AOPA Urges Withdrawal of Proposal to Revise Medical Standards
In extensive final comments to the rulemaking docket, AOPA has called for withdrawal of the FAA's proposed revision to pilot medical standards.
In its 28 pages of comments, AOPA attacked proposals for adding electrocardiograms (EKGs) to Class II medicals, noting that the EKG is not capable of reliably predicting heart attacks. AOPA said heart attacks have caused only four accidents and 2.64 fatalities per year over 10 years (1982 to 1991). The purported $4.8 million annual cost of this provision alone, AOPA noted, would create a particular hardship for flight instructors and other limited-income aviation professionals.
AOPA addressed specifics in the proposed revisions related to visual acuity, color vision, hearing, equilibrium, mental/neurological, and other matters. The association agreed with some changes but opposed most, while maintaining its overall opposition to the proposal.
AOPA strongly attacked proposed standards addressing heart surgery, blood pressure, anti-coagulants, single-event seizures, and a new requirement for cholesterol testing.
Greatest criticism was aimed at the concept of segmenting medical standards by age group, particularly demonstrated in a new requirement for annual Class III medicals after age 70.
AOPA relied on the Freedom of Information Act to obtain studies the FAA used to claim that "the incidence of accidents generally increases with...age." For instance, the FAA claimed a medical incapacitation rate of 15.22 per one million (not the customary 100,000) flight hours for pilots older than age 80. AOPA found the statistic was derived from the occurrence of one accident in this population. Thus, save a single incident, pilots over 80 would have logged a 0.00 (perfect) accident rate.
AOPA asked the FAA to withdraw its entire Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and instead respond to numerous specific and timely petitions from AOPA on medical certification matters.
FAA Unable to Furnish Documentation on Five of 10 Medical Issues
The FAA has been unable to furnish documentation on five of 10 medical certification issues requested under a Freedom of Information filing by AOPA. Asked to back up its notice of proposed rulemaking designed to revise medical standards, the FAA cited little more than its own staff certification experience in five of the matters. AOPA had requested specific medical studies and data justifying FAA's proposed changes.
AOPA filed its FOI request December 14. The FAA's response, required within 10 days, was not received until January 18. Federal Air Surgeon Jon L. Jordan determined that the FAA could not locate any written data on five issues:
- The FAA's citation of a "survey of Department of Defense medical practices." The FAA could cite only informal contacts with military surgeons general and no documents or written data.
- What was termed "analysis of its own aeromedical certification data." No written data could be provided; the FAA cited "medical staff aeromedical certification experience" plus several handbooks, agency reports, and an advisory circular.
- On the FAA's statement regarding "the safety record of airmen granted exemptions," no written documentation was found. The FAA again cited "staff experience."
- No written data were found to back the FAA's contentions regarding "special issuance provisions." FAA cited staff experience as a basis for their conclusions.
- On the subject of medical certification of airmen taking anticoagulant medication, the FAA said only that its position was founded "on the basis of AAM [Office of Aviation Medicine] medical staff's aeromedical certification experience." No written data could be found.
AOPA provided its full comments to the medical standards NPRM on February 21.
EPA Accepts AOPA Position, Scraps Environmental Fees on GA in California
Citing the case made by AOPA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has scrapped its proposed fees on general aviation designed to cut flight operations in Southern California.
"Direct regulation of the general aviation category is being dropped," EPA said in a decision yet to be published in the Federal Register at Pilot's press time.
As part of a program to control California air quality, EPA would have imposed a fee on each general aviation takeoff. Starting at about $2.30 per takeoff, fees would have been raised until GA operations decreased by 30 to 40 percent.
EPA accepted AOPA's argument that Southern California general aviation operations have already been reduced more than 25 percent since 1990 due to economic factors, business recession, and population decline.
"What was expected to be a huge, unprecedented blow to general aviation in our biggest state has turned into a huge win for general aviation and for common sense," said AOPA President Phil Boyer.
Boyer Asks Controllers to Reconsider Stance on Corporatization
AOPA President Phil Boyer has asked Barry Krasner, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), to discuss alternatives to the proposed air traffic control corporation, which NATCA supports.
