Pay for weather briefings?

I'd be incredibly surprised if something like this happened....but if it did, safety would take a "HUGE" step back.
 
Meh. Give it another 10 years, and I'll be able to run their models on my graphics card. Then, I'll just need to subscribe to the raw data and I'll make my own forecasts. Big Weather's days are numbered.
 
don't we normally pay or every thing we use?
 
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I don't see how you connect the dots @wsuffa . So they are hiring a for-profit guy for a non-profit position basically. That doesn't automagically make the non-profit into a profit generating organization, nor does it mean we're going to start paying fees. Maybe you have a different version of the page then the one I read.

I do actually agree with some of the comments about wasting millions of dollars a year telling me its "warm and sunny".

Put those hundreds of millions of dollars into something useful. I don't need a weather report telling me it's CAVU out. Gimme the wind direction and speed and I'm good.

I really can't understand why people feel the need to "hang onto" the old dusty ways of doing things. Perhaps Myers will inject some new life into NOAA.

Hopefully the next up is the postal office, maybe we can get David Abney or Frederick Smith to clean house there eh? ;P
 
Big whip. Lots of wx available free on the internet. Yeah, we'll all be flying around in de facto violation of the regs. Oh well.
 
Tom-D said:
don't we normally pay or every thing we use?
Click to expand...

Do you realize the consequences yet to come? You will be paying for a field approval in the future. Sure it will be a pass thru cost to the customer but its coming.

Then you will be paying the FAA for auditing services on your 135 certificates.

Then you'll be paying them for LOAs.

Then paying for ____________.

This already exists in other countries. Want a field approval pay $$$. Some of them require STC for almost anything and the regulator bills you for those services too.
 
This could be looked at as one of two choices when it comes to funding government services such as NOAA, FAA and some others.
You could either:
1. Pay as you go user fee. The actual user pays for a service when he/she actually uses it.
2. Paid for through everyone's taxes.

Number 1 is typically favored by those who do not personally use the system and who do not see a personal benefit to them by another person using the system.

Number 2 is typically favored by those who use the system and might be dissuaded from using the service on an as needed basis if the price is too high.

Of course any policy, fee structure, etc. that dissuades someone from using a service that enhances safety is foolish at best. If the services that are currently "free" from NOAA, FAA, etc. were to become fee based then a certain and unknown percentage of folks would probably choose to forego the service and thereby the expense. Anyone who thinks that is a good idea is not thinking clearly. The non IFR rated pilot who flies VFR into IMC, becomes disoriented, crashes into a home or other building and kills others, all because he did not want to pay the fee to get a weather briefing does affect the non user of the system. To think otherwise is not thinking at all. This is why the system exists in its current state and why it must remain so.
 
Of course, when you move something from option 2 to option 1, you never end up paying any less tax. A nice way of stealthily increasing effective tax rates.
 
I don't remember the last time I called in for a weather briefing. I used to get a standard briefing just as a CYA but eventually I stopped doing that.
 
bnt83 said:
Do you realize the consequences yet to come? You will be paying for a field approval in the future.
Click to expand...
Do you believe we don't now? try getting a DAR to sign anything with out payment.
FSDO is free, but get them out of the office may take years.
 
bnt83 said:
Do you realize the consequences yet to come? You will be paying for a field approval in the future. Sure it will be a pass thru cost to the customer but its coming.

Then you will be paying the FAA for auditing services on your 135 certificates.

Then you'll be paying them for LOAs.

Then paying for ____________.

This already exists in other countries. Want a field approval pay $$$. Some of them require STC for almost anything and the regulator bills you for those services too.
Click to expand...
I understand what happens when you allow the camel to get their nose under your tent. but with the country's national debt being what it is you'll see congress do a lot of cost cutting. This one simply hits us. As bad as it may seem, your aircraft is seen by many congress critters as a rich boy toy and an easy target.
Just My Humble opinion, and I don't like it either. It's kinda like building the Freeway system with user gas taxes, then placing a tollgate on it.
 
Tom-D said:
Do you believe we don't now? try getting a DAR to sign anything with out payment.
FSDO is free, but get them out of the office may take years.
Click to expand...
True. When I was getting my certs and ratings just out of high school, it was common to schedule check rides with an FAA examiner. Now, my friends tell me it is typically with a DPE and costs 6 to 7 hundred dollars, which is like 500 bucks an hour.... One government symptom that really annoys me is the Dept. of Motor Vehicles- in my little town we have one, staffed by 8-10 govt. employees with good pay, retirement, etc. paid for by taxpayers. When you go to the official DMV, you wait in huge lines, for hours, and if there is any way they can refuse to assist you, these folks will. And they are rude about it. Most people avoid this, and go instead to the "DMV express", and pay a premium of $10 or so over the fees you pay at the DMV. In the "express", you have friendly folks behind the counter, short wait times, and lots of good advice about how to get the paperwork done. So basically, the govt. employees are apparently actively trying to discourage their clients from coming to them for help and services. Ironically, they have, by far, better pay and benefits than the folks in the privately run shop. I never understood how lots of govt. agencies seem to evolve into something that appears to be primarily for the benefit of its own employees, at the expense of the customers it was designed to serve.
 
That'll happen any time you get a group that has the power to force you to use their services. My favourite example is the US Embassy. Complete trash for service but hey, where else you gonna go for that visa?
 
Accu Weather and the NWS have been battling for the better part of a decade. If the Accu had their way the NWS would not have any sort of web presence whatsoever.
 
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