Waypoints: Maintaining the Momentum

Undoubtedly when looking back at 2017, the major hurricanes will be among the news media’s Top 10 biggest stories of the year. And general aviation’s role in providing assistance will not be forgotten. From a GA perspective, the year had many highs and lows. Certainly, a high note was the May 1 implementation of BasicMed. Just six months later, more than 20,000 pilots are now flying under the revised medical procedure that allows those flying light airplanes for recreation to visit their personal physician for a signoff of their fitness to fly. With that a pilot needs to complete a free AOPA online course about health and flying, and tuck the completion certificate and doctor’s signoff into a logbook in case it is needed. There is no need to send anything to the FAA. Your health status stays between you and your physician, as it should.

The new provision is not a solution for all, but it is a compromise that provides many pilots—particularly those with a need for ongoing special issuances—a much simpler path to the cockpit while still maintaining pilot health. Most important, nothing is taken away. Those for whom a third class medical process makes more sense still have that option.

A not-so-high point was the passage in June by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of H.R. 2997, legislation to “privatize” air traffic control, handing billions of dollars in infrastructure and influence to a nonprofit board that will ultimately be controlled by the airlines, their unions, and large commercial airports. You can imagine where that will leave general aviation and small, rural airports—and the communities that depend on them. But just as with the call for help after the hurricanes, general aviation rallied. At the urging of AOPA and other organizations working in Washington, D.C., pilots placed some 85,000 calls and emails to members of Congress, urging them not to support the bill. The process drags on and, as I write this, there is still not enough support in the House to bring it to the floor for a vote. But proponents of the legislation, with enormous backing by the airlines, are using the time to try to sway opponents. Even if you contacted your representative on this issue, call him or her again to remind them of your opposition. See the blue “ATC ‘Privatization’” button at the top of AOPA’s website for details on why it matters to all of us.

Hopefully, 2017 will be seen as the year when general aviation pilots started the process to take back control of publicly funded airports. Most airport owners and FBOs do a great job of welcoming pilots of all types; however, a small but growing number of locations see access as a toll booth. If you want to park on the publicly funded ramp, you must pay a fee—even if you don’t need any services. And, at some of these locations, it is not a $5 fee. It can be $200 or more, as evidenced by the many complaints AOPA has received this year. In response, AOPA filed FAR Part 13 complaints at three locations, asking the FAA to remind the airport sponsors at those airports of their responsibility to ensure that the FBOs there charge only reasonable fees—if any—for those just wanting to land and exit the airport.

Since AOPA began focusing attention on this issue, numerous airport owners have asked for assistance on how they can make their airports more welcoming. Among the options are identifying parking areas and entry and exit points not controlled by the FBO. Other options include introducing competition in the form of another FBO, where it makes sense, or providing self-service fuel controlled by someone other than the dominant FBO. AOPA has also drafted guidelines airports can use when writing FBO requests for proposal that include clauses requiring transparency around pricing and fees. As with control of ATC, there’s still much to be done on this project.

We are not likely to see a complete resolution to many of these issues even in 2018, but persistence and perseverance by us all will keep momentum on our side.

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