Impact of General Budget submitted by BO

Presently, I am without wings so I don't have any new log entries.  So instead I am posting some other Aviation related news items.

This is something I posted on a Yahoo! group I'm part of:

Guys,

Here is a link to the web version of an AOPA email, so you can read it for yourself:

General Aviation Serves America 

Here is the quote that caught me attention:

President Obama has submitted his first federal budget, and unfortunately it includes a well-hidden user fee provision that would be devastating for general aviation. At the bottom of page 131 of his budget, a small footnote reads… "Starting in 2011, the budget proposes to replace some aviation excise taxes with direct user charges."

Here is something about user fees in Europe

AOPA President's Position 

This is the part that got my attention, back in 2006:

Such cannot be the case, as a member from our AOPA affiliate in Austria demonstrates by citing user costs: a third class medical, $260; to fly an ILS, $31; the airport landing fee after the approach, $70; a mandatory shuttle ride to the FBO, $5; an arrival security screening, $12; and on and on. "In my situation, it's actually cheaper to fly with the whole family [four tickets] by airline to the States, rent an aircraft for about 30 hours...and have a nice two-week vacation (including costs for hotels and rental car) than flying the same amount of hours in Europe."

The cost estimate is $7,500 in Europe (plus fees) versus a vacation in the United States and 30 hours' rental for $7,200.

This is the reason why two-thirds of all GA activity in the world takes place here — it either has never been able to grow or has been killed in countries that implemented user fees as a means to finance air traffic control. Yet, a recent survey indicates GA contributes $150 billion to our nation's economy.

Just more food for thought.

BE