But Is Short On Details For FAA Funding

FAA Administrator Marion Blakey addressed a packed house at the AOPA Expo 2006 General Assembly Friday morning. AOPA President Phil Boyer's intro was full of praise for Blakey's performance during her nearly five-year tenure as FAA administrator -- and the audience was mostly receptive to the compliments.

But, canny politician that she is, Blakey opened her own comments with an acknowledgement of the big elephant in the room... user fees.

Saying she would come back to that, Blakey changed her vector slightly and sent some warm fuzzies back to AOPA. She lauded the intense focus on safety she'd seen during her visit to Palm Springs and AOPA Expo. The NTSB recorded the lowest number of aviation fatalities last year with Blakey noting the biggest improvement in GA.

She gave a lot of credit for GA improvement in flight safety to the efforts of AOPA's Air Safety Foundation (ASF). Saying a partnership exists between the FAA and the ASF, Blakey made a surprise presentation to the foundation's director, Bruce Landsberg. For its efforts in promoting GA flight safety, Blakey gave the ASF the brand-new Thomas H. Wardleigh Award for aviation safety.

Blakey next discussed future changes to the National Air Space (NAS). She made it clear the FAA is placing its hopes on Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B). "ADS-B is our moonshot," said Blakey as she described an $80 million budget request to develop the technology. She says current FAA plans have ADS-B fully integrated in the NAS by 2013.

Calling it "...a totally different system," Blakey says plans for the "NextGen" NAS are "coming into focus." But aside from committing to ADS-B, Blakey didn't share many details of the plan. She says to expect a clearer picture by January and anticipates having a detailed "blueprint" by spring.

As part of that effort, the Administrator announced a newly-formed recommendatory committee she called the Board of Performance and Cost Review. Without going into too much detail, she says the board will review FAA plans and make recommendations on helping the agency meet new funding and regulatory goals. Then in another surprise announcement, Blakey said she wanted to ensure GA was represented -- by appointing AOPA President Phil Boyer to a seat on the board. The board first meets in January… hopefully Boyer didn't have other plans!

Changing gears slightly, Blakey reassured the audience of the FAA's commitment to keep airports open. "The FAA will not sit idly when federally-funded airports face closure," she said.

Blakey slipped smoothly into the user fee briar patch by urging the audience to consider how all the future changes she described will be funded. She said along with changes to the NAS must come changes in the way the system is financed. She claimed the aviation trust fund will last only two months after the current funding authorization expires next year. But, she reassured the audience, the FAA doesn't "…want a funding system that stifles GA," nor does it look for a "broad system of user fees" for GA.

Long on rhetoric, but short on details, Blakey waxed philosophical saying AOPA members, as business people, understand how "...a revenue steam has got to be cost-based." While saying she supports continuing general fund contributions as a partial means of FAA funding, she warned a cost allocation study is under way.

In an apparent slap at the Airline Transport Association, and a bone to her audience, Blakey ended her speech saying any new funding scheme won't be based on "a blip is a blip is a blip."

In what has become a tradition for events such as these, Blakey took a few questions from the audience before rushing to the airport and winging off to India.

One member tried, unsuccessfully, to pin Blakey down on what she meant by "no broad user fees." He stressed GA has paid user fees for years in the form of taxes at the gas pump. Again, Blakey refused to go into details on what FAA will do, but she did say what it won't -- no system based on a per-passenger fee such as that used by the airlines.  She said the FAA has lost money on that system as planes and passenger loads shrink. She explained that fewer passengers on a particular flight reduces the fee collected, but the FAA's workload remains the same.

She ended comments on the question with the caveat that she "...cannot predict the outcome of the reauthorization process," but prefers fees to taxes because fees can be adjusted when requirements change. (Hmmmmmm... -- ed)

Another member was concerned about the way he perceived the FAA as treating its controllers during recent contract renegotiations. He asked Blakey, "How can we trust you after the way you treat your controllers?" Blakey responded she was only able to hold on to her experienced controllers by offering an incentive package that sees average pay and incentives for a five-year veteran equaling $185,000 per year. With the coming budget crisis, and realizing the major portion of the FAA's budget comprises salary, the agency was forced to change pay rates for new hires. She says controllers signing on today will only earn $30,000 the first year, but compensation goes up to $85,000 after five years. She says the FAA thinks it's a competitive offer because they have 3000 resumes on file.

Another asked what the FAA is doing to promote and support WAAS. Blakey says the agency is committed to commissioning WAAS approaches as quickly as possible, but admits it's going slowly -- mainly because of the $1 million price tag each new approach carries.

In one of the morning's lighter moments, a member commented he had the solution to dealing with Chicago's late-night destruction of Meigs Field. "I would have just shut down O'Hare," he said. Blakey's response? "Why didn't I think of that?"

ANN spoke with attendee Bob Luten of Spirit Lake, ID after Blakey's presentation. Luten says he firmly believes the gas tax is the right way to collect funds from users. "If there's a problem changing the tax from year to year, we ought to fix that, but leave the system to work as it has for years," said Luten.

Greg Erikson of Wayne, IL says be believes Blakey is a good FAA administrator and really cares about GA, but feels she should have more clearly stated her position on the user fee issue. Erickson said, "She can't predict the outcome of the budget process, but she can strongly influence the way alternatives are presented to congress."

Erickson was upset that no one challenged Blakey on her statement the aviation trust fund would run out two months after the current funding authorization expires. "I don't believe that for a minute," he said, "From everything I've read from AOPA, EAA and other organizations watching the situation, it seems they're still putting money in faster than they can spend it."

FMI: www.aopa.org, www.faa.gov