AOPA: FAA Cuts ‘Disproportionately’ Affect Genav

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) sent a letter today to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, urging him to stop cuts from sequestration that will “disproportionately” affect the safety of general aviation operations. “The recommended cuts will have unacceptable consequences for the nation and the flying community,” AOPA president and CEO Craig Fuller wrote to Huerta. “We urge you to suspend the planned cuts while we, and others, call upon Congress and the Administration’s budget officials to grant you the needed flexibility to make choices that will reduce spending without threatening the safety of our skies or disabling general aviation.”

One of the biggest cuts will come to air traffic services in the form of control tower closures–nearly 200 of them and mainly at GA airports, according to the latest FAA estimates. Most of these towers are operated by private contractors, “a system with an excellent record of safety and efficiency,” said Fuller. “Contract towers handle approximately 28 percent of all air traffic control tower operations in the U.S., but account for just 14 percent of the FAA’s total tower operations budget…it is illogical to dismember this program in a budget-reduction scenario.”

Besides the tower closures, Fuller is also alarmed at cuts that would “restrict weather and flight services, allow the navigational system to deteriorate and derail aircraft certification.”