ATC User Fees

"Peter Duniho" wrote in
:

"Marty Shapiro" wrote in message
...
Define light GA aircraft. When I was on the ramp at SFO, they
told me
I was the only piston powered aircraft to land there that day.

Hmmm...you were at SFO, in spite of the "effective ban"? Amazing.

The statement was that high fees "effectively ban". Since I knew in
advance that ALL fees would be waived, the issue of fees was completely
irrelevant. A fee of $0.00 nullifies both the "high" and "fees" in "high
fees".


Considering how light GA is supposed to be "effectively banned", we
have a surprising number of folks even in this small group of pilots
who have flown into large Class B airports.

For some reason, you have fixated on "effectively" equating to
"completely" or "totally" despite being referred to a perfectly valid
dictionary definition (with usage example) which says otherwise. You've
also managed to drop the "high fees". Fees are a deterrent to landing at
an airport. The higher the fees, the more of a deterrent they are. If you
make them high enough, you effectively (but not totally) ban light GA
aircraft unless no viable alternative exists.

Not all large class B airports have landing fees. Of the class B
airports with landing fees that I am aware of, SFO is the most expensive,
(excluding surcharges). I even posted the fact that the NYC class B
airports (JFK, LGA, & EWR) have a $25 landing fee with a $100 surcharge for
landing or takeoff operations during certain hours. LAX and LAS have no
landing fee. (All fee examples refer to light GA aircraft.) Unless you are
planning to only do a touch-and-go the ramp fee has be figured in when
determining if the cost of landing is a deterrent at any airport, not just
a class B airport.

Where the total fees are more reasonable, regardless of class of
airport, you will find more GA aircraft. Given reasonable alternatives, GA
aircraft will go to the airport with the lower fees.

As I previously stated, LAS is a large class B airport with no landing
fee. 13 years ago, other than fuel, the fees at LAS were reasonable.
Parking was free for the first 6 or 8 hours and the overnight fee, which I
don't recall exactly, was also quite reasonable. Back then, there were many
light GA aircraft on the LAS ramp. Last July, the ramp fee at LAS was $50
daily, no "grace" period. The fee was for one night was waived with a
minimum fuel purchase. However, VGT, a class D only 8.2 NM north, was $5
per night (no waiver for fuel purchase) and $1.50 per gallon less for
100LL. Guess which transient ramp was chock full of light GA aircraft and
which one had very few.


As for the definition of "light GA aircraft", I'm speaking of pretty
much the same planes you probably would expect: six-seat and smaller
piston aircraft (singles and twins). Perhaps some of the smallest
cabin-class twins. Navajos, TBM700s, King Airs, and business jets
need not apply.

Pete

Using your definition of a light GA aircraft, which I agree with,
counting me there was exactly one which landed at SFO on the day I was
there. (I left around 6:30 PM, so it is possible one did arrive
afterwards.) The closest I saw to a light GA aircraft at SFO that day was
a Piper Malibu Mirage.

--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)