Flight
Plan Needs More...
LATEST FAA "FLIGHT PLAN" NEEDS MORE FOR GA, SAYS AOPA
Frederick, MD - The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) this
week submitted comments to FAA’s latest draft of its key planning
document, the FAA Flight Plan 2006-2010. The following topics were top
on AOPA’s list of comments: User fees; airport issues; Wide Area
Augmentation System (WAAS) approaches for Global Positioning Systems
(GPS); and general aviation (GA) safety.
“While the FAA incorporated many of AOPA’s previous recommendations in
this update, there are still issues that must be addressed,” said AOPA
President Phil Boyer. “The FAA should never forget that GA is a
critical ‘customer’ — especially since the GA pilot is the only one who
pays the bills out of his own pocket.”
The Flight Plan is the FAA’s strategic planning document, setting goals
for the agency and how to measure its progress in achieving them. And
much to the FAA’s credit, it has involved its critical stakeholders —
the flying community — in the process.
AOPA’s comments to the FAA included concern about the FAA’s “funding
crisis” and potential user fees.
“AOPA does not agree with the contention that the funding system is
‘broken,’” said Boyer. While the Flight Plan doesn't directly state
that the current system should be replaced with user fees, “it certainly
lays the groundwork,” Boyer said. “It is imperative that the FAA look
at its costs and that it identify ways to reduce the funding needed to
provide essential services. For example, the recent decision to
modernize Flight Service Station operations at lower costs is a model
for how they need to act in the future.”
Another core issue for AOPA is protecting airports.
“Keeping airports open and operating must continue to be a major role of
the FAA as pressures increase to close general aviation airports located
in metropolitan areas,” stated AOPA in its letter. “If some of the
projections for expanded use of general aviation becomes a reality,
access to non-air carrier airports is essential to the success of the
growth.”
The association also believes that the addition of GPS-WAAS instrument
approaches to more GA airports would help improve safety and operating
efficiencies. AOPA called for rule changes to allow that to happen,
noting that current regulations, designed for air-carrier airports,
prohibit precision instrument approaches into many GA airports.
Requirements for full-length parallel taxiways and extensive clear
zones, for example, are not necessary for safe instrument operations at
non-air carrier airports and are frequently impossible to implement at
many GA airports.
AOPA also wants the FAA to highlight the long-term GA safety
improvements in its list of successes. In the last decade, there has
been a 25-percent decrease in general aviation accidents. “The working
partnership of the general aviation community with the FAA has achieved
much of this safety improvement,” AOPA said.
“The Flight Plan must include the severe impact airspace security
restrictions have on general aviation operations and the air traffic
control system,” AOPA said. While the FAA doesn't control security
restrictions such as presidential TFRs and the Washington, D.C., Air
Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), “the agency cannot continue ignoring
their effects on the aviation system.”
AOPA also told the FAA that the agency must do a better job of
disseminating airspace information, particularly security-related
restrictions. That means improvements to the notam system. The FAA
must also take the lead to make international navigation data available
to users, since the Department of Defense is withdrawing its charts and
databases.
With more than 406,000 members, AOPA is the world’s largest civil
aviation association, working to protect the interests of general
aviation. Nearly two-thirds of all U.S. pilots are members of AOPA.
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