This little tidbit is for all of you who will be standing in line if you are lucky and having your flights canceled or delayed if you are not this Holiday season.
I have been contributing to this fund for the last 25 years and still fly into many dangerous airports.
Just saw President Clinton on T.V. whining about the Air Travel problem.
Cheers,
Vster glad he doesn't have to go commercial.
THOUGHT MANY OF YOU MIGHT NOT BE AWARE OF THIS FUND!
UNLOCKING THE AVIATION TRUST FUND
I've flown the length and breadth of Texas over the past 25 years, and landed on more than one runway that left my hair standing on end. Every one of those trips reminds me how important it is for our state to have a strong system of small- and medium-sized airports to back up our major international facilities.
And each one of those trips is a reminder of how important it is that we take every precaution and spend every dollar needed to ensure the safety of the flying public – whether in a single-engine private plane landing in Uvalde or on a 747 commercial flight touching down in Houston.
Nearly 200 airports in Texas are eligible for federal funding. But for several years Texas airports and those in the rest of the country have not been getting a full share of the funds they need for optimum safety, maintenance and improvement. The money is there, it just hasn't been available.
For more than a decade the federal Airport and Airway Trust Fund has been collected but, for the most part, unspent. General aviation pilots pay into the trust fund "at the pump" through a special federal tax on fuel, while airline passengers contribute through an excise tax on airline tickets. The surplus is expected to total $12 billion next year.
That situation may be about to change. Both the House and Senate have passed legislation outlining next year's aviation spending and addressing the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) safety and air traffic control programs. The House version of this legislation, which I favor, will unlock the trust-fund coffers and permit all taxes collected from aviation users to be spent on aviation needs. If the House version eventually prevails, next year we can begin to provide desperately needed funding for airport and air traffic control modernization. We did this with the federal Highway Trust Fund last year, and we should do it for aviation safety as well.
The final bill will increase funding to airports across the nation for high priority safety, capacity and noise abatement improvements.
The bill would for the first time set aside funds specifically for smaller, general aviation airports and more than double Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grant funding available to them. These are the smaller airports on which so many rural communities in Texas depend.
It also requires the FAA to consider the need for improving runway safety areas (runway extensions that provide a landing cushion beyond the ends of runways) and to consider requiring the installation of precision approach path indicators, which are visual guidance landing systems for runways. Cargo aircraft will be required to have instruments that warn of impending midair collisions, the same kind of equipment already required on passenger aircraft. These and a long list of other provisions are critical in the continuing effort to enhance safety and reduce accident rates.
This legislation contains another provision that would benefit Texas: creating a program to help smaller communities attract improved air passenger service.
The aviation industry has a $3 billion impact on Texas' economy annually. A sound air transportation system is essential to our state's -- and our nation's -- well being and continued prosperity.
October 13, 1999 |
