If user fees go into effect I'm done

"Everett M. Greene" wrote in message
...
"Steven P. McNicoll" writes:
"Blueskies" wrote

So, you are saying let Flight Watch die, which for now is a free
service,
and replace it with a privatized service for a fee. Yes, that is the
problem...

Flight Watch is not a free service, there are no free services. You
consider Flight Watch to be a "free service" only because you don't pay
for
it directly, it's paid with taxes. I would much rather let Flight Watch
die
and replace it with private sector service providers that charge fees and
compete for my patronage than pay a direct user fee to the FAA for each
use
of Flight Watch.

Just how much competition do you expect there would be to
provide Flight Watch service? Would there be even be one
company willing to provide it?

The incremental cost to the government to provide Flight
Watch is minimal -- the facilities and personnel are
already in place. The cost to replicate the facilities
and staff the operation for a private company would be
quite high as would be the fees necessary for the provider
to make a profit.

What is the size of the contract the FAA has with Lockheed? I thought the
Flight Watch service had already been let out for a profit. I cannot
imagine Lockheed doing the job to breakeven.

Jose wrote in
news
That's the least of it. I find the robots way too chatty.

What, you never get a chatty briefer?

"Jose" wrote in message
news
[hilarious automated FSS transcript deleted]

Jose,

I can't tell if that's an actual transcript or if you just made it up. It
seems much too realistic to be fictional.

Still laughing!

Jon

I find the robots way too chatty.
What, you never get a chatty briefer?

Thems I can silence. Robots are far more potent.

Jose
--
Humans are pack animals. Above all things, they have a deep need to
follow something, be it a leader, a creed, or a mob. Whosoever fully
understands this holds the world in his hands.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 17:17:30 +0100, Wolfgang Schwanke
wrote in :

Larry Dighera writes:

Why did your populous accept the imposition of a privatized ATC
system? What did you do to resist it?


[snip]

There is some resistance against privatisation in
matters that are important to the general public, but aviation is not a
prime interest of 95% of the population.


Did you personally contact the international arm of the Aircraft
Owners and Pilots Association regarding ATC privatization? Did you
submit a protest letter to the appropriate authorities requesting them
to not privatize European ATC? Did you organize any of your fellow
airman to protest also? What exactly did YOU do to fight European ATC
privatization?

On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 08:46:30 -0800, wrote
(in article .com):

All I have to say about user fees is that if they are implemented and
I am going to be nickeled and dimed to death by a bureaucratic
nightmare that adds overhead and significantly more per hour cost to
an already expensive per hour rate for flying time, I am going to hang
up my wings...

Just imagine what the per pilot cost of the FAA will be when about
200,000 pilots are driven out of the system by user fees.


User fees will stop some people from flying, but most pilots will probably be
able to cope. The thing that gets me is the unending harassment. It is enough
to make you want to become a hermit. (Actually, I tried that :-) )

I can no longer fight political battles. I am completely exhausted. You guys
will have to fight the next civil war without me -- and I am convinced that
civil war is inevitable.

For myself, things have gotten so fouled up that I can no longer get medical
insurance in the state of Washington. Thanks to Mike Lowrie's insurance
'reforms,' there are NO medical insurers willing to cover anyone who does not
work for a big corporation. Group Health and one or two others might do it
for big deductibles and premiums approaching $1000 a month. I am sick of
fighting taxing authorities, insurance companies, and everyone else who has a
hand out. When I die, what the feds don't take, the state will seize the
rest. So it is all for nothing. With problems like that, user fees are just
another gnat sting. Foo.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

In article ,
Jose wrote:

I agree with you - the system should use touch-tone dialing for selection.

That's the least of it. I find the robots way too chatty.

"Thank you for calling the New England Flight Service Station, one of
twelve FAA superstations covering the country. We hope you are having a
good day, and are eagerly waiting to help you file your flight plan,
plan your flight, get weather briefings, and find out about TFRs and
other flight restrictions. Lets get going! To begin with, I'll have to
ask you a few questions. Are you calling from your home phone number as
registered with the FAA? You can say yes, no, or I don't know. Or, you
can use the touch tone keypad. For yes, press nine, or "y". For no,
press six, or "n". If you don't know whether this number is registesred
with the FAA as your primary phone number, press 4, or "i".

(tweep)

Thank you for your response. You have indicated that this is your home
phone. Remember, to go back, at any time, you can say "go back", or you
can press the two key, or "b". (wakawakawaka) I've located your
record. I see you usually fly a cessna cardinal, November three four
seven Lima Charlie. Is this the aircraft you will be using today? You
can You can say yes, or no. Or, you can use the touch tone keypad. For
yes, press nine, or "y". For no, press six, or "n".

