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Advocates for Colorados multibillion-dollar noncommercial aviation industry are warning that President Donald Trumps plan to privatize and modernize the nations air-traffic control system could make it more expensive for the states private and business aviators to take to the skies.

The anxiety centers on the potential addition of user feesand how they would impact general aviation which generally covers the entire community ofnoncommercial pilots who fly everything from single-engine Cessnas to small jets.

The proposal, opponents say, could mean those aviators would have to pay for basic services that are now free, such as talking to air-traffic controllers, filing flight plans and getting weather reports. Colorado pilots groups, small airports and the Colorado Department of Transportations aeronautics office oppose the plan.

I think it might well kill much of general aviation what I call the small business and recreation (users), said Gary Tobey, president of the Colorado Pilots Association, which promotes the interests of the states pilot community. The United States of America has the best, most-free aviation system in the world, and its easy to casually think up ways to improve it. But this is not casual. This is something that is to the advantage of airlines.

Trumps proposal calls for removing air-traffic control from the purview of the Federal Aviation Administration and placing it in the hands of a nonprofit funded entirely by user feesand overseen by a board of stakeholders, from the countrys largest air carriers to airports and private-pilot groups.The plan is similar to one set forth by U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., which failed to gain traction in Congress last year.

Our air-traffic control system was designed when roughly 100,000 people flew at our airports each year, Trump said Monday at a news conference announcing his administrations plan. We are now approaching 1 billion passengers annually. The current system cannot keep up hasnt been able to keep up.

(Read this Washington Post explainer of the plan.)

Supporters of the plan include the airline industry, which has been pushing for decades for privatization so they can get greater control over the system. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association backed Shusters bill, generally supporting any kind of changes to what it calls the status quo, but saysit still needs to review Trumps plans.

Colorados U.S. senators Republican Cory Gardner and Democrat Michael Bennet say they are open to all proposals to modernize the U.S. aviation system. But both say any plans need to account for all airspace users, from commercial passengers to private pilots.

In Colorado, general aviation creates a fraction of the economic output of commercial aviation but is growing.CDOT says general-aviation airports contributed $2.4 billion in 2013, up from $1.9 billion in 2008. By contrast, commercial aviation airports in the state generated about $34 billion in 2013, up fromabout $30 billion in 2008.

Denver Post file

General aviationis already an expensive endeavor. If the sectorincurs more fees as a result of the FAA overhaul, experts say, some pilots might not take to the skies.Currently, private and business pilots indirectly pay for air-traffic control through fuel taxes and other FAA fees.

The challenge, I think, when youre looking at general aviation, is most of these folks they dont have a lot of money, said David Ruppel, director of Front Range Airport, a general-aviation airport in Watkins. They are operating on a shoestring. When you add additional costs into that operation, you are going to cut out a good portion of those people. That means weve damaged our general-aviation community.

Objections to the FAA proposal extend beyond individual airports and pilots groups. The CDOT-housed Colorado Aeronautical Board, which oversees commercial and general aviation across the state, generally opposes Trumps plans, as do the Colorado Airport Operators Association, Colorado Pilots Association and Colorado Aviation Business Association.

The (aeronautical) boards position is consistent with and was informed by similar opposition expressed by major aviation groups in Colorado, said David Ulane, the state aeronautics director.

Another concern is that someprivate pilots might just opt out of talking to air-traffic controllers what James Simmons,who teaches aviation and aerospace science at Metropolitan State University of Denver, said is called scud running. Private pilots often operate without controllers around more lightly used airports, but Simmons said the practice would be problematic in busier airspace where controllers are trying to keep planes apart.

There are also worries that contract employees who work at control towers at some of the states smaller airfields such as Front Range Airport could be cut.

I think its fair to say that the entire general-aviation community is very much against this idea, Simmons said. Ever since the Wright brothers in 1903, people have gotten used to some general services with no direct charge.

John Leyba, The Denver Post

Original post:
Private pilots, small airports worry Donald Trump's air traffic control plans will hurt Colorado. Here's why. - The Denver Post