Security issues aside how would airforces across europe deal with 10-15000
radar targets on an average day ,the US is a separate issue with different
motives
driving the Authorities.
The European issue seems straight out revenue gathering with none or little
accounting
reasons presented to prove the case for widespread massive charging of all
GA aircraft.
,I am told in the region 15-30 pounds/$30-$60 US .

Imagine what would happen to our already depleted numbers if this charge was
applied
to every flight ,it would be a a huge impact .
I could guess that flight hours and pilot numbers would drop by 50% ,2nd
hand market
prices would collapse and the manufacturers sales of new aircraft would get
hit to a
similar extent, how many of them would survive given the difficult times
they are having
at the moment with most of them only 30-50% of the waiting times for
production that
they had a few years ago.
The US aircraft manufacturers would get hit as well in this scenario just
from follow on affects

Make no mistake this is a VERY serious issue for our sport and for GA
aviation as a whole.
I am on the other side of the world and I can see the downstream effects
quite clearly.

In the case of Gliding the European base of pilot numbers is the engine
which drives
new innovations and models and sustains the production industry.

The US AOPA organisation seems to be pretty switched on to what is required
in the
US political system and is actively pursuing the various avenues available.
There does not seem to be the the same activity /organisation in Europe and
with all the
different political playing fields it is a lot harder to combat the people
who are driving the
proposal.






"Shawn" wrote in message
...
goneill wrote:

The only way to stop this kind of creeping clawing away of your flying
freedoms is to do like the general aviation, power and gliding did in
Australia when they tried to make radical changes to the air control
systems.
Everyone said they would refuse to use the systems and fly VFR exactly as
they were doing already.
This would cause chaos to the air control centres and IFR traffic.

This kind of civil disobedience campaigns have worked in the past for
other issues , other countries.

The Australian case I believe just faded away and was never revisited .

Imagine in Europe if every G A aircraft did not radio in or switch on
transponders ,this would bring the
the entire air traffic control system to its knees very quickly just from
the enormity of keeping IFR traffic
away from all those unknown radar targets.
The very organisations that are trying to impose the revenue gathering
will get hit hard in two ways, more staff = increased costs and less
revenue from the choked off flow of passengers.
The political masters will be reemed by ****ed off airline passengers
asking some some very hard
questions which they in turn will ask control authorities .

This is not that radical a suggestion ,historically this has been done
many times, many issues.
Flame suit on ) Humour aside this maybe one of the few ways to combat
this kind of thing.

Sounds like a good way to get the new Homeland Security Brand turbulators
installed on your glider. They're 20 mm across, applied randomly across
the entire surface of the aircraft and delivered by an F-16.
Civil disobedience in the US carries higher penalties these days.
I'm putting my trust in AOPA (yes I'm a member) working from within the
system-for now.

Shawn