Better start your flight training soon...

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Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness... should be be taxed to pursue our happiness?

You've got a computer (obviously), and I'd imagine it brings you some happiness, and it was taxed.

Your car? Taxed.

Your house? Taxed.

About the only things that are not taxed that probably brings you some happiness are your kids and food.
 
I spend pretty much every paycheck just to get some hours in a ratty 150 or 172 to get some experience. I guess I'm a "fatcat" or "FLAP" (whatever the hell that means) getting a free ride trying to TAKE YERRRRR JOBBBBBBB!
 
$150 billion in economic impact annually. 1.2 million jobs. Those numbers don't even take into account the indirect savings in business costs that GA can offer.
Yes, but they're not high-paying mainline airline jobs. Therefore, they don't matter.
 
You've got a computer (obviously), and I'd imagine it brings you some happiness, and it was taxed.

Your car? Taxed.

Your house? Taxed.

About the only things that are not taxed that probably brings you some happiness are your kids and food.

I believe food is taxed my friend. That is why my $4.99 Church's Chicken dinner ends up costing about 6 bucks.

Aircraft sales? Taxed 2%

Jet fuel? Taxed 5%
 
You've got a computer (obviously), and I'd imagine it brings you some happiness, and it was taxed.

Your car? Taxed.

Your house? Taxed.
Planes are taxed when you buy them just like a car. Some states probably property tax them just like a house. When you put fuel into your car, you're paying a fuel tax. When you put 100LL into a Baron, you're paying a fuel tax.

The problem is that GA isn't the problem. Ever tried to leave ATL during the pm push? How many planes are in line there? 15-20 at any one time depending on weather? How many of those planes are GA? 1-2 if any?

1 B-737 or 2-3 CRJs. Same pax load. 2-3 spots on final to separate vs. 1. You do the math. Put the "regional" airlines back in t-props and on truly regional routes. Flying in an RJ from EWR to IAH is ludicrous.

-mini
 
If you guys are the voices that are trying to fight this in the real world then general aviation is screwed.

Ya'll are using horrible emotional arguments based on your direct involvement with aviation, not pragmatic and logical reasoning that would explain to somebody in charge that GA airplanes use a VERY small part of the NAS, and while some might call it "free riding," the number of GA planes under 5,000 lbs. that are actually clogging things up and/or using resources more than what they're paying in to the system is akin to blaming road bikers in Park City for road damage. Yeah sure there are lots of road bikers up here, but those things weigh 20 pounds compared to my GMC Jimmy's 5350 pounds.

You guys are getting caught up in the idea that Cessna 172's need to get caught up in this, and if you were smart you'd start lobbying folks like the AOPA to cut loose anybody over 5,000 lbs. and start focusing on the airplanes you're thinking about. Whether you like it or not, GA includes everything from LSA's to Boeing BBJ's. If it's operated Part 91, then it's going to fall under this umberlla that is considered general aviation.

5,000 lbs. would probably be a pretty good point. That's everything up through about a Beech Baron (5,100 lbs. gross), and I'll contend if you can afford a Baron, you can probably afford some user fee's. I'd contend that most planes over about 5,000 lbs. are being used by either INCREDIBLY wealthy Americans as toys (which is where the outrage will be), or business aviation (who can take the hit for all I care), where planes under that weight are probably either trainers or used in such a limited role in the NAS that they're largely not in the way or using resources.

Try to protect it all if you want, but you won't be able to. If I were you guys, I'd be lobbying AOPA incredibly hard to start protecting smaller GA planes instead of trying to be so inclusive of BBJ's.

My only issue with that is it lets the user fee crowd get a foot in the door.

GA is so mis-understood by the general public in the first place, that if you let that come to pass, it won't be difficult for a politician using a wealth-envy argument (that regrettably you can't get past yourself) to impose them on all GA aircraft in the not too distant future. Anyone who owns an airplane will be portrayed as some wealthy lawyer or doctor, and the general public, particularly in the current state of affairs, won't even bother listening to the other side.

Of course my main objection to any of this is we don't need any more new taxes, period. What we do need are term limits to keep politicians from protecting spending programs that are well past their time, so that the money we pay into the system now is put to better use.
 
Yes, but they're not high-paying mainline airline jobs. Therefore, they don't matter.

Oh riiiiight. I forgot that minor little detail.

Maybe this whole thing has to do with that, and the fact that velocipede can't get direct destination every time he asks for it.
 
1 B-737 or 2-3 CRJs. Same pax load. 2-3 spots on final to separate vs. 1. You do the math. Put the "regional" airlines back in t-props and on truly regional routes. Flying in an RJ from EWR to IAH is ludicrous.

-mini
You know, since that would mean more mainline jobs, you'd think people like Velo would be all over that.
 
Planes are taxed when you buy them just like a car. Some states probably property tax them just like a house. When you put fuel into your car, you're paying a fuel tax. When you put 100LL into a Baron, you're paying a fuel tax.

The problem is that GA isn't the problem. Ever tried to leave ATL during the pm push? How many planes are in line there? 15-20 at any one time depending on weather? How many of those planes are GA? 1-2 if any?

1 B-737 or 2-3 CRJs. Same pax load. 2-3 spots on final to separate vs. 1. You do the math. Put the "regional" airlines back in t-props and on truly regional routes. Flying in an RJ from EWR to IAH is ludicrous.

