Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

FAA to AOPA: Blow It Out Yer Ass!

AOPA is urging FAA Administrator Michael Huerta to halt cuts that will disproportionately affect the safety and integrity of general aviation operations.

“The recommended cuts will have unacceptable consequences for the nation and the flying community,” AOPA President Craig Fuller said in a March 12 letter 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.”
The whole idea behind the sequester, as they voted for it nearly two years ago, was that the cuts were supposed to be painful. That's why the Army is cutting back training, the Navy is parking ships, the Air Force is cutting back on their schedule of bikini waxes, the air demostration teams are canceling shows, government employees are being furloughed, national parks are closing and so on.

I know that AOPA is a lobby group and of course, they're going to scream because their particular ox is being gored. Well, so are a lot of other people's oxen.

It comes across as whiny and petulant, at least to me. And I've been an AOPA member since damn near the invention of dirt.

4 comments:

Sarah said...

Yeah, he came off a little entitled there I think. Never been my favorite AOPA spokesman.

But I'm not happy about the tower closures either. Some of them, yes - the ones that get 50 "operations" per day we can do without and should. But these closures cut much deeper, into towers that are really pretty busy. Like my home drome. (I'm going to avoid it at 5pm, that's for sure.) They're closing about 170/250 of all the contracted towers. FAA staffed and unionized towers, no matter how sleepy, are harder to close.


Comrade Misfit said...

Of course the contract towers are going to close first. They're the "temporary Xmas help."

Fuller, with his hairstyle, looks a little like Chairman Mao. He needs a new barber

CenterPuke88 said...

Just got my notice...11 days without pay between April 17 and Sept 30. Effective 5%+ paycut for most Federal Employees on top of a now 3 year Federal pay freeze. Expecting FERS retirement contribution requirement to jump from .8% to about 5.8% (that'll be another 5% cut).

On the ATC front, just remember the sequester impact will not be felt until after April 7th for Federal Contract towers and April 21st for FAA facilities. Expect it to get interesting, we're gonna take a minimum 10% staffing cut on all shifts...and have to start providing services overnight at a number of airports. Remember, if the tower closes, we're all the way back to one in and one out.

CenterPuke88 said...

Reread it and I need to clarify...1 day per pay period (2 weeks) is 5% reduction (not 10%) because I was using the yearly total and the furlough is for just under half the year...thus 10% becomes 5%.