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AOPA Town Hall Meeting
By Michael Gibbs
Fuller met actor Harrison Ford when the two were at Flight Safety to get their Cessna CJ-3 type ratings. Ford has a keen interest in all things general aviation and asked how he could help. A few weeks later Ford was filming a series of promotional commercials for the General Aviation Serves America program. The spots were immensely popular and set records for the number of web hits received.
Another famous actor, Morgan Freeman, is also a pilot and did a series of videos for AOPA as well. Fuller indicated that he had not yet informed Mr. Ford that Freeman's commercials have now exceeded the popularity of the previous series of ads.
Members of both houses of Congress have formed a caucus to advocate for GA with their colleagues. To date, approximately 1/4 of the members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate have joined the caucus.
AOPA has been working with senior members of the administration on the issue of user fees and has developed a good working relationship with them. Fuller indicated that the organization told officials that a cooperative effort would be more effective than an adversarial one and that message seems to have been taken to heart. There are currently no user fees proposed in the 2010 and 2011 budgets.
As you may have heard, the Environmental Protection Agency has issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rule Making that calls for the eventual elimination of leaded aviation fuel. The notice acknowledges that there is currently no replacement suitable for the approximately 30% of light aircraft that require octane ratings higher than those available in other motor fuels. Fuller is confident that the technology required to satisfy the demand is moving forward and no immediate mandates are expected. It is likely, however, that the EPA will issue a hazard assessment at some point.
AOPA has been looking at other lifestyle interests pilots may have--what we like to do once we get where we are going. The organization is working on additional discounts on activities of interest to the membership.
AOPA is very concerned at the decline in the number of active pilots in the United States. Despite efforts such as EAA's Young Eagles and AOPA's Let's Go Flying programs, the pilot population has dropped below 600,000.
Fuller concluded his remarks with by urging members to support both the General Aviation Serves America program and the AOPA Foundation, a charitable (and tax deductible) effort aimed at maintaining our freedom to fly.
Asked why it has taken AOPA and EAA so long to team up on their efforts, Fuller commented that he wasn't entirely certain. He speculated it might have something to do with a concern over competition for members. The key point, though is that they are working together now and they have a combined membership of 540,000 aviators, certainly enough to get the attention of lawmakers.
Another audience member queried Fuller on through-the-fence operations, residential and commercial operations adjacent--and with access--to an airport. Fuller described the FAA's opposition as a "confounding situation" and said that the organization has been arguing for balance. AOPA doesn't really see a security problem and feels that concerns with FBOs and revenue issues can be worked.
In response to an attendee asking if the fuel problem was solvable, Fuller said, "Yes." The automobile industry made the switch to unleaded fuels some time ago but, obviously, aircraft represent a tougher problem to solve. Approximately 70% of the light piston engine fleet can successfully operate on automobile-type fuels but the other 30% are high-compression, often turbocharged, engines that must have higher octane ratings to operate safely. It turns out, though, that those 30% of higher-performance airplanes fly 70% of the total fleet hours, so more operations are affected than may be evident at first glance. AOPA feels that court intervention would be the worst possible outcome and is working with other groups, such as the General Aviation Manufacturer's Association (GAMA) on the problem.
Fuller was questioned about how effective a collaborative effort can be on the fuel issue when the various parties working the problem, such as aircraft manufacturers, engine makers, fuel suppliers, the government, etc., all have different interests and agendas. He answered that, so far, they have managed to make it work and that their main objective is to keep the issue away from the courtroom as suing the EPA to block a new rule is almost certainly a futile effort.
A comment was made about the light sport aircraft certification category, which was supposed to produce less-expensive, easy-to-fly airplanes for the masses. The speaker suggested that this promise has not been fulfilled and, in his opinion, much of the problem has to do with the strict weight limits imposed on sport pilots by the FAA--limits which did not seem to correlate with the objective of maintaining the public safety. Mr. Fuller had not been aware that the weight limits might be an issue and promised that the organization would look into it. He does feel that the market for light sport designs has been prolific, despite some frustration in the industry regarding target price points. Remos, in particular, has told AOPA they are still working towards a cost model that will lower the price of entry for those interested in sport category aircraft. Fuller does not see any significant changes in the near term, however.
An audience member suggested that AOPA's approach to protecting airports seems to favor public ownership over private, perhaps in the belief that a public airport is less likely to eventually become a shopping center than a private one is. He asked if pilot cooperatives were a possible alternative. Fuller stated that AOPA has no preference for publicly owned airports over privately owned ones but often reminds airport operators of their obligations to keep airports open and running when they have accepted public funds for airport development and improvements. AOPA supports the private ownership of public-use airports.
When asked about the apparent suicide of the pilot that crashed his aircraft into the IRS offices in Austin, Texas, Fuller pointed out that about 33,000 people commit suicide each year and about 10 times that many attempt it. Only 1 or 2 do so using airplanes but, when they do, they usually succeed. So far, the "other shoe" has not dropped and none of the conspiracy theories (extra fuel ws onboard to create more damage, etc.) have any merit.
The final question posed was whether or not the TSA is going after small airports. Fuller described the process by which the large aircraft security program was developed as "regulation by imagination." The TSA administrator at the time was not a politician or pilot, but a prosecutor. He said that new rules are expected to recognize the pilot in command as the expert on each individual operation and it's security needs.
The Wing (state) Commander of the Civil Air Patrol was present and asked for support in getting approval to operate the F-35 fighter at Luke Air Force Base.
Fuller's last official duty for the evening was to draw a name for the door prize, which was an AOPA duffle bag. Roger Whittier was the lucky winner.
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