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$100 Per Flight User Fee In Obama Budget Proposal

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"AOPA finds little solace [in the piston exemption]," said AOPA President Craig Fuller. "In nations where user fees have been introduced, the fees have grown." (www.avweb.com) More...

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Ttchockey27
Ttchockey27 4
maybe instead of the government flying around on gulfstreams, they could downsize a bit and hey, perhaps fly on lear's instead? sell the 50 million dollar jets and replace them with 15-20 million.. dont hate on the GA pilots!
blake1023
blake1023 4
I wonder if Obama can pay for his corporate jet?? (AF-1) Sounds like a tax on the middle class. Because you know, everyone that flys is part of the 1 percent!! Screw birth control, its a war on Aviation!!! Watch out Aviators!
btweston
btweston 0
I think you're being a bit hyperbolic and slightly disingenuous.
JReinertsen
I find it pretty amusing that in a country, whom has publicly admitted to not being able to locate recipients of 2.3 trillion dollars, they now feel justified to add additional sources of revenue for the govt through aviation. Maybe instead of more fees, they should hire better accountants and take responsibly for their own financial mistakes. Thanks for all the (extra loose) change obama!
btweston
btweston -1
When you consider the breadth of the tax breaks already enacted to promote economic growth coupled with the focus on deficit reduction it seems quite reasonable to request a fee from the most frequent and expensive users of the National Airspace System (who, if you really read the article, are the only ones affected by this proposal). ATC ain't free, and the carbon footprint associated with a rich kid taking the family's Gulfstream down to Cabo for the weekend is significant and destructive (to the environment and the price of petroleum).

And the guy bouncing around in the Skyhawk can still do his thing.
blake1023
blake1023 2
Does that appyly to Michelle Obama's Ski vacation this weekend in Aspen??
blake1023
blake1023 1
Airlines are frequent users of the National Airspace System.... The airlines will pass those those tax hikes (fees = taxes) down to the passenger. aka the middle class.

whip5209
Ken McIntyre 5
Business as usual. Obama sticking his nose where it doesn't belong.
icebreaker1993
icebreaker1993 2
When I think about the 1% and 99%, I think about how 99% of pilots have changed their vote in next year's election.
btweston
btweston 1
99% of pilots are exempted.
grs52
Gary Robert 2
STOP! Government doesn't need more money, government needs to spend less.
FlyingnerdJRB
Jeffrey Blum 1
Who the heck is Brady Weston... is that you Barack?

Let's face it, this is NOT a user fee, it is a TAX. It is SOOOO easy for the government to increase a TAX once it has been established?

WE ALL use and BENIFIT from the airspace. Why should the GA pilot be taxed just because they are a pilot? By the way... How much Federal Tax is built into the fuel we buy?
wallcom
John Wall 1
Applying a larger tax burden to wealthier American's is a tax carried forward to everyone else.......
blake1023
blake1023 1
User Fees in Europe

http://flash.aopa.org/pilot_media_viewer/media/0704userfees/files/video1.html
MANBOI
MANBOI 1
Imagine the budget is a pizza. They just need to cut back a little, starting here:

http://tschabarum.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/img_26641.jpg

I thought we were supposed to be eating healthy. Oh, we are but they can do whatever they want with our money. 11 Months to go!
josh0000
josh burr 1
First they make us pay for fuel, then for charts, NOW WE NEED TO PAY TO JUST FLY?!?! COME ON!
Yazoo
Yazoo 1
I guess Obama feels OK because AF-1 and Marine-1 are both turbine aircraft.
btweston
btweston 0
Right. Because he's the only President who's ever used them. What is your point, exactly?
btweston
btweston 1
"The proposal exempts all piston aircraft, military and public aircraft, air ambulances, aircraft operating outside controlled airspace, and flights that begin and end in Canada."

So this actually involves very few general aviation aircraft, and the ones that are affected will not really be hit that hard when you consider the value of one hundred dollars against the total cost per flight in a private jet. I was concerned when I read the headline, but when you think about it this is not a reason to to freak out. And since it will be negotiated and lowered anyway, we can all put the tops back on our heads.
jgill
jgill 1
So the Doctors that are flow into our area clinic in a King Air, Conquest, or Chyennee get to add $100 to our Medical Fees, Our daily Air freight cost goes up. The reality is the doctors will stop coming, and we will get to drive 1.5+ hours to the next larger town for basic medical services. Next time your flying over the western states curions about those odd circils on the ground, understand that we use General Avation as a basic mode of transportation, as do the people providing services to our communities.

These people already pay a fuel tax to cover ATC services. Don't even get me started that if they add a Tax outside of the fuel pump we will need to create a new arm of goverment to collect these taxes.

I used ATC on a pop up IFR for flight saftey this weekend. 12 Minuets of flight after contacting ATC. I could have pushed a VFR approach to KBFF, but for saftey reasons (Letting ATC and the comercial guys out there know I'm inbound) I contacted ATC, picked up an IFR request to shoot the ILS approach. Dosn't matter if it was a piston aircraft or Turbine. Same need for flight saftey applies. If a pilot now needs to factor in $100 into his decision, or type up ATC while they collect payment information you compromise flight saftey.
mboette
mboette 0
Why not just increase the taxes on aviation fuel? That way there is more of an incentive to burn less fuel, and it's equally distributed amongst users.

Anyway, I doubt this will be passed, it's just more posturing, and vilification of those evil rich people.
apmac77
anthony mchale 0
Old news...next...
apmac77
anthony mchale -1
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-09-19/corporate-jets-face-100-a-flight-fee-in-obama-deficit-plan.html


I think the article that is posted here is incomplete and leaves quite a bit of room for conjecture.

Maybe this article can shed some light on this proposal.

I find it hard to believe the 1% that are flying their Gulfstream to work or play can afford to put down the 100 dollar cigar they are smoking and annie up for the SERVICES provided by the ATC system. gotta pay to play boys...LOL

I don't have any pity for them at all.

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