AOPA battles 11th hour attempt by Sen. Breaux to allow sports interests to control airspace

*** URGENT MESSAGE FROM THE OVER 388,000
PILOTS WHO ARE MEMBERS OF AOPA ***

AVIATION SECURITY MISREPRESENTED IN HOMELAND SECURITY AMENDMENT

Dear Senator Hutchison:

Rather than flood your office with faxes and phone calls from our 26,370 members in Texas, I will be direct and to the point in this letter.

Senator John Breaux has included an amendment in the Aviation Security Improvement Act, formerly S.2949, which essentially rescinds the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) congressionally mandated power to regulate airspace around sporting events. His legislation puts that control in the hands of the commercial and college sports interests.

AOPA strongly opposes this bad public policy of turning the control and regulation of airspace to private interests under the guise of aviation security rather than the agencies established by Congress.

On behalf of AOPA members, I urge you to oppose the Breaux Overflight Amendment because this is a security issue that should not be regulated by commercial interests. Thank you for your time and consideration on this issue.

Sincerely,

President

November 14, 2002