Boyer said reform of the FAA and more rapid modernization of the ATC system is a top priority for both AOPA and NATCA. "Our members collectively desire reform that improves services to pilots and improves working conditions for controllers," Boyer said.
"Pilots are intimately familiar with the fact that investments in new technology aboard aircraft will have little value without parallel investment in new technology that supports controller productivity," Boyer said. "All future ATC improvements will have to recognize that a safe aviation system requires a smooth, cooperative relationship between controllers and pilots."
On February 15 Phil Boyer reminded the House Aviation Subcommittee of AOPA's Five-Point Plan for in-government FAA reform as an alternative to ATC corporatization. Boyer said an ATC corporation is the "wrong answer" to meeting the future needs of air traffic control. "Let's fix what's wrong with government, not slough off its rightful duties on a new, parallel bureaucracy."
AOPA Offers Comments on 'Free Flight' Concept
In a February symposium in Washington, AOPA voiced its comments on "free flight," which would afford the flexibility of VFR operations in the IFR environment. Endorsed in a white paper presented to the FAA by the Radio Technical Commission on Aeronautics, free flight would allow pilots to choose optimum routes, speeds, and altitudes. But cost, access, and separation issues must be addressed first, AOPA and other participants told the symposium.
Steven J. Brown, AOPA's senior vice president for government and technical affairs, said that as long as free flight was limited to Flight Level 310 or higher — as the white paper recommended — "free flight would be only a marginal system with limited benefits" for general aviation and regional airlines.
AOPA is promoting expansion of the free flight concept to the lower altitudes — generally between FL180 and FL250 — typically used by turboprop, turbocharged, and pressurized piston aircraft.
Morningstar Appointed AOPA Media Relations Director
Warren Morningstar has been named director of media relations in the AOPA Communications Division. He replaces Kevin Murphy, promoted to AOPA vice president of aviation services late last year.
Morningstar was previously senior television news producer for "News 4 Utah" at KTVX-TV in Salt Lake City. His work there won numerous "Best Newscast" awards and an Emmy nomination for special news programming during the Gulf War.
Previously, Morningstar was with the U.S. Information Agency as a foreign service information officer at embassies in Argentina, Ivory Coast, and Mali. He served as information officer for the Utah Department of Transportation during the 1970s.
Morningstar, a licensed pilot since 1976, holds a commercial pilot certificate with instrument and multiengine ratings.
REGIONAL ACTION
AOPA Weighs in With Mayor Daley: Chicago's Meigs Field Must Stay
Responding to reports of another attempt to close Chicago's downtown Meigs Field, AOPA has told Mayor Richard Daley that the lakefront airport is a national as well as local issue.
"Meigs is the epitome of a well-thought-out reliever airport," said AOPA President Phil Boyer, who termed Meigs a key element in the national transportation system, providing fast access into the Chicago Loop area and the nearby McCormack Place convention and trade show facility. In fact, its importance to Chicago's socioeconomic heart had earned Meigs Field the cover photo on the 1995 edition of AOPA's Aviation USA airport directory.
Boyer emphasized Meigs' role as a "neighbor friendly" airport with approaches and departures over Lake Michigan, not Chicago neighborhoods.
"I'm confident that residents living around Midway would be alarmed at having nearly 50,000 extra aircraft operations a year flying over their homes," commented Boyer, a resident of the Windy City when he was ABC vice-president and general manager of Chicago's WLS-TV.
AOPA said it is prepared to pursue all available means to ensure continued operation of Meigs. AOPA said any action to close Meigs could affect passenger facility charge revenues and FAA Airport Improvement Program grants for other airports such as O'Hare and Midway. AOPA also cited city grant assurances to the FAA, including the agreement to keep the airport open for a period of 20 years after Chicago's most recent acceptance of AIP funds in 1989.
Boyer emphasized the airport's role as a generator of jobs, tax revenues, and visitor income to the city, as well as its key place in the national transportation infrastructure.
AOPA Says Delaware Noise Ordinance is Unconstitutional
AOPA has told the Fenwick Island, Delaware, town council that its ordinance to control noise from aircraft overflying the town beach is unconstitutional and unenforceable.
AOPA General Counsel John S. Yodice, citing judicial precedent, told town officials the ordinance is unconstitutional "because the federal government has preempted the field in the area of regulation of aircraft noise."
