HOUSE BILL COULD KILL FLIGHT SERVICE STATION MODERNIZATION

Could it be? The President is a friend of GA? Or is the FSS
modernization the camel's nose under the user-fee tent?


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AOPA ePilot Volume 7, Issue 27 July 8, 2005
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HOUSE BILL COULD KILL FLIGHT SERVICE STATION MODERNIZATION
A simple, one-line amendment to the FAA's appropriations bill could
kill improved flight service station services for general aviation
pilots. The amendment reads, "None of the funds made available in
this Act may be used to provide for the competitive sourcing of flight
service stations." Last week, the House passed the Transportation-
Treasury-Housing Appropriations bill with the amendment, sponsored
by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). And it means, in plain English, that
the FAA would be forced to terminate the FSS modernization contract
with Lockheed-Martin, the taxpayers would pay a $325 million penalty
to Lockheed, and pilots would continue to suffer through interminable
hold times and briefers who don't have access to all the data in the
system. "It's incredulous that in an atmosphere of concerns for FAA
funding, more business-like air traffic operations--and wise use of
taxpayers dollars--that Congress even considered, much less accepted,
this amendment," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "We've worked with
the FAA for three long years to get a better safety-of-flight
information system for general aviation pilots that will also save
$2.2 billion over 10 years. It would be a travesty for all of that
to be undone now to return to a labor-intensive, antiquated, expensive
system that can't meet modern needs." See AOPA Online
( http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsite...50706bill.html ).


WHAT THE AMENDMENT MEANS TO GA PILOTS
What happens if the funding bill, complete with the amendment halting
the FSS modernization contract, becomes law? Things won't get any
better, and they could get a lot worse. "Everything that AOPA has
worked for--improved services, performance guarantees, Internet access
to briefings, and $2.2 billion in cost savings over the next
decade--would be lost," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. Maintaining
the status quo would be costly and inefficient, and some legal experts
believe the FAA would be forced to honor the bid that was submitted by
current FSS employees during the A-76 bidding process. That bid would
cut the number of FSS facilities from 58 to four, forcing more than
900 employees to relocate and possibly resulting in even more job
losses. Lockheed-Martin's bid keeps 20 facilities in place with 1,000
employees, while the FSS employees' bid would build new facilities and
keep only 966 workers. "Many services must be provided by government
employees for reasons of coordination, security, and safety," said
Boyer. "But FSS functions provided by private industry under
government supervision don't compromise that." See AOPA Online
( http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsite...50706bill.html ).