If user fees go into effect I'm done

Mxsmanic wrote:

People who are not interested in GA don't see it that way. To them, GA is a
hobby for the rich, and they are justifiably curious as to why they should
subsidize GA in any way, since they receive nothing in return.


They are ignorant. Every day in this country GA is used by businesses
large to small. We have two UPS contract flights in and out of our GA
airport daily and two check hauling flights daily. Business jets come in
and out of here several times a week on business purposes with any of
dozens of business located in this town or nearby. All this is GA, not
Commercial.

Most people have no clue that much of the products that get shipped to
their homes come via GA.

ktbr wrote:

They are ignorant. Every day in this country GA is used by businesses
large to small. We have two UPS contract flights in and out of our GA
airport daily and two check hauling flights daily. Business jets come in
and out of here several times a week on business purposes with any of
dozens of business located in this town or nearby. All this is GA, not
Commercial.

Not quite. Most of it _is_ commercial, but it's not scheduled airline
service, so it's GA. LOTS of GA is commercial in nature. G


Most people have no clue that much of the products that get shipped to
their homes come via GA.

I agree, if you mean products that actually traveled by air.

BDS writes:

What is your definition of GA?

Anything that's not a commercial transportation service for pay.

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

Mxsmanic wrote:
BDS writes:

What is your definition of GA?

Anything that's not a commercial transportation service for pay.

That conflicts with the FAA definition.

ktbr writes:

They are ignorant. Every day in this country GA is used by businesses
large to small.

Forget it.

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

Gig 601XL Builder writes:

I can think of 3 major companies that together employee ~2500 people in my
town of ~20,000 that would not be here if it weren't for the availability of
GA flight. In fact, the town would probably dry up and blow away if any one
of these left and would certainly do so if any two of them did.

What type of business are these companies in?

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

ktbr wrote:
Mxsmanic wrote:


People who are not interested in GA don't see it that way. To them,
GA is a
hobby for the rich, and they are justifiably curious as to why they
should
subsidize GA in any way, since they receive nothing in return.


They are ignorant. Every day in this country GA is used by businesses
large to small. We have two UPS contract flights in and out of our GA
airport daily and two check hauling flights daily. Business jets come in
and out of here several times a week on business purposes with any of
dozens of business located in this town or nearby. All this is GA, not
Commercial.

Most people have no clue that much of the products that get shipped to
their homes come via GA.

"elitist hobby" clearly does not include FedEx, et al feeder flights,
medical flights, or serious business aviation. It does include "$100
hamburger" flights, personal transportation flight, personal sightseeing
flights, and warbird activities.

Smart non-flying folks I know clearly know the difference.

I bring this aspect up, because it will become part of the debate about
user fees. To ignore the argument does not make it go away.

The "hobby" flying that people, including the wealthy, do adds so
little to the cost of maintaining the national airspace system that
it is hardly worth mentioning. The things that get money spent on
them like airports are helping the struggling masses by supporting
businesses that create jobs.

I strongly suspect that GA is more of a burden than an asset for the
population and society at large. Commercial air travel is a
necessity; general aviation is not.

I can think of 3 major companies that together employee ~2500 people in my
town of ~20,000 that would not be here if it weren't for the availability
of
GA flight. In fact, the town would probably dry up and blow away if any
one
of these left and would certainly do so if any two of them did.

And since one of these companies just decided to pay for the college
education of every single person that graduates from our school system I'd
say that means pretty much everybody here benefits from GA.

I might go so far as to say that GA, Freight, and Military are necessary and
that Air Taxi is usefull.

OTOH, the east usefull, to the healthy functioning of our economy is
scheduled pasenger service.

Peter
Just my $0.02
(Wearing Nomex, of course)

Sam Spade wrote:

"elitist hobby" clearly does not include FedEx, et al feeder flights,
medical flights, or serious business aviation. It does include "$100
hamburger" flights, personal transportation flight, personal sightseeing
flights, and warbird activities.

Well the so called "hamburger" flying you talk about is probably 30%
or less of the traffic that takes place at this airport. 75% of the fuel
we sell is for business general aviation activities.

Of course when you force out 20% of these useless "hamburger" pilots
then the rest of GA will pay more for parts and maintenance in the
long run... if they can find a place that is still in business to do it.

Besides... Jimmy Carter already tried something like this by raising
taxes on so called "luxury" boats and ended up putting lots of folks
out of work as a result. That industry didn't rebound until that tax
was repealed.

B A R R Y wrote:
Not quite. Most of it _is_ commercial, but it's not scheduled airline
service, so it's GA. LOTS of GA is commercial in nature. G

Exactly. Thanks for making my point.