June 2004

AOPA-Switzerland Celebrates 40 Years of Service

During the weekend of 14-16 May 2004 AOPA-Switzerland celebrated its 40th anniversary during its annual general assembly with a fly-in in Interlaken. Many members and invited guests participated in the event thanks to near-perfect weather conditions and an attractive program of interesting events. Personal greetings regarding the organization's many achievements were provided by IAOPA President Phil Boyer via a video recording. AOPA-Switzerland President Ruedi Gerber told the assembly, "We can be justifiably proud of our many achievements over the past 40 years. More importantly, we look forward to providing our members with more attractive services that will increase their enjoyment of general aviation."

AOPA-UK Fights for Aerodromes

AOPA-UK continues to be heavily involved in matters relating to aerodromes and currently has 22 issues regarding the preservation of aerodromes in various handling stages. "AOPA is the only national organisation that fights for the availability of aerodromes for GA. Since records were started in 1988, the Association has been involved in more than 440 individual operational or planning issues. David Ogilvy, President of AOPA-UK, states, "Many regional airports fail to appreciate the economic and social significance of general aviation and AOPA continues to stress to airport management that their short-sightedness could damage their own long-term futures."

COPA Protests Service Cuts

Revenue shortfalls have forced Nav Canada, the national air navigation service provider, to reduce levels of service in certain areas. COPA President Kevin Psutka protested these cuts in a recent letter to the service provider: "The majority of the planned cuts involve the facilities used by general aviation. In particular, smaller airports will be hit the hardest when the effort will involve shutting down facilities that are under-utilized but nevertheless needed for important transportation functions such as medevac flights ... funding for the smaller airports should not come entirely from the ANS users. It remains COPA's long-standing position that we are contributing significantly via the fuel excise taxes. Instead, funding should come from the government, either directly from the federal government through an expanded Airport Capital Assistance Program, or through transfer payments to the provinces or other agreements down to the local government level."

AOPA-Australia Opposes Background Checks

Australian Department of Transport and Regional Services has put the general aviation community on notice that it intends to require all pilots and student pilots to undergo a background check, obtain a pilot license incorporating a photo of the license holder, and pay A$200 for the service every two years. Stating that, "The security and safety threat posed by General Aviation has been assessed as minimal by this same Department, yet the Government through this measure seeks to penalise a responsible and secure industry on the basis of managing a public perception," AOPA-Australia is opposing the measure and encouraging its members to do so via individual letters to the Minister of Transport.

In other news, AOPA-Australia just completed its annual general meeting, electing Ron Bertram as its new president.

EU Sets Minimum Insurance Requirements

After extensive involvement by IAOPA Europe, the European Union recently announced that on 30 April 2005, commercial and private aircraft operators will be required to have mandatory insurance covering legal liabilities for passengers, cargo, baggage and third parties for flights to, from, within or over the territory of the European Member States, per EU Regulation 785/2004. The minimum limit for legal passenger liability is 250,000 SDRs (SDR = Special Drawing Right, defined by the International Monetary Fund, 1 SDR = +/- 1.22 Euro) per passenger, and for third party liability, including war and terrorist risks, from 0.75 M SDRs for aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight of less than 500 kg to 700 M SDRs for aircraft weighing more than 500,000 kg. For aircraft with a takeoff weight of between 1,000 and 2,700 kg the third party liability limit will be 3 M SDR. Some European underwriters predict "severe consequences" arising from the new regulation.

US TSA Publishes GA Airport Security Guidelines

Stating that it does not consider general aviation to be a threat, the U. S. Transportation Security Administration recently published its long-awaited guidelines for enhancing security at general aviation airports. The guidelines, which contain many of AOPA-US's suggestions, are intended to offer a consistent set of best practices that offer a level of security appropriate to each airport's situation.

"AOPA worked long and hard to make sure TSA made the guidelines relevant to general aviation?that they didn't apply airline airport security to GA," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "Now that the federal guidelines are out, it's crucial that decisions by state and local authorities reflect the guidelines and are appropriate to each GA airport's individual situation."

The TSA guidelines state several times that they are not regulatory. The suggestions contained in the document are not mandated changes. The intent, the agency says, is to provide uniform, federally backed guidelines that give airport managers and sponsors a consistent way to evaluate their security needs. "Both TSA and the GA community agree that a single approach to security will not cover the spectrum of the nation's GA airports," said TSA Acting Administrator Adm. David Stone.

However, AOPA is concerned about how the guidelines might be interpreted and implemented locally. Specifically, there are two appendices that assess security characteristics of airports and offer suggestions for security enhancements. View Security Guidelines for General Aviation Airports, Information Publication A-001.

ICAO Aviation Security Panel Meets

The ICAO Aviation Security Panel met in Montreal in early May to continue improvement of standards and recommended procedures for aviation security measures. Frank Hofmann, IAOPA ICAO Representative, strongly supported the continuing efforts of the International Business Aviation Council to advocate different levels of airside security zones to accommodate general aviation operations. Hofmann used the meeting to continue his counsel of delegates regarding the security risks involved with GA and the desirability of letting the GA community use voluntary security measures.

Olympic Games Activities

Planning information for those flying to the 13-29 August 2004 Athens Olympic Games may be found at this Web site. View this page for basic Olympics information.

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