FAA cuts expected through sequester
March 7, 2013, 03:39 pm
Cuts were recently proposed for the Federal Aviation Administration as a result of the administration and Congress failing to complete a budget deal. These cuts have been unpopular among officials in the aviation field. Craig Fuller, president and CEO of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association recently disagreed with the cuts, saying they would pose a risk to aviation safety. "The White House budget office has forced troubling, and possibly dangerous, cuts on the FAA," Fuller said. "It doesn't have to be that way. Rational savings can be found, and we are ready to work with the FAA and the Department of Transportation to build workable solutions." The government failed to reach an agreement on legislation that implements automatic federal spending, totaling close to $85 billion. The aviation industry would account for $600 million. The portion that is planned to be cut from the FAA is the largest portion of the cuts that are being implemented by the Department of Transportation. To accumulate savings, the FAA would have to eliminate close to 200 control towers and give most of the organization's 47,000 employees a one-day-per-pay-period furlough. Fuller said closing more than 200 air traffic control towers and allowing the navigational aid system to deteriorate wouldn't make sense, suggesting that abandoning vital FAA commitments is "unsafe, unwise and unacceptable to AOPA members." He also recently asked the FAA to suspend its plans for cuts and work with the aviation industry to think of another plan that would reduce spending and have little impact on air safety and aviation operations. "I fear that administration officials are driving a process that will have dire consequences for air safety and general aviation," Fuller said. "General aviation is under assault from people who either don't understand the dangerous consequences of their actions, or worse, simply do not care. We are calling on the Obama administration to grant FAA the necessary flexibility to find more rational savings." Testing of Dreamliner approved
The FAA also recently gave the green light for flight tests of the 787 Dreamliner to Boeing, also presenting a fix for the batteries that had previously given problems on the aircraft. Despite the previous issue experienced with the airliner's battery, the chief executive of 787 customer Qatar Airways said that he expects Boeing to come up with a solution soon to have the aircraft flying. Considering the new technology being offered in the aircraft, pilots who are testing it out should be sure to have pilot insurance to protect themselves if anything goes wrong in the process of testing.
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