Fenwick Ordinance No. 75 makes it a misdemeanor to operate an aircraft near the town if the noise annoys a "reasonable person." The ordinance also sets a 65-decibel limit on noise from aircraft overflight.
Yodice offered to work with Fenwick leaders to solve noise problems and affirmed that AOPA encourages its members to fly conscientiously as good neighbors. He also warned, however, that AOPA would seek removal of the ordinance if it is not repealed. "The method you have chosen is not lawful," Yodice warned. AOPA has been successful in challenging such ordinances in recent years.
Yodice said such local ordinances would create an unworkable patchwork quilt of local noise regulation. "This would lead to a proliferation of noise ordinances across the country which would severely impact aircraft operations on a nationwide basis."
AOPA Protests Exorbitant Puerto Rican Landing Fees
Following the January 1 implementation of a minimum $9.50 landing fee at all regional airports in Puerto Rico, AOPA has asked the FAA to take immediate action to roll back the fee. In December, AOPA had written to Herman Sulsona, executive director of the Puerto Rico Ports Authority, protesting the fees, but the association received no response.
The new tariffs also establish high minimum fees for parking, hangarage, and other airport services.
According to Bill Dunn, AOPA's vice president of regional affairs, public hearings in San Juan drew strong, unified opposition from the aviation community, but the new fee structure was adopted without change.
Dunn pointed out that many of the regional airports offer no fuel or other services, forcing based pilots to fly to another airport for fuel and then return, thus incurring the landing fee twice and adding $19 to the cost of every tank of fuel. He noted that aircraft operators are already paying tiedown fees, fuel flowage fees, and federal fuel taxes.
In addition, the landing fee is scheduled to be increased again at the end of this year to a minimum of $10.35 per operation. Parking and other charges would increase as well.
AOPA believes the unacceptably high charges are unnecessary and violate federal grant assurances of "fair and reasonable" fees.
AOPA Names Hudson Regional Rep for Mid-Atlantic States
Christopher Hudson, an attorney and 4,600-hour pilot, has been named AOPA's regional representative for Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas.
A member of AOPA's legislative liaison committee, Hudson was cofounder of the Friends of Horace Williams Airport organization, which successfully defended the Chapel Hill, North Carolina, airport from local anti-airport forces.
Holder of an ATP certificate with Learjet and Boeing 737 type ratings, Hudson is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, the UNC Business School Executive Program, and the Cumberland Law School of Stanford University.
Hudson, now in private practice specializing in insurance and corporate law, managed a corporate aviation department for 12 years while also serving as staff attorney for Willis Corroon and Collier Cobb & Associates, insurance brokers in North Carolina.
AOPA's 11 regional representatives monitor local, state, and regional aviation and airport issues, reporting to AOPA headquarters.
New AOPA Video Encourages Flying Friendly to Preserve Airports
AOPA has undertaken a new initiative in the important effort to mend fences between airports and their neighbors. It's "Flying Friendly," a 20- minute videotape for pilots which explains how the unusual nature of aircraft engine sounds create community reaction. Reinforcing simple piloting techniques that reduce noise impact on the local community, the tape addresses propeller speed and operation as the key to reduced noise complaints. It includes interviews with airport managers and aircraft operators who have successfully addressed community noise problems. Representatives of qualified pilot groups may call AOPA Vice President for Regional Affairs Bill Dunn at 301/695-2210 to obtain a copy.
SAFETY ACTION
ASF Products Now Available Through Sporty's Catalog
AOPA Air Safety Foundation videos and booklets are now available through the Sporty's Pilot Shop catalog.
"Sporty's catalog allows us to put our safety products in front of almost every pilot in the United States," said ASF Executive Director Bruce Landsberg. He singled out ASF's type-specific safety reviews, drawn from the Foundation's 22,000-entry accident database. ASF has published safety reviews for the Beechcraft Bonanza/Debonair, Cessna 182, Cessna P210, Piper Cherokee/Arrow, and Piper Malibu/Mirage. A safety review of the Beechcraft Baron will be published soon.
Also available through Sporty's catalog is the Pinch-Hitter videotape for pilot companions who want to understand flying better and learn the basics of how to control and land an airplane in an emergency. Other ASF videos include Avoiding the Stall-Spin Accident, Mountain Flying, and Single-Pilot IFR.