(tweep)

Thank you for your response. I'm so happy to help you. Now, would you
like a weather briefing? If so, press the nine key (or "w"). IF you
would just like to hear about TFRs, press the eight key, or "t". If
you would.......

(click)

Jose

Sounds reasonable, except it should be "For yes, press niner".

"Wolfgang Schwanke" wrote in message
...
Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Wolfgang Schwanke writes:

The US is a direct democracy? The US government cannot ignore what
the people want?

The U.S. is an _effective_ democracy. The people have a strong
influence on how the government is run, in part because the people
running the government are largely the same as the people being
governed.

I didn't know the United States had 300 million ministers.

Statutory class distinctions are nonexistent in the U.S.
for the most part, and de facto distinctions are rare compared to the
European norm.

Shut up . Oh really this is silly, you are using a very creative mix
of constantly shifting standards and equivocations to defend your
nationalist prejudices, without ever substantiating any of them. I
suggest you give up, it doesn't work.

No he isn't. He won this debate. You should probably stop before he
embarrass you even more.
That makes them a class by definition.

No, it makes them a profession.

A class means: A set of people who have a different perspective and
different interests than others sets of people. That makes them
socially different: a class. You are using a different definition of
the word "class" (or you shift it according to the prejudice you wish
to defend).

I think it helps if your name is Kennedy, Clinton or Bush, but that
was not what I was talking about anyway.

None of these familes inherited their prominence. There are no royals
in the United States, and no nobles. That's the way the country's
founders wanted it, and that's one of the things that sharply
distinguishes the U.S. from Europe.

No it doesn't. There are few countries in Europe who have nobles or
royals at all; someone who claims to know so much about the continent
ought to know such an important fact. And the few countries who do have
them do so mostly for fun, not for political functions.

--
Da wo alle dasselbe denken, wird nicht viel gedacht.

http://www.wschwanke.de/ usenet_20031215 (AT) wschwanke (DOT) de

On Feb 11, 7:21 pm, C J Campbell
wrote:
On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 08:46:30 -0800, wrote
(in article .com):

All I have to say about user fees is that if they are implemented and
I am going to be nickeled and dimed to death by a bureaucratic
nightmare that adds overhead and significantly more per hour cost to
an already expensive per hour rate for flying time, I am going to hang
up my wings...

Just imagine what the per pilot cost of the FAA will be when about
200,000 pilots are driven out of the system by user fees.

User fees will stop some people from flying, but most pilots will probably be
able to cope. The thing that gets me is the unending harassment. It is enough
to make you want to become a hermit. (Actually, I tried that :-) )

I can no longer fight political battles. I am completely exhausted. You guys
will have to fight the next civil war without me -- and I am convinced that
civil war is inevitable.

For myself, things have gotten so fouled up that I can no longer get medical
insurance in the state of Washington. Thanks to Mike Lowrie's insurance
'reforms,' there are NO medical insurers willing to cover anyone who does not
work for a big corporation. Group Health and one or two others might do it
for big deductibles and premiums approaching $1000 a month. I am sick of
fighting taxing authorities, insurance companies, and everyone else who has a
hand out. When I die, what the feds don't take, the state will seize the
rest. So it is all for nothing. With problems like that, user fees are just
another gnat sting. Foo.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

I hear you, but still I won't keep flying if I have to deal with user
fees. The gas is expensive enough as it is...

Flying is a hobby for me, not a vocation. I love it but I'm not a
wealthy man. As a member of the middle class, I am falling farther
and farther behind inflation. I haven't had an increase in my salary
since 2001. Gas prices have gone way up since then, as have other
staples. Thank god I bought my house in 2000. I wouldn't be able to
afford to buy it now!

Lou Dobbs is the only journalist who even has a clue as to what is
really happening right now, and he is a voice in the wilderness. We
are being sold out by our congressmen and our business leaders...
they keep getting richer and the rest of us fall farther behind every
year.

Globalization is sucking this country dry, as are the leeches in our
government. Its going to get a lot worse before it gets better...
and it may very well come to a civil war if our economy collapses.

C J Campbell writes:

For myself, things have gotten so fouled up that I can no longer get medical
insurance in the state of Washington. Thanks to Mike Lowrie's insurance
'reforms,' there are NO medical insurers willing to cover anyone who does not
work for a big corporation.

Don't worry: if you get sick and have to step into an emergency room, you can
just sell your house, add the proceeds to your life's savings, and the total
should be just about enough to cover it, provided that you're released within
the hour and you don't get any tests or procedures.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.