File 13 - the place for unwanted mail, credit card solicitations, and garbage - is where Florida Sen. Bill Nelson hopes to "file" the FAA's funding bill that calls for user fees and a 50-cent increase in avgas tax. In a special video message, Sen. Nelson addressed pilots at AOPA President Phil Boyer's Pilot Town Meeting Thursday at Sun 'n Fun and acknowledged the top aviation issue on everyone's mind: "Of course, you all have a big issue - user fees - trying to shift the burden of all of our airways over to you, aviation pilots. That should not be, and I think that we will be able to send that particular proposal into File 13 for complete filing." Sen. Nelson, chairman of the Senate space, aeronautics, and related sciences subcommittee, also said that he would be "intimately involved in the FAA reauthorization bill," particularly in "crafting this FAA funding legislation that will garner the support of your community."
April 20, 2007