Chip Jones wrote:



Effective August 1, 2003, NavCanada will be increasing air navigation
service fees (read ATC user fees) by 6.9 %.

At the annual Schafer work party two weekends ago the manager of
Edmonton Tower was there in his Piper Dakota. Their acquisition rules
are much better than ours. If they need something they go to the store
and buy it. No red tape. The controller workweek just increased from
32 hours per week to 36 hours due to the budget shortfall. Their towers
are glass cockpits. No paper strips, drop tubes, etc. It's all touch
screen, the FAA is building a new tower here in BIL starting this fall,
it would be nice to have some of that stuff. The user fees for an
airplane that is 5000 pounds or less is a flat $60 Canadian per year.
In the grand scheme of things that is nothing, I pay more than that to
the state of Montana each year for my "tabs". Having said all that I
still wouldn't want their whole system, just parts of it.