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Senate Bill S.786 could kill NWS internet weather products
As a private pilot, I make frequent use of the NWS's Aviation Digital Data Service (see 1). I especially like their "Java Tools" graphic presentations of METAR, TAF, and AIR/SIGMET data. Senate Bill S. 786 (see 2) could well kill such NWS weather presentations in favor of private sector subscription or advertisement supported Internet weather services. AccuWeather.com has been a vocal proponent of this bill. The Senator sponsoring this bill is from AccuWeather's home state. I have been arguing the case against this bill with AccuWeather's Michael Steinberg in an online forum on ipetitions.com (see 3). If any of my fellow pilots wish to add their voice to the discussion, I would appreciate it. I must admit that I have reached the limit of my patience with Michael Steinberg, who characterizes my views as "a bunch of distortions at best". I believe that I have presented an accurate interpretation of the likely effects of this bill and I also believe that any "distortions" in the forum largely originate with AccuWeather's Michael Steinberg. I urge those who care about this issue to sign the online petition, join the online forum, and write their own senators with their opinions of this bill. 1: NWS ADDS: http://adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov/ 2: S. 786: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:s786: 3: http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/SaveTheNWS/ FlyBoy |
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Thank you for this information. I have written my Senator, and I will
follow this. Send an email to me If I may be of further service. |
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FlyBoy wrote:
IÂ*mustÂ*admitÂ*thatÂ*IÂ*haveÂ*reachedÂ*theÂ*limit Â*ofÂ*my patience with Michael Steinberg, who characterizes my views as "a bunch of distortions at best". Why are you trying to convince someone with so obvious a financial interest in eliminating this service for which we'd continue to pay so as to subsidize his firm? You might as well come into groups and try to convince us that Man Was Not Meant To Fly. - Andrew |
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Andrew Gideon wrote:
Why are you trying to convince someone with so obvious a financial interest in eliminating this service for which we'd continue to pay so as to subsidize his firm? Now that's just plain silly, Andrew. I'm not trying to convince him of anything, I am trying to expose his specious arguments for what they are. Indeed, rarely in public debate are the opposing debaters trying to convince each other. Rather, they are trying to convince the audience. The audience in this case are the readers of the forum. Got it? |
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Flyboy wrote:
The audience in this case are the readers of the forum. Got it? Then that he characterizes your views as "a bunch of distortions at best" should be of limited concern if the audience is clear that he's being duplicitous. - Andrew |
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On Fri, 06 May 2005 13:11:59 -0400, Andrew Gideon
wrote: FlyBoy wrote: I*must*admit*that*I*have*reached*the*limit*of*my patience with Michael Steinberg, who characterizes my views as "a bunch of distortions at best". Why are you trying to convince someone with so obvious a financial interest in eliminating this service for which we'd continue to pay so as to subsidize his firm? I really don't follow why you are saying what you are saying, but the bill needs to be defeated. Check with the AOPA and EAA. Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member) (N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair) www.rogerhalstead.com You might as well come into groups and try to convince us that Man Was Not Meant To Fly. - Andrew |
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"FlyBoy" wrote in message ... As a private pilot, I make frequent use of the NWS's Aviation Digital snip... I urge those who care about this issue to sign the online petition, join the online forum, and write their own senators with their opinions of this bill. 1: NWS ADDS: http://adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov/ 2: S. 786: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:s786: 3: http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/SaveTheNWS/ FlyBoy This could end up like things in Russia. Public money funded resources are deemed too inefficient to be run by the government, so the assets are put up for bid to private companies. The private company acquires the asset, and then sells the service to the public.Very bad idea for the NWS, very bad idea for our freeways, very bad idea for our airways... |
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Blueskies wrote:
"FlyBoy" wrote in message ... As a private pilot, I make frequent use of the NWS's Aviation Digital snip... I urge those who care about this issue to sign the online petition, join the online forum, and write their own senators with their opinions of this bill. 1: NWS ADDS: http://adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov/ 2: S. 786: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:s786: 3: http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/SaveTheNWS/ FlyBoy This could end up like things in Russia. Public money funded resources are deemed too inefficient to be run by the government, so the assets are put up for bid to private companies. The private company acquires the asset, and then sells the service to the public.Very bad idea for the NWS, very bad idea for our freeways, very bad idea for our airways... I'm not sure it is all that bad. I think if most "public" services were provided by a free enterprise system, then we'd get a lot more in aggregate for our money. The problem that many of us, me included, don't like to accept is that aviation is not self-supporting and is subsidized heavily from other revenue sources. A private enterprise wouldn't likely have this subsidy so the user costs would reflect the true cost of the sytem and this likely would be ugly ... even if GA only had to pay for the meager subset of services that it really needs. Most GA airports simply couldn't survive without subsidies. I don't know if this is true for freeways or not, but I'm not sure they are self supporting either if you consider the total costs, both capital and expense to maintain them. It all comes down to what is less costly, the waste in government or the profit margin that a private enterprise would require. If the private enterprise is efficient enough that it can make a profit and still cost less than a government agency, then it is a good deal overall. Matt |
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On Sat, 07 May 2005 14:54:02 GMT, Matt Whiting
wrote in :: If the private enterprise is efficient enough that it can make a profit and still cost less than a government agency, then it is a good deal overall. It's difficult to envision a less costly and more equitable way of collecting the revenue for ATC operation, than a tax on fuel. |
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Larry Dighera wrote:
On Sat, 07 May 2005 14:54:02 GMT, Matt Whiting wrote in :: If the private enterprise is efficient enough that it can make a profit and still cost less than a government agency, then it is a good deal overall. It's difficult to envision a less costly and more equitable way of collecting the revenue for ATC operation, than a tax on fuel. I was talking more about the delivery of services costs than the collection costs. I agree a fuel tax is pretty simple, however, do you know how high that tax would have to be to support the entire aviation infrastructure? I don't, but I'll bet it would be several dollars a gallon at least. I don't know where to get an accurate assessment of the real cost of our aviation system (airports, ATC, navaids - we'd need to pay our share of the cost of GPS for example) or I'd make an estimate of the cost per gallon. I suspect the fuel consumption figures are available with some research, but I doubt all of the costs of the rest of the system area readily available. Matt |
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