Dear Mr. Kelly,
The editorial is filled with many misrepresentations. Please set the
record straight.
Point #1: Airway congestion is a myth. The skies are not crowded. A
few big airports that serve the major airlines are overcrowded with airline
traffic. Hub congestion is a fact and is the airline industry's
making. Point to point navigation that frees aircraft from using ground
based navigation aids and its attendant airways has been around for a long
time. GPS has been around for over ten years. I file and fly GPS direct almost
every flight I make and I know your crews often ask for "direct to
destination" to cut flight times. General aviation got onboard with GPS
long before the airlines did. Delays experienced by airlines are their own
making. Hub and spoke operations constrict the NAS system into a few major
bottlenecks like O'Hare, Atlanta and New York. These airports are generally
avoided by general aviation users who prefer smaller closer relievers. You can
only fit so many airplanes onto the same piece of concrete. Southwest knows
that better than any other airline. New airport construction is sadly lacking
in this country. All aviation users need to get onboard together and demand
new airport construction-- and not just at a few major hubs.
Pont #2: The ATC system served all segments of aviation in 1970 as it
does today.
Point #3: The general aviation body is adamantly opposed to user fees.
User fees have all but killed GA in other parts of the world. User fees are an
invitation by one body to tax another into extinction. Be careful what you
wish for because when GA is dead, Southwest and the other airlines will
be training its own future pilots at a huge expense that they currently do not
fund.
Point #4: The airline industry as a whole should not be making
recommendations to Congress on how to fund the FAA until they as a whole
can put their own financial house in order. The taxpayer has been
underwriting the industry for years-- most recently with PBGC pension fund
bailouts, bankruptcy proceedings and 9/11 handouts. The industry as a whole is
the most poorly managed industry in America. Southwest Airlines stands apart
and above much of the problems generated by the poorly led airlines and I
am dismayed your good company would join ranks with the rest.
Please set the record straight in Spirit magazine or I will take my
business elsewhere.
Regards,
William J. "Jeff" Edwards
Chesterfield, Missouri