What will be the cost?

[Anthony]

My feeling is .. initially at least .. they'll just make a national annual
registration fee to cover it. Probably like $100 or something of that
nature. However .. once the process is in place they'll continue
to jack it up every year.

Exactly. They will initially make it relatively painless, then with the camel's nose under the tent, increase it every year until it becomes prohibitive. When the accident rates go up, they'll just shut us down.

 

[Everskyward]

My feeling is .. initially at least .. they'll just make a national annual
registration fee to cover it. Probably like $100 or something of that
nature.

This is how they do it in Canada for small airplanes. Aircraft with a MTOW under 3 metric tonnes (about 6600 lbs) only pay an annual fee, not daily fees. Looks like the fee for aircraft under 2 metric tonnes is $71 CDN. For aircraft between 2 and 3 metric tonnes it is $236 CDN.

After March 1, 2008 there will be a $10 daily charge for aircraft less than 3 metric tonnes at 7 of the large airports.

More on Canadian user fees here:

http://www.navcanada.ca/ContentDefi...dmin/guidetocharges/Customer_Guide_New_en.pdf

I suspect that if user fees are implemented here they will go for this model. Charging for every call to FSS etc. would be way too unwieldy and create a paperwork nightmare.

 

[jshawley]

Go to the nearest class B, sit at the end of the R/W, copy down a lot of heavies' tail numbers. Make stick-on #s for your plane, use them when calling in. UAL/NW/AA/SW all get to pay our fees for us.

Yeah, I know, I know--somebody in the Federales would get just a little bit annoyed if we did that.

 

[KennyFlys]

Go to the nearest class B, sit at the end of the R/W, copy down a lot of heavies' tail numbers. Make stick-on #s for your plane, use them when calling in. UAL/NW/AA/SW all get to pay our fees for us.

Yeah, I know, I know--somebody in the Federales would get just a little bit annoyed if we did that.

I don't have a problem with Airlines continuing to pay for these services through landing fees, etc. But, the fact is they DON'T pay it. All fees are passed to the passengers.

It's no different than my previously stated concept:

All wealth is held by individuals. All taxes are paid by individuals.

There are NO exceptions.

 

[Everskyward]

All wealth is held by individuals. All taxes are paid by individuals.

I'm not going to dispute that, but somebody has to pay for the services. They are not free. So I guess it's going to have to be... individuals. But now we are back to the question of which individuals?

 

[KennyFlys]

I'm not going to dispute that, but somebody has to pay for the services. They are not free. So I guess it's going to have to be... individuals. But now we are back to the question of which individuals?

Let's see an accurate and honest evaluation of the Airport & Airway Trust Fund. I hear too many conflicting reports.

I hear support operations equipment needs to be overhauled and equipment added. But, where? How? What exactly? How much will each of these projects cost?

We know nothing in government happens quickly. So, what happens to the money they want to collect so fast? It sure as heck won't be sitting in a bank drawing interest.

They've shown no proof they are losing money now on the current revenue of 22 cents per gallon of avgas currently collected; largely contributed to by general aviation.

In Colorado, the state collects six cents per gallon of avgas and four cents per gallon of jet fuel. Where does that go? You can bet there is much more embedded into the cost from the refinery.

So, Yes. The services must be paid for. But, show me where the shortfall is now or is to come. How about it, Mary Peters?

 

[Everskyward]

I wasn't referring to the argument about whether there is or isn't a shortfall, or the intricacies of the budget. That's way beyond my pay grade and I'm happy to leave it to someone else. I was just musing about who, philosophically, should be paying for the airway system? The general public? The users? Some combination of the two? Which users? Should we keep the status quo?

 

[gkainz]

I just read somewhere that a recent audit headed by GAO, performed by ... hmm, can't recall...one of the prominent accounting firms... turned up that the FAA can't account for a very large portion of equipment, budget, etc... until they can prove their budget, how can they say they're under funded? Was that in AOPA recently?