A battle is won, but the war continues on
Economic woes, proposed security rules challenge GA
By Janice Wood, Editor
General Aviation News
1/23/2009

How much more can general aviation take? It seems there has been a
neverending supply of obstacles in the last year or so: Sky-high fuel
prices, ever-more federal regulations on where we can fly, a call for user
fees, proposed security rules, layoffs and bankruptcies caused by the world
economic crisis.

It didn’t help when the Big Three auto makers created a PR nightmare for
business aviation when they went to Congress, hats in hands, to ask for a
bail-out. Instead of concentrating on what went wrong in their businesses,
the fact that all three CEOs flew to Washington, D.C., in corporate
business jets garnered the most attention. The knee-jerk reaction was, of
course, to get rid of the business jets.

That knee-jerk reaction continued, with business jets initially targeted in
new legislation proposed by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to reform the
Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), passed by Congress last year to help
dig us out of this mess.

Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has not been
happy with the bail-out of the country’s financial institutions. In his
reform bill, he wanted to tighten loopholes and place tougher restrictions
on executive compensation, as well as to ban corporate jets and “other
perks.”

The latest attack on business aviation got an immediate response from the
alphabet groups, such as the National Business Aviation Association and the
General Aviation Manufacturers Association — but more important, it also
got an immediate response from pilots and aircraft owners, who made their
opposition to the ban known to Congress.

Just a few days after Frank’s bill was proposed, the offending language was
taken out of the legislation.

“Congress has clearly recognized that it is important to provide Americans
with strong oversight of the federal dollars in the TARP program, but that
the language addressing business aviation had the potential to fuel job
losses for countless people in the general aviation community,” said NBAA
President and CEO Ed Bolen.

While GA lobbyists spent many hours furiously working against the proposal,
Bolen credits those pilots and aircraft owners who contacted their elected
representatives directly with the victory.

“NBAA has long said that efforts by the association in Washington are most
effective if its members also reach out to Congress,” Bolen said. “(This)
outcome shows that our members’ direct participation can make a
difference.”

Bolen, and other GA advocates, are hoping that participation also will make
a difference in another fight — this one against onerous security rules
proposed by the Transportation Security Administration.

The proposed rules, for aircraft of 12,500 lbs. or more, begin with
background checks and vetting of passengers, then goes on to ban more than
80 items that can be carried on bizjets — including tools — and would even
require air marshals on flights selected by TSA officials. Those attempts
to impose airline-like security on private aviation show that TSA officials
just don’t get it.

NBAA officials — and many other aviation advocates — spent a lot of time
earlier this month alerting pilots and aircraft owners to hearings on the
TSA proposals, as well as giving them tips on how to fight the proposed
rules.

Officials urged all pilots — not just those who fly corporate jets — to
attend a hearing or make their opposition to the proposal heard. There’s
one hearing left, slated for Jan. 28 in Houston.

Close enough to attend, but don’t think it’s worth your effort? After all,
you don’t fly a multi-million dollar jet, right? It’s just you and your
Cessna. That complacency is one of the greatest fears of the alphabet
groups’ leadership.

That’s because, once a rule is in place for the bigger planes, it’s just a
slippery slope to putting all GA flights under the same umbrella.

Not one for meetings? Consider penning a letter, sending an e-mail or
calling the local offices of your senators or congressional representatives
to let them know of your objections. It worked on the proposed business
aircraft ban and, with effort, it will work on the proposed security rules.

In this dizzying climate, when time is of the essence to shore up our
economy, we can’t let proposals — especially those that attempt to fix one
problem, but cause myriad others — to become the law of the land.

Want to know more or need help figuring out what to say to your elected
officials? Go to NBAA.org, AOPA.org, EAA.org or GAMA.aero for more
information. Go to USA.gov to find contact information