or federal aviation funds going into Podunk Municipal Grass Strip.

Jose
--
for Email, make the obvious change in the address

[Newps]

Jose wrote:


>
> ... most of which are self supporting, no? I don't see any airline or
> federal aviation funds going into Podunk Municipal Grass Strip.

Ya better look a little harder. The FAA pays for 95% of airport
improvements now at Podunk Muni. So anytime you see a little airport
repaving a runway, adding a taxiway, etc; it is almost always federal
funds. There aren't very many self supporting little airports.

[Mike Rapoport]

"Jose" > wrote in message
. com...
>> To start with GA is just about the exclusive user of FSS.
>
> Fair enough, though this is pretty much by law (and by TFR).
>
>> It is also pretty much the only user of the majority of airports in the
>> country.
>
> ... most of which are self supporting, no? I don't see any airline or
> federal aviation funds going into Podunk Municipal Grass Strip.
>
> Jose
> --

As Newps point out most airports recieve 95% of their funding from federal
grants. It always surprises me how many pilots think that GA pays it own
way. It is similiar to the myth that the middle class pays the bulk of
taxes.

Mike
MU-2

[Bob Noel]

In article t>, "Mike
Rapoport" > wrote:

> To start with GA is just about the exclusive user of FSS. It is also
> pretty
> much the only user of the majority of airports in the country.

How much money would the FAA save if every aircraft under 6,000 lbs
was permanently grounded?

--
Bob Noel
Seen on Kerry's campaign airplane: "the real deal"
oh yeah baby.

[Matt Barrow]

"Jose" > wrote in message
. com...
> > The total collected is around $60 million which is about 11% of what it
> > costs to run FSS alone. These numbers were in a recent AOPA magazine.
GA
> > is not paying its way.
>
> What is "its way"? Remember, GA uses less runway and probably (because so
much of it is VFR) less ATC than the > airlines. That spam cans are slower
isn't an issue really, since their trips may well take the same number of
minutes or > less, on average, than airline trips. How much would it take
for bicycles to pay "their way" of the land transportation > infrastructure?
>
> Jose

Re-read the 2nd half of the first sentence. Considering the airlines hardly,
if ever, use the FSS..(??).

[Matt Barrow]

"Jose" > wrote in message
. com...
> > To start with GA is just about the exclusive user of FSS.
>
> Fair enough, though this is pretty much by law (and by TFR).
>
> > It is also pretty
> > much the only user of the majority of airports in the country.
>
> ... most of which are self supporting, no?

No.

> I don't see any airline or federal aviation funds going into Podunk
Municipal Grass Strip.

Those airports (grass) are not typically municipal airports. They get about
0.002% of traffic. And yes, many DO get federal assistance.

[Mike Rapoport]

$600,000,000 for flight service less the tax on avgas
(60,000,000)=$540,000,000
Some portion of the airport improvement funds ( I think that these total
over $2 Billion
Some portion of ATC.

Probably between a billion and a billion and a half.

Mike
MU-2

about
"Bob Noel" > wrote in message
...
> In article t>, "Mike
> Rapoport" > wrote:
>
>> To start with GA is just about the exclusive user of FSS. It is also
>> pretty
>> much the only user of the majority of airports in the country.
>
> How much money would the FAA save if every aircraft under 6,000 lbs
> was permanently grounded?
>
> --
> Bob Noel
> Seen on Kerry's campaign airplane: "the real deal"
> oh yeah baby.

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Matt Barrow" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Jose" > wrote in message
> . com...
>> > To start with GA is just about the exclusive user of FSS.
>>
>> Fair enough, though this is pretty much by law (and by TFR).
>>
>> > It is also pretty
>> > much the only user of the majority of airports in the country.
>>
>> ... most of which are self supporting, no?
>
> No.
>
>> I don't see any airline or federal aviation funds going into Podunk
> Municipal Grass Strip.
>
> Those airports (grass) are not typically municipal airports. They get
> about
> 0.002% of traffic. And yes, many DO get federal assistance.
>

What do the Feds assist them with?

[Klein]

On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 14:18:23 GMT, "Mike Rapoport"
> wrote:

>$600,000,000 for flight service less the tax on avgas

Sheesh! That's about $1000 for every licensed pilot. I'm sure not
getting my money's worth. I fly about 150-200 hours per year, call
flight service maybe once (to close a flight plan) or twice (to get an
in-flight weather briefing). I won't be needing the latter any more
as I'm now getting XM weather in the cockpit and I rarely file VFR
flight plans any more either - I just tell my wife where I'm going and
call her when I get there.

Do you have a cite for that $600M figure? If it's really that much, I
say just close the dang thing.

Thanks,
Klein

[Ash Wyllie]

Bob Noel opined

>In article t>, "Mike
>Rapoport" > wrote:

>> To start with GA is just about the exclusive user of FSS. It is also
>> pretty
>> much the only user of the majority of airports in the country.

>How much money would the FAA save if every aircraft under 6,000 lbs
>was permanently grounded?

That is the critical question. Does (light)GA cover its marginal costs?

-ash
Cthulhu in 2005!
Why wait for nature?

[Mike Rapoport]

Here is the source:

http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2004/pp0408.html

Mike
MU-2



"Klein" > wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 14:18:23 GMT, "Mike Rapoport"
> > wrote:
>
>>$600,000,000 for flight service less the tax on avgas
>
> Sheesh! That's about $1000 for every licensed pilot. I'm sure not
> getting my money's worth. I fly about 150-200 hours per year, call
> flight service maybe once (to close a flight plan) or twice (to get an
> in-flight weather briefing). I won't be needing the latter any more
> as I'm now getting XM weather in the cockpit and I rarely file VFR
> flight plans any more either - I just tell my wife where I'm going and
> call her when I get there.
>
> Do you have a cite for that $600M figure? If it's really that much, I
> say just close the dang thing.
>
> Thanks,
> Klein