Well, I just gave myself a five minute education on an important topic, namely how the TSA and Congress and various other interests including the Obama admin are planning to tax and regulate smaller airlines known as general aviation, which is the sector of pilots and planes that is neither military nor scheduled commercial. Thanks to an ad at the NYT, I landed on this site, which does a great job explaining why general aviation is so important, but the site is weak on explaining exactly what Congress has in mind.
This proposed regulation seems to want to bring GA into the ghastly regulatory system that has nearly killed commercial flight in the United States. Note the date: Oct 2008 BO (Before Obama). The Airline Owners and Pilots Association is also furious about a proposed tax on flights, but, sadly, says a better plan would be to raise other kinds of taxes. In other words, it is an honorable fight but not a very principled one.
In any case, I’m sorry that these people have been forced to spend so much money just to defend their right to fly but one has to admire how they have used technology to bonk our Washington masters on the nose.
