The House of Representatives aviation subcommittee is set to specifically address general aviation for the first time in its planning for the next FAA reauthorization bill. The chair of the full Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., a general aviation pilot and regular visitor to EAA AirVenture, said he plans to incorporate a GA title in the FAA funding bill to bring more attention to the sector.
Scheduled to testify during deliberations on the new bill this Thursday are Mark Baker, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA); Jack Pelton, chairman and CEO of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA); Curt Castagna, president and CEO of the National Air Transportation Association (NATA); and Rick Crider, who serves as the executive vice president of airport/railport and military relations at Port San Antonio, will testify on behalf of the American Association of Airport Executives.
The current FAA authorization expires on Sept. 30, and the House and Senate must complete work on the new authorization bill before then.
If Rep. Graves is as good as Sen. Inhofe … maybe all isn’t lost? We can only hope. If FAA doesn’t get off its duff on MOSAIC and other similar issues soon, though, they can all flap their jaw all they want…won’t make any difference.
MOSAIC would be one of the best steps forward GA for since Basic Med. The acting administrator promised last year that he would make it happen but despite EAA’s best efforts the promise remains yet another hollow commitment from an unaccountable bureaucrat.
I don’t care what color tie the congress-critters wear, if they don’t get off their well-padded butts and confirm an FAA admin soon, there won’t be anyone to see that the money actually gets to any GA activity. And if they don’t raise the debt ceiling, we’ll get less.
From the official FAA FY 2023 Budget Submission, total FY 2023 funding for FAA is $23.6 billion. According to the Congressional Budget Office and the Biden proposal, the estimated cost of Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan is approximately $400 billion. I’ll bet you a trip to California (well, these days, maybe a trip to Florida) that among the panders and giveaways in the Biden administration budget sufficient funds can be found for the FAA.
Addendum: Without having to raise the debt ceiling.
Context clarification: OMB estimate of the cost of student loan forgiveness is $400 billion over 30 years.
That’s $13.3 billion per year.
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/27/1125272287/student-loan-forgiveness-cost-billion
Everyone seems to get hung up on an Administrator but given the past several we in GA are likely better off without a new one. As for the debt ceiling, its a farce anyway but given the state of government I’m all for “less”.
Be careful what you wish for. “More attention” by the typical bureaucrat know-nothings who will be enabled by the spending in the GA sector doesn’t sound like something that will automatically be a positive.
Agree.
“I’m from the government and I’m here to help” is a phrase none of us want to hear.
“None of us are safe, so long as Congress is in session”. (Mark Twain)
Hopefully, Pelton will stick up for certified piston aviation. Don’t think AOPA will be any real help.
I care less about the funding levels than the priorities and oversight. FAA, like so many agencies, no longer works for the right missions and priorities but rather some useless metrics and a lot of career enhancement.
I just read in the Feb 2023 ‘Sport Aviation’ Commentary by Jack Pelton, he makes a point of saying that the 1958 Act establishing the FAA had two main tenets … Aviation Safety and Promulgation of Aviation. In the 1994 ReAuthorization, they quietly dropped the ‘promulgation’ part whereupon the FAA became ‘the enforcer.’ He makes a point of saying that GA HAS to be recognized as the fertile ground from whence everything springs. GREAT point ans we can only hope that Rep Graves knows this and somehow inserts it into the ReAuthorization language. Some might argue that LSA, BasicMed and now MOSAIC only benefit aging pilots, I don’t fully agree. The aviation infrastructure in this Country has to be sustained. GA is a part of that. So Pelton is on to something in his Commentary.
Hope all you want. Ignore what the AOPA does, watch what actually happens.
Sorry, meant to say ignore what the AOPA says…
Perhaps they can hurry up with the new LSA rulings so I can get back in the air in something other than a 70 year old Ercoupe, one of the only “affordable” LSA aircraft available.