FAA ATC Privatization May Come Back This Spring

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Working together, the entire general aviation community was instrumental in ensuring that HR 2997, the Federal Aviation Administration authorization bill, did not receive a vote by the full House of Representatives last fall. That bill includes a provision stripping air traffic control from the FAA and handing it to a new, private corporation. The entire general aviation community, including USPA, is strongly opposed to the concept.

Congress still needs to pass an FAA reauthorization bill, and the House Transportation Committee chairman still vows to bring HR 2997 with its ATC privatization provision to the House floor. If he does, USPA and the other general aviation groups will need to mobilize our members again this spring to fight the effort.

USPA members should stand ready to contact members of Congress should the need arise again. The fight's not over until it's over.

I Jumped with the guys who invented Skydiving.

[JohnMitchell 14]

Thanks for bringing this up to everyone's attention.

Voters in the U.S., let's not let this happen. Call or email your Congressperson and both Senators to let them know you oppose privatization of what should be a government function.

Other countries have privatized their ATC and there's been a lot of dissatisfaction from the users afterwards. Any pilot who remembers when the government privatized the Flight Service Station function can tell you that "Service" went right out the window. It was pitiful. I'd hate to see that happen to the entire air traffic system in the USA.

Think of this analogy. What if the trucking companies ran the freeways, and set all the user fees and access rights? How convenient would our highways be after that?

[chuckakers 370]

JohnMitchell

Thanks for bringing this up to everyone's attention.

Voters in the U.S., let's not let this happen. Call or email your Congressperson and both Senators to let them know you oppose privatization of what should be a government function.

Other countries have privatized their ATC and there's been a lot of dissatisfaction from the users afterwards. Any pilot who remembers when the government privatized the Flight Service Station function can tell you that "Service" went right out the window. It was pitiful. I'd hate to see that happen to the entire air traffic system in the USA.

Think of this analogy. What if the trucking companies ran the freeways, and set all the user fees and access rights? How convenient would our highways be after that?

I agree, John. This is a money and power grab by the commercial aviation lobby (and the politicians in their back pockets) and it will screw general aviation users big time.

The ATC system in the U.S. isn't broken. In fact it's one of the few things the feds to well. As a board member of USPA, I am close to this issue and I can sure for sure that EVERY general aviation entity is absolutely against this bill. This thing needs to be dead on arrival.

Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX