I think it's worth taking a different perspective on this. Let's say
that you have a moderately busy, medium-sized airport near a
medium-sized city -- there are (say) 20-30 airline flights in and out
every day. That airport has an FAA tower, and light aircraft account
for the majority of the movements. Should light aircraft owners pay
the majority of the cost of operating the tower, since we make the
majority of the radio calls?

To answer the question, consider what would happen if the tower were
closed. We all know how to fly in and out of airports without a tower
-- even the bizjets can handle that -- and on an IFR day, most of the
recreational pilots disappear, and the rest of us will simply do
one-in/one-out full procedure approaches. We might lose 10-15 minutes
occasionally, but that's no big deal.

Now, consider the airlines' CRJs or 737s having to share that airspace
with us, holding for 15 minutes waiting for a turn to approach in IMC,
or joining the VFR traffic pattern #5 for landing behind a Cessna 150.
With that in mind, who gets most of the benefits from having a control
tower?

I think the same is true of a lot of ATC services. Light aircraft talk
a lot to ATC, but to a large extent, we're doing so only to help the
heavy iron keep moving efficiently around us. It seems fair that the
airlines (and maybe bizjet operators) pay most of the cost, since they
get most of the benefit.


All the best,


David