BAKER ON THE NEWS
“TFRs have left airports financially drained, as many businesses remain inoperable during the restrictions—from fixed-based operators to skydiving operations, flight schools, maintenance shops, and other aviation activities. Our team here at AOPA worked hard on this solution and believe it is a big win for those airports, businesses, and communities.” —AOPA President Mark Baker
ASN Volunteer of the Month
Ron Orozco
When pilot Ron Orozco heard that the mayor of Lordsburg, New Mexico, was floating ideas about closing Lordsburg Municipal Airport, he took action. Orozco brought the issue to aviation advocates including AOPA Central Southwest Regional Manager Tom Chandler, the National Business Aviation Association, the New Mexico Airport Managers Association, and the New Mexico Pilots Association. He also worked with the New Mexico Aviation Division to gather key airport facts for a pro-airport presentation. Orozco—AOPA’s Airport Support Network volunteer for Lordsburg—appeared before the Hidalgo County Commission to solicit support, leading to the mayor backing off his thought of closing the airport.
Orozco also became actively involved in the opposition of a rule change being proposed by the New Mexico Game and Fish Commission, which would have put general aviation pilots at risk of unknowingly violating rules and potentially suffering legal action. With representatives of the New Mexico Pilots Association and the Recreational Aviation Foundation, Orozco rallied support from area pilots and worked to educate New Mexico Game and Fish commissioners on the issue from a pilot’s perspective. These efforts paid off when the commission voted down the proposed rule change.
Since then, Orozco has launched an effort to create a video to educate both pilots and hunters on the central issue the rule was intended to address: game spotting from aircraft. Orozco exemplifies the attributes AOPA looks for in an Airport Support Network volunteer.
Pilot Ron Orozco with his wife, Beth.
AOPA advocates for TFR relief
$3.5 million in reimbursement for affected airports
A $328 billion spending package signed into law on February 15 includes a big win for general aviation, with $3.5 million in reimbursement funding to three airports affected by presidential temporary flight restrictions. AOPA has long pushed for a solution for airports that have been negatively impacted by presidential TFRs where the president is in residence for an extended period of time, most recently at New Jersey’s Solberg and Somerset airports and Florida’s Palm Beach County Park Airport, also known as Lantana. Combined, the airports suffered a net loss of nearly $1 million in 2017 alone.
The newly passed legislation states: “Up to $3,500,000 shall be for necessary expenses, including an independent verification regime, to provide reimbursement to airport sponsors that do not provide gateway operations and providers of general aviation support services located at those airports closed during a temporary flight restriction (TFR) for any residence of the President that is designated or identified to be secured by the United States Secret Service, and for direct and incremental financial losses incurred while such airports are closed solely due to the actions of the Federal Government.”
AOPA has been the leading advocate in Washington, D.C., to find a solution for presidential TFR impacts on airports. In addition to the efforts to secure the reimbursement funds, AOPA worked with members of Congress in 2018 to require the FAA to develop a report on methods for mitigating the impact of TFRs associated with future presidential travels.
Could Meigs Field make a comeback?
Longshot mayoral candidate supports reopening the Chicago airport
Meigs Field once again had a moment in the spotlight during the Chicago mayoral campaign, when candidate Willie Wilson listed reopening the iconic general aviation airport on his 10-point agenda.
In 2003, in what AOPA called a “reprehensible action,” then-Mayor Richard Daley closed the airport overnight by sending a demolition crew to bulldoze six large X’s in the airport’s single runway, making it unusable and stranding the 16 general aviation aircraft parked on the ramp. The devious move caught the FAA, Meigs control tower, elected officials, and pilots across the United States by surprise, and set a scary precedent for the future of other GA airports.
In the years following the closing, the city spent $9.7 million to turn the space into a concert venue and nature preserve, although it had been more profitable as an airport. Today, the space only generates $55,000 to the city. When it was opened as an airport, it contributed between $300 million and $500 million in income per year. And that’s something Wilson has said he believes would benefit Chicago.
Piper AD too broad
AOPA fights ‘intrusive and expensive action’
The FAA should pull back its proposed airworthiness directive calling for logbook reviews and possible wing-spar inspections of up to 20,000 Piper PA–28 and PA–32 series airplanes and instead gather safety data through alternative, readily available, and less onerous means, AOPA said in a regulatory filing. The scope of the proposed AD is too broad, and the “intrusive and expensive action” it would mandate is inappropriate without proper groundwork being laid, AOPA said.
AOPA reiterated the request that the FAA grant 45 days additional time for providing detailed comments. The association also challenged contentions in the AD, including compliance cost estimates and the formula owners would use to calculate an aircraft’s factored time in service—a key element in determining whether further steps must be taken to inspect the aircraft and report findings. The additional time for the public to comment also would give the National Transportation Safety Board an opportunity to conclude its investigation into a fatal accident that occurred on April 4, 2018, in Daytona Beach, Florida, involving a Piper PA–28R-201.
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