Greetings,
Thanks to all of you that attended the April Grapevine camping weekend. Our Grapevine coordinator, Leanne Tawoda, reported that we had great turnout and weather for the event. Unfortunately, the warm weather is just around the corner, and this will be our last event for the season. We’ll pick back up in October and look forward to seeing you in the Fall!
As this issue of the newsletter is going to press, we are learning that the Safford City Council has unanimously voted to eliminate landing fees for any aircraft weighing less than 4,000-lbs which would exempt most piston-engine aircraft. Landing fees for touch-and-go operations for aircraft over 4,000-lbs were also removed. This change was effective as of Thursday, April 29th. As you may recall, the city implemented landing fees for all transient aircraft using the Vector Airport Systems PlanePass billing systems using ADS-B data. The city noted that it had “received feedback from the General Aviation pilot community expressing their concerns over landing fees.” APA and AOPA provided the city with direct feedback on these fees and indicated that our members would choose to avoid KSAD rather than pay ADS-B landing fees. The GA community at large provided their individual comments as well via social media and the “Comments” section of the KSAD airport page on ForeFlight.
While this is a step in the right direction, APA feels that all Part 91 operations (i.e. non-commercial) for aircraft up to 12,500-lbs should be exempt from landing fees. This would encompass the FAA Category F - Small weight class for light single and twin-engine aircraft. As I reported in the March edition of the newsletter, the Montana legislature is moving forward with legislation (HB 571) to limit the use of ADS-B data to collect fees from GA aircraft owners and operators for aircraft up to 9,000-lbs. Toward that end we are in the process of engaging the Arizona state legislature to enact legislation similar to Montana Bill but expanded to specifically include FAA Category F aircraft. We’re early in the process and will keep you posted on feedback and progress.
And I’m sure you’re aware that there are a number of initiatives by national organizations such as AOPA and EAA to petition the FAA directly to eliminate the use of ADS-B for purposes unrelated to airspace management and safety. There are also a number of grassroots initiatives to petition the FAA directly including one started by a group of general aviation pilots through a Change.org petition. You can find the petition here www.change.org/p/calling-on-the-faa-to-halt-the-use-of-adsb-data-for-billing. We recommend you take a few minutes to log in and sign the petition to help reinforce the message.
Thank you for supporting APA’s mission through your membership and please feel free to reach out to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have any comments, concerns or questions.
Fly Safe,
Chris