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Questions about FAA funding dominate Boyer's public appearances

Paul Poberezny and Phil Boyer

During a morning radio interview at Sun 'n Fun, AOPA President Phil Boyer pointed out that the Bush administration's FAA funding bill would take authority for FAA budgets and spending decisions away from Congress and put it in the hands of a board dominated by the airlines, "which haven't proven they can run their own businesses too well in the last few years."

Most of the questions from pilots during the informal "Meet your President" session outside the AOPA's Big Yellow Tent also centered on the proposed 50-cent-per-gallon increase in avgas taxes and the threat of user fees trickling down to general aviation.

Responding to one pilot's question, Boyer expanded on the issue of control. "It's not about money. The FAA has plenty of money to spend on modernization," Boyer said. "This whole idea of user fees, a lot of it is about control."

Boyer said that nobody likes having a boss, "but as my Dad said, 'Phil, you're always going to have a boss.'" He said that the FAA would like to get rid of its boss "and who's their boss? Congress."

He said the airlines would like to wrest control of the air traffic control system and, through the management board set up in the administration's FAA funding bill, have much more say in how the system is run and how the money is spent.

"But they don't think the final bill that the FAA has put forth gives them enough seats on the board," Boyer said. "One of their arguments about this current bill is that they don't have enough control, and they're very open about it.

"That control change won't happen if user fees don't happen."

Boyer acknowledged that the current bill only proposes user fees for general aviation flying in Class B airspace, and the FAA says that it only intends to assess small fees on aircraft landing at one of the 30 major hub airports at the centers of Class B airspace.

"But if it's only going to cost $5, why are you charging that fee at all?" Boyer asked. "It will cost the federal government more than that to collect it."

The larger issue is what happens down the road. "First, it's just the airlines paying user fees for en route and terminal air traffic control services. But then they say, 'Hey, this isn't fair, business jets use the same services,' and the fees trickle down to them. Then they say, 'Hey, piston aircraft flying IFR are using these services too,' and the fees hit them. Finally, even GA aircraft flying VFR get fees, because they're using control towers and filing flight plans. It's happened in New Zealand, it's happened in Australia, it's happened in Europe, and it has destroyed general aviation."

Boyer also took a moment to recognize a special member of the audience, a man he called his guru and the creator of the model that he has tried to follow, Paul Poberezny, the founder of the Experimental Aircraft Association.

Said Poberezny, "I wanted to thank Phil and the AOPA — I've been a member for a long time, maybe longer than Phil is old — for the great work AOPA does."