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| Everyone needs a dream. Let's hope his comes true. |
Today the General Aviation Pilot Protection Act of 2013 was introduced. Created to remove the medical requirement for flying most GA aircraft, if it somehow manages to make it into law it will be the first truly positive step forward for general aviation in a very long time. This is very exciting.
Of course we have to admit there is another reason we're excited to see this introduced. Indiana's very own Congressman Todd Rokita, a friend of Lee Bottom and fellow Sinful Sundays aficionado, spearheaded this legislation along with Congressman Sam Graves of Missouri. Thanks to these two gentlemen, GA finally has some representation on the hill.
Come to think of it, maybe I'll just send them a donation instead of sending it to EAA and AOPA.
In its current form, if the bill makes it into law it will offer the following:
Ability to use drivers license to operate a non-commercial vfr flight in an aircraft weighing no more than 6000lbs, with no more than six seats, up to a maximum altitude of 14,000 msl, and a maximum speed of 250 knots.
2 comments:
Why not send a donation to EAA and AOPA? They initiated the idea, but since these organizations are at the mercy of FAA's deranged and convoluted reasoning. It was prudent for them (and us) to present the driver's license idea to the FAA staff for a lesser requirement the FAA could actually grasp.
Make no mistake. General Aviation is not liked by FAA. We aren't the glamorous big fist bunch like the airlines. We are an irritant. (I love it!) Congress can bite the FAA where it hurts. Our aviation organizations can't. So let us not abandon EAA and AOPA. These two organizations have done many wonderful things for general aviation. You are fortunate to have a congressman who is a pilot and cares deeply about aviation. Yers, we should all support him. I will encourage my congressman, a large animal veterinarian, to support the bill.
Norm,
First of all, AOPA and EAA did not come up with this. This is less restrictive than their proposal which ultimately came from repeated calls from the pilot group. AOPA and EAA suggested something more restrictive. See the point? They are toothless.
Additionally, I have long been a person who believed we didn't need a new group to represent us but we needed to fix these instead. But this past year I began to wonder and do my research. Over and over, anyone I talked to in DC repeated the same; AOPA and EAA are toothless. You see, these groups have long been removed from true activism and now only serve as activism/lobby light. They have no real passion and they have no power in DC. It is a myth, a fantasy, to think they are spending your money to support the cause. Now, I don't mean to say they are useless. I am just saying they are not the lobby groups you and I have thought they were. They are flying clubs with magazines and they serve as a group for people to be part of. Other than that, your money for lobbying is pretty much wasted.
Yet, I can't say they do nothing. Where they served a role is getting the ear of people like these two gentlemen who can make things happen. The problem though is that when they have the ears, they are promoting watered down spineless notions. They could have some power, but they are afraid to do anything because most of them have a future outside of their organizations.
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