-mini

I don't think anybody is flying RJ's from EWR to IAH, mostly because Continental won't allow regularly scheduled operation of RJ's between hubs. I assume most mainline carriers are the same way, I.E. even though it has the range, you probably won't see a Skywest CRJ-900 flying between ORD and DEN unless there's oversatuation and they need to toss an extra airplane on the route for the day. That was allowed with Continental, and I assume (probably a bad thing to do) most mainline carriers work the same way.

The better example would be EWR-ATL, IAH-YYZ or CLE-ORD. Most of those legs (at least in the CAL system) are a combo of RJ's and 737's, though. The only example I can think of where it's almost all RJ's and like one 737 per day is EWR-DTW, but I wouldn't call DTW much of a major market.
 
You know, since that would mean more mainline jobs, you'd think people like Velo would be all over that.
Unless you have fewer pax traveling (like we're constantly told). Then you'd have fewer B737's loaded at the hub off of the B1900 coming in from BFE so that would mean less flights/hours so you'd have to furlough because you'd be over-staffed.

Oh my God. We're not actually talking about staffing a business properly for the situation, are we? Blasphemy.

Then, of course, you'd have some (note...not all...some) regional pilots whining because they'd be in a dirty old turboprop vs. a shiny new jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjet. The jet job they deserve!

-mini
 
but if you don't lobby HOW to change the rule, then you are going to get steamrolled like jtrain illustrated.

You say "YOU" are going to get steamrolled. I cant speak for everyone Mark, but I dont think the issue is "Oh, our poor boss that we have to fly around in his private jet is gonna have to pay user fees". The guy I fly around could care less about them because they would be a minimum cost compared to the operating cost of his Kingair or Falcon. Hell he just built a 10 million dollar runway on his ranch so he wouldn't have to drive 30 minutes from the closest airport.

When I think about the people it will affect I'm thinking about the kid working on his license so he can get to where you and I are right now. Like Mike said, we might sacrifice a lot of good pilots because of this, and will turn into a rich kid career. That would be sad thing, would it not?

I think most people got offended by your comments because it came off as a "I got mine, so screw yall" type attitude, which is not your style. If it came from Velo or PCL then we can understand because they have no GA experience.

The fact is that WE do have the best GA system by far. That's why everyone in the world wants to come here and train. If you get 100 Indians at your school a year pumping $50,000 a piece into the economy that's 5 million dollars from one school. You want to put a stop to that? Pretty soon all JAA training will be done here in the states because they are tired of all the cost in Europe. Thats' a lot of money from one countries economy to ours.

This should not be an airline pilot vs GA pilot issue at all. The fact is most of these GA pilots that Velo pictures going to get $100 hamburgers are current or retired airline pilots. I would bet the farm that there are more airline pilots against GA user tax than there are for it.
 
Grocery store? That food ain't taxed back in Michigan.

It is in some states.


Unrelated:
And an EMB from EWR-TUL is ridiculous. My brother bought tickets from TUL-NRT, and he looked into going on CAL. He chose NWA through MSP because he didn't want to ride a EMB-145 from TUL to EWR. He's not an especially tall or big guy, but he hates tiny RJs.
 
I don't think anybody is flying RJ's from EWR to IAH...
I had that ticket last year. CLE-EWR-IAH. ERJ the whole way. Yeah, that was a fun ride. Looks like now they do CLE-DFW-IAH on an RJ... That's almost a "regional" flight.

EWR-DTW isn't a "region" either. Unless your regions are "East and West" or "North and South"....

Put 'em on a Dash, Beech, Navajo, 402....

-mini
 
It is in some states.


Unrelated:
And an EMB from EWR-TUL is ridiculous. My brother bought tickets from TUL-NRT, and he looked into going on CAL. He chose NWA through MSP because he didn't want to ride a EMB-145 from TUL to EWR. He's not an especially tall or big guy, but he hates tiny RJs.

I find that the -145 is incredibly comfortable. I can stand up in the aisle (anybody up to 6'0" can), and the seats on ExpressJet planes fit me pretty well! I'd much rather be in an ERJ for 4 hours than a 737, personally.

CRJ on the other hand? No thanks. Who in the world designed those seats?
 
I had that ticket last year. CLE-EWR-IAH. ERJ the whole way. Yeah, that was a fun ride. Looks like now they do CLE-DFW-IAH on an RJ... That's almost a "regional" flight.

EWR-DTW isn't a "region" either. Unless your regions are "East and West" or "North and South"....

Put 'em on a Dash, Beech, Navajo, 402....

-mini

Ahhh...that'd take a Chieftain 2:40 and it'd carry what, 8 people?

Talk about congestion eh?
 
Ahhh...that'd take a Chieftain 2:40 and it'd carry what, 8 people?

Talk about congestion eh?
That gets back to the whole staffing/planning properly for a business. Make the decision based on what you can carry. If you can fill a dash, put 'em on a dash. I don't really care if it's a 737 or a 402 going from PIT-LBE, but if you're sending 2 RJs within 10 minutes of each other, there's a problem.

-mini
 
I had that ticket last year. CLE-EWR-IAH. ERJ the whole way. Yeah, that was a fun ride.

No, you didn't.

I don't think a -145 should be on a long flight either but you did not have a ride on one from CLE to EWR and then EWR to IAH. They are not allowed. Furthermore you could just go from CLE straight to IAH. Perhaps you are confusing IAH with another city or something. I don't know.
 
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