The pocket-sized "Flight Instructor's Companion" contains the practical test standards for the private pilot certificate, instrument rating, instrument competency check, and biennial flight review. To order, call 800/SPORTYS (800/776-7897).
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
AOPA Endorses Draft Legislation for Independent FAA
Representative Jim Lightfoot (R-IA) has announced his intention to introduce legislation that would reform the Federal Aviation Administration. This came in response to the administration's proposal to corporatize the FAA air traffic control system. Lightfoot's proposal, strongly endorsed by AOPA Legislative Action, would provide the FAA with major personnel and procurement reforms.
Testifying before the House Aviation Subcommittee, Lightfoot outlined the basic provisions of his draft legislation:
- Reestablish the FAA as an independent agency.
- Establish a panel to explore innovative funding mechanisms, such as loan guarantees and restructured grant programs, and report to Congress.
- Establish a management advisory board to advise the FAA administrator on management, policy, spending, and regulatory matters.
- Limit time on FAA rulemaking to 18 months.
The bill also would, for a trial period, relieve the FAA of certain personnel and procurement regulations.
AOPA Legislative Action Opposes Releasing Airports from Guarantees
AOPA Legislative Action has announced its opposition to an amendment to the unfunded mandates reform bill that may be offered by Representative David McIntosh (R-IN). The amendment would allow state and local governments to privatize federally financed airport facilities without repaying the federal government as required by law.
AOPA Legislative Action's Thomas B. Chapman said, "A proposal to permit state and local government to 'take the money and run' would violate the moral contract with the users who finance the system."
Federal airport improvement grants come from the Airport and Airways Trust Fund. The fund is supported by dedicated user taxes on airline passengers and general aviation pilots. Airports that accept federal grants from the trust fund agree to keep the airport open for unrestricted public use for 20 years or repay the federal government.
AOPA Legislative Action said Representative McIntosh's amendment had little to do with unfunded mandates and appeared to stem from interest in privatizing the Indianapolis airport. AOPA said airport privatization should be considered by the relevant committees of Congress, not rushed through the House as a floor amendment to other legislation.
AOPA and Colorado Groups Win Nix of State Fees on Flight Training
Colorado's legislature has adopted an amendment to the state's Private Occupation Schools Act to relieve small flight schools and individual flight instructors from posting bonds and paying registration fees to the state. The amendment was strongly supported by AOPA Legislative Action, along with the Colorado Pilots Association and Colorado Airport Operators Association. AOPA Regional Representative William Hamilton recently told the Colorado House of Representatives that without the amendment, "individual flight instructors and small schools may be forced out of business."
AOPA Legislative Action said the original legislation was well intended, designed to protect students from schools and instructors that collect tuition and fees in advance but then don't deliver. The law requires schools to pay an initial $2,000 registration fee and a $750 renewal fee, and to post a $5,000 bond.
AOPA said the amendment will maintain the Act's desirable consumer protection while preventing the collapse of small flight schools and individual flight instructors by exempting them from the fees and bond requirements.
The amendment bill went to Governor Roy Romer for his signature in March.
AOPA Legislative Action Has New Legislative Aide, New Research Capability
AOPA Legislative Action has added a legislative director and new research capability at the downtown Washington office lobbying for general aviation.
Mary M. Johnston has joined AOPA Legislative Action as director of legislative affairs. Formerly legislative director for Representative Bob Carr (D-MI), the former House Transportation Appropriations Committee chairman, she has substantial experience in aviation funding matters.
Ms. Johnston joins Director of Legislative Affairs William S. O'Neill on the AOPA Legislative Action staff. O'Neill played an important role last year as AOPA Legislative Action backed the successful attack for aviation product liability reform.
Joanne Bowers has been promoted to research director. Joining AOPA Legislative Action two years ago from the staff of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, Ms. Bowers' specialization in historical research will be applied to tracking and analysis of legislative issues. Bowers will also manage AOPA Legislative Action's new computerized database of politically active members.
MEMBERSHIP ACTION
AOPA Online Will Move to Compuserve
The AOPA Online interactive computer service will move to Compuserve by mid-1995. The new host network will offer AOPA members worldwide a variety of new services and easy, point-and-click operation.
