General Aviation Problems Outlined At Congressional Hearing

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Updating Developments in Regional Aviation

General Aviation Problems Outlined At Congressional Hearing

April 09, 2003

Washington, D.C. - A number of restrictions on the general aviation community - particularly new security restrictions and the loss of airports in major cities - have severely hampered the non-commercial aviation industry, several witnesses told a Congressional panel today.

The testimony about the problems in the general aviation industry came during a hearing by the U.S. House Subcommittee on Aviation.

“General Aviation Has Borne The Brunt Of Many Security Restrictions”

“In many ways, general aviation is the forgotten element of the aviation system,” said U.S. Rep. John Mica (R-FL), the Chairman of the Subcommittee. “Although it was the large commercial airlines that were used in the September 11th terrorist attacks, general aviation has borne the brunt of many of the resulting security restrictions. For example:

“Flight schools have been forced to turn away many foreign students.

“Banner towers have been grounded.

“Operations at general aviation airports in the Washington D.C. area have been severely curtailed. And general aviation flights into Reagan National have been virtually eliminated, except for a few Senators and other dignitaries.

“Most recently, bulldozers entered Meigs Field, a general aviation airport in Chicago, during the dead of night and shut it down, ostensibly for security reasons.

“General aviation plays an important role in the national air transportation system. It is also a popular form of recreation for many Americans and is a source of employment for many others.

“After completing this hearing, we will move promptly to write our reauthorization bill. In doing so, we will look at both the Administration’s bill as well as ideas presented to us in these hearings,” Mica said.

Aircraft Association “Outraged” At Closure Of Chicago’s Meigs Field

Phil Boyer, the President of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), which represents more than 395,000 general aviation pilots and owners, testified about AOPA’s opposition to the recent destruction of Meigs Airport in Chicago.

“The aviation community lost an icon - Chicago’s Meigs Field - closed and its runways destroyed in the still of the night,” Boyer said.

“With blatant disregard for the airport’s importance, city officials destroyed the lone runway at Chicago’s Meigs Field under the cover of night for ‘homeland security reasons’. The Department of Homeland Security never indicated such a risk existed after an analysis of intelligence information. AOPA is shocked and outraged that an elected official, using the pretext of national security, can destroy a national asset, create a significant safety risk, and reduce capacity in an area already faced with significant aviation congestion. Operations from Meigs Field will immediately need to be accommodated at other already capacity-constrained airports.

“It is vital that the federal government reaffirm its authority over security matters affecting our national air transportation system. Our nation’s airports and airspace face a patchwork of restrictions and closures via local and state power grabs that further endanger the continued viability, safety and welfare of the aviation system. We need to work together to take steps to prevent what happened in Chicago from ever happening again and we need to work to restore flight operations at Meigs Field,” Boyer told the Subcommittee.

“One-Size-Fits-All” Security Restrictions Have Hurt General Aviation

James K. Coyne, President of the National Air Transportation Association (NATA), said that new aviation security provisions have resulted in a more secure industry, but many problems remain unresolved.

“The problem, simply stated, is that the federal government insists on imposing blanket restrictions on all types of non-scheduled (i.e. non-airline) flight operations,” Coyne said. “No aviation restriction the federal government has implemented since September 2001 considers the ability or willingness of operators to comply with specified, reasonable requirements to ensure the security of that operation.

“This is especially ironic since the Aviation and Transportation Security Act included a provision directing the Transportation Security Administration to develop regulations implementing security programs for non-scheduled commercial air carriers. These regulations, popularly known as the ‘Twelve-Five’ and the ‘Private Charter’ rules, became effective eight days ago on April 1 and establish state-of-the-art protocols for non-scheduled commercial air carriers to enhance an already soundly secure process.

“To date, however, operators have yet to realize any benefits from their extensive - and expensive - compliance efforts. Put simply, even though these operators have in place a government-approved security program equivalent to that employed by scheduled commercial air carriers, the federal government still treats all non-scheduled operators alike and bans them from certain airspace or grounds them altogether on the slimmest of suspicions that someone, somewhere could possibly use an aircraft to commit a terrorist act. This ‘one-size-fits-all’ treatment of non-scheduled commercial air carriers as threats to national security must end,” Coyne said.

Background Information

The Airport Improvement Program (AIP) is a contract authority program. If it is not reauthorized by September 30th of this year, airports will not be able to receive any grants from the Aviation Trust Fund after that date. This sets AIP apart from the other programs funded from the Trust Fund. While the other programs should be reauthorized as well, they can receive funding as long as an appropriations act is passed.

Programs providing federal aid to airports began in 1946 and have been modified several times. The Aviation Trust Fund was created in 1970. The current AIP program began in 1982.

General aviation airports share 20 percent of total AIP funds. These are airports that are used by private planes or that have only limited commercial airline service (less than 10,000 passengers per year).

Each eligible general aviation airport is entitled to receive the amount of funds needed for its planned development as listed in the FAA’s national plan known as the NPIAS. The amount of this entitlement is limited to $150,000 per year, per airport.

The remaining funds are allocated to the States by a formula that takes into account the population and area of each State. General aviation airports that are seeking AIP money from this allocation usually apply directly to the FAA.