Software – Dancing – Sports – Music – Travel
While doing practice approaches around Georgia and South Carolina, Columbia Approach informs me they lost my flight plan in the system. So, while I’m right about to land at a busy airport they make me yank it from memory. It’s a little funny, but I see an opportunity for some software upgrades to the flight plan system.
Cockpit Audio : The other gentleman is my safety pilot
Lately there’s been a lot of buzz in General Aviation about a fee on using the Air Traffic Control system in the US. This fee is not a new idea. In the past it has been defeated as part of the federal budget. This year it seems to be a real possibility. The thing that gets overlooked is really who it applies to. I don’t know if this is intentional or not, but the skeptic in me thinks the intention could be to cause a public uproar and force politicians into excluding it from legislation. On the other side, maybe nobody is actually reading the president’s proposal. Here is what it actually says:
The President’s Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit ReductionTo reduce the deficit and more equitably share the cost of air traffic services across the aviation user community, the Administration proposes to establish a new mandatory surcharge for air traffic services. This proposal would create a $100 per flight fee, payable to the FAA, by aviation operators who fly in controlled airspace. Military aircraft, public aircraft, recreational piston aircraft, air ambulances, aircraft operating outside of controlled airspace, and Canada-to-Canada flights would be exempted. The revenues generated by the surcharge would be deposited into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. This fee would generate an estimated $11 billion over 10 years. Assuming the enactment of the fee, total charges collected from aviation users would finance roughly three fourths of airport investments and air traffic control system costs.
The overlooked distinction in this plan is that the fee does NOT apply to pilots flying for personal use (non-commercial). So this really affects businesses like Flight Schools, Skydiving Operations, Air Tours, Aerial Photography, etc.. They would have to pay an additional $100 per flight.
See a description of the proposal on the White House blog here
See the full document here
AOPA Article Describing the Debate
White House response to a petition to eliminate the fees from the budget proposal
Addendum 1/20/2012 18:06:
Maybe I’m wrong. I thought I didn’t fall under this rule paying fees because of the “public aircraft” or “recreational piston aircraft” exemptions. On second thought, they may mean a “Recreational Pilot” which I am not. I am a private pilot and I don’t carry the more restrictive and easier-to-obtain recreational license defined in FAR 61 Subpart D. Even more deceiving is the public aircraft statement which I do not fall under according to this:
Title 14: Aeronautics and Space
PART 1—DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS
§ 1.1 General definitions (see full text here)
Public aircraft means any of the following aircraft when not being used for a commercial purpose or to carry an individual other than a crewmember or qualified non-crewmenber:
(1) An aircraft used only for the United States Government; an aircraft owned by the Government and operated by any person for purposes related to crew training, equipment development, or demonstration; an aircraft owned and operated by the government of a State, the District of Columbia, or a territory or possession of the United States or a political subdivision of one of these governments; or an aircraft exclusively leased for at least 90 continuous days by the government of a State, the District of Columbia, or a territory or possession of the United States or a political subdivision of one of these governments…
(2) An aircraft owned or operated by the armed forces or chartered to provide transportation to the armed forces…
(3) An aircraft owned or operated by the National Guard of a State, the District of Columbia, or any territory or possession of the United States, and that meets the criteria of paragraph (2) of this definition, qualifies as a public aircraft only to the extent that it is operated under the direct control of the Department of Defense.
New Yorkers pride themselves on knowing how to get from point A to B anywhere by Subway. Though I’ll bet you even the most seasoned Subway Mavens don’t know every single station layout, with every one of their entrances and exits. Subway stations span several blocks sometimes and they all have their own configuration of entrances and exits. So if you want to save yourself up to a few blocks walk, make sure you use that time waiting for the train to get into exactly the right car.
One way to gamble on this is to assume there are exits at your destination on both ends. So if I’m going downtown to 22nd St. and the map says my station is 23rd, stand on the forward end of the train. That doesn’t always work though since a lot of stations have center exits.
There’s an app for that! http://www.exitstrategynyc.com/
Find out exactly which car to stand in at your destination station! It’s worked every time for me.
So, landing at Peachtree last night on a practice approach, at night, with the foggles on, the wind had shifted to change runways from 2L/2R to be 27. I guess the controller had forgotten that I needed to SEE the runway.
Kinda funny audio:
No Lights at KPDK
Approach:
Standing in line to check baggage at the airport I frequently hear people complain about the baggage fees. For the moment I’ll put my rant aside about how it’s actually a better system to charge passengers individually by how much weight they carry (uses more fuel). Instead, here’s a little trick you can play on the system. Get your money’s worth and upgrade to first class!
Almost all airlines give their first class passengers baggage benefits. For example my recent flight from New Orleans (MSY) to Miami (MIA) on American Airlines: Here’s an airline that I don’t fly often enough to be one of their elite frequent flyers. So, I don’t get any automatic baggage benefits. However there were upgrade options at check-in.
American Airlines Baggage Fees (policy):
1st Bag $25
2nd Bag $35
Upgrade: $54
So, for a dollar less I got to sit in first class! Nice. Then if you factor in the couple cocktails I had included in the upgrade, what a deal!
One thing I see a lot of less frequent travelers doing is using search engines like bing/google/hotels.com to find the absolute best price on every trip they take. Saving $10 just because one chain, on that particular day, won the price war and got to the top of the list, isn’t worth losing program benefits. If you stick with one chain more often you will get rewards like upgrades and free nights decently quick. That will offset any loss in small savings by always choosing the lowest bidder.
This was a fun “homecoming” to Orlando!
So here’s a recipe for a departure disaster:
For clarity sake, the real problem is communication and customer service. The plane had to turn around for a medical reason. That’s understandable and highly encouraged. However, if Spirit had let us know this when it happened, and not after boarding time, I would have cancelled that flight and hopped on a Delta flight that was departing about the same time. Because they waited so long to tell us there was a problem, I missed the Delta flight and had no other options.
So if you add to that the nickel-and-diming the airline does with bags (even carry-on) that doesn’t make it much cheaper than a premium airline, BYE BYE Spirit! My first addition to the list of airlines I will avoid at great lengths. Next time I’m not cheating on Delta.
Performing at Vibe Atlanta was a great experience. Check out the charity and come on out next year in Atlanta!