"After a two-year start-up, we are pleased to link up with Compuserve to broaden our on-line reach with a network that already enjoys a substantial aviation following," said AOPA President Phil Boyer.
AOPA will be the first aviation on-line service to offer a comprehensive forum devoted solely to general aviation. The move to Compuserve comes after a successful two-year cooperative venture with Jeppesen-Sanderson. AOPA Online will be up and running on Compuserve by early summer. Details will be announced soon.
New Discount Coupon Book Helps Members Reduce the Cost of Flying
AOPA members who renew their memberships this year are receiving AOPA's "Great Take-Off" discount coupon book, offering savings of more than $1,500 on aviation products and services. The 54-page coupon book contains substantial discounts or free offers on aircraft tires, avionics, flight bags, headsets, aviation software, videotapes, rental cars, and more.
Savings are offered by outstanding manufacturers and vendors, including J.P. Instruments, Jeppesen, Paragon Technologies, Eventide, MentorPlus Software, Sporty's Pilot Shop, King Schools, Northstar, Terra, Airsport, Flightcom, Gulf Coast Avionics, Pilot Avionics, Sennheiser, Nelson Aircraft, Goodyear, Michelin, Montague, Avis, Budget, Hertz, Aviation Media, Azure, Falcon Watch, P.S. Engineering, Sisson Satchels, and W. Waller and Son.
Bailey, Brockman Promoted in AOPA's Policy Division
Melissa Bailey and Kathleen Brockman have been promoted to director-level positions in AOPA's Government and Technical Affairs Division.
Brockman has been named director of airports, a policy area in which she has been working since 1993. She specializes in airport compliance, environmental, and military base conversion issues. Brockman writes AOPA's quarterly Regional Bulletins to aviation advocates and airport support groups nationwide. The bulletins keep local activists informed on trends and issues in the battle to defend general aviation's right to fly. She also serves on the General Aviation Action Plan Coalition. Recently, she was instrumental in the successful renegotiation of airport tenant agreements at the Visalia, California, airport (" AOPA Action," February Pilot).
As director of airspace and system standards, Melissa Bailey specializes in airspace design, obstruction evaluation, charting and frequency assignment issues, and weather service modernization. She works on government/industry aeronautical charting panels, airspace access groups, and Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) activities including key work on emergency locator transmitter (ELT) issues. She has been responsible for a number of recent AOPA successes on special-use airspace issues.
Harmon Pritchard, 29-Year AOPA Executive, Retires
Veteran AOPA executive Harmon O. Pritchard, who pioneered many of AOPA's innovative member benefit programs, has retired after 29 years with the nation's largest aviation organization.
For the majority of his AOPA career, Pritchard was senior vice president of marketing, a post he held since 1974. He began with AOPA in 1966 as assistant director of sales and promotion. He was promoted to vice president in 1972.
As head of AOPA's Marketing Division, Pritchard designed or acquired numerous membership benefit programs. He also instituted programs generating non-dues revenue important to supporting AOPA's substantial budget for aviation advocacy. As a result, member dues will have to underwrite only 39 percent of AOPA's budget in 1995.
Did You Know...
...that the 1995 edition of the U.S. Customs Service's Guide for Private Flyers is now available through AOPA's Aviation Services department? This is the first new edition of this important handbook in several years. Price is $5 for members. Call 800/USA-AOPA to order.
...that the AOPA Air Safety Foundation is expanding its popular Flight Instructor Refresher Clinic program to several new locations in 1995? In an effort to better serve the needs of flight instructors, new locations for the remainder of the year include Boise and Cincinnati (April); Milwaukee and Van Nuys (May); Knoxville, Tucson, and Charlotte (June); San Francisco (July); Long Island, New York (September); and St. Louis (December). Call 800/638-3101 for registration or more information.
For the first time since 1967, AOPA Expo will be held in the Northeast. Make plans now to be at the convention center on the famous boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, October 19 to 21, where AOPA will host more than 300 exhibitors, 90 hours of seminars, and five major Expo-wide events. With 60 or more static display aircraft at Bader Field and tours of the nearby FAA Technical Center, AOPA Expo '95 promises to be a unique East Coast event. For more information, call 800/942-4269.
