EAA's side of the story...

[flibmeister]

In all the discussion about the FAA's demands for reimbursement of ATC expenses at Oshkosh, one thing missing has been EAA's side of the story.
Today, Dick Knapinski of EAA made the post below in the EAA forums.

"In April, Congress give special permission to FAA to move money within its budget for air traffic services because of the air traffic tower and controllers issue. FAA officials contacted at the time and asked specifically about AirVenture operations assured EAA it would be “business as usual.”

On May 13, in a personal conversation with EAA Chairman Jack Pelton and EAA VP Advocacy and Safety Sean Elliott in Washington, D.C., FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and COO David Grizzle laid out this ultimatum:

1. EAA will sign a contract and pay the fees
2. Failure to do so means FAA will not give EAA the air traffic staff and waivers (including the NOTAM) needed to bring in all the airplanes for the event
3. EAA is not allowed to run the event as an uncontrolled field or with retired/volunteer controllers
4. If EAA doesn’t sign the contract in a rapid fashion, FAA won’t send the controllers

The initial contract called for a payment of $479,000 (eventually reduced to $447,000). Mr. Grizzle and FAA representatives contacted EAA on a nearly daily basis at the end of May demanding that contract be signed or no controllers would be scheduled for Oshkosh, citing a 60-day advance notice. U.S. Rep. Tom Petri, who represents Oshkosh in the House, asked FAA a list of very specific questions regarding FAA’s assessment and was basically told by Mr. Grizzle that FAA’s position would not change.

Afterward, Senators began circulating a letter to FAA demanding answers to this new policy and calling the sudden charges “unacceptable.” The Senate originally required a response by June 7, but delays in completing the letter in the Senate moved the response date to no later than June 13. FAA demanded a signed contract prior to that date or would not schedule controllers.

As far as we know, as of June 19 the Senators have yet to receive an official response.

Using contract tower controllers was also studied, but FAA’s current contract tower agreement with Wittman Regional Airport includes language that states that the contract tower crew will not operate the tower during AirVenture week."

 

[Jim Logajan]

Points well made.

I do believe that local law enforcement organization routinely charge for 'special events'. They won't charge for taking you to the mall but they will charge for a covering a giant rally of some sort on public or private land. I don't know that federal agencies ever do that but by simply saying "ATC services will be contracted out to XYZ and EAA will need to negotiate with XYZ for any fees involved, I'm thinking it looks like any other Federally sanctioned, locally run event. I'm shooting from the hip here but seems like I've seen all this before.

If an event is private and otherwise legally held, the police can't prevent you from holding the event if you choose to not ask them for help in security or traffic control. It has been claimed by some that the FAA would in fact prohibit such an aviation event by closing the airspace or imposing onerous restrictions if they cannot get their bit of Danegeld.