FAA programs bill is being passed as we speak. General aviation fuel will now be taxed at a rate of $.36/gallon. Get your Avcard warmed up.

 

Is this an FAA funding bill?

USMCFLYR

 

It increases fuel taxes on private aircraft from 22 cents per gallon to 36 cents, including business jets, to help pay for shifting the aging radar-based air traffic network to one relying on satellites.http://www.forexpros.com/news/genera...rint-126821The bill also:* Raises the minimum number of hours of flying experience an airline co-pilot must have from 250 hours to 800.* Bans pilots from using personal electronic devices in the cockpit, a response to an incident last October in which pilots of a Northwest Airlines plane flew more than 100 miles past their destination of Minneapolis while they were working on their laptops.* Doubles to twice a year the frequency of FAA inspections of foreign aircraft repair and maintenance stations that work on U.S. planes.* Contains a "passenger bill of rights" that would require airlines to provide food, water and other amenities to passengers kept waiting on tarmacs and give them the opportunity to deplane after a three-hour wait.That would give legal status to Transportation Department rules adopted in December that also limited tarmac waits to three hours and fine airlines up to $27,500 per passenger for violations.

 

Thanks BD100.
I heard of each of these (except for the additional tax on GA fuel) - but I wasn't sure if the FAA Programs Bill - was the same as the FAA Re-Authorization that I had heard of prior.
I was assuming that this bill being delaye was the cause of the FAA operating under a Continuing Resolution (at least sources say)

USMCFLYR

 

Here's some info.

The Associated Press: Bill aims to speed up air traffic system overhaul

 

another nail has been added to the coffin, and the trumpet player is warming up......

 

Really? Avgas at $4.00/gallon and another $0.14/gallon is gonna kill ya? I don't like higher taxes any better than the next guy, but this still keeps the tax at roughly 10% of the cost. ($3.60/gallon + $0.36 = $3.96/gallon.)

 

Hey Tim - not so for Jet A. Turns out the "modest" increase is from .22 cents per gallon to .36 cents. That's a 66% tax increase the last time I checked. I would hardly call that modest. The vote passed 93-0 in the Senate and everyone, including NBAA, is cheering this as a victory over user fees. While I agree this is much better than user fees (the bureaucracy alone would have been a disaster)...enough is enough already! And has anyone else noticed the new $15.00 per visit "Security Fee" that Atlantic Aviation is assessing at places like MDW?

The government, FBOs, and other entities that keep piling on new taxes and service fees can only keep drawing on the "oh, they're rich people if they can afford an jet, they won't mind" excuse so many times before people just end up closing their flight departments and selling their jets. Looks like the job market is going to stay stagnant for a while longer...

 

I agree, a tax increase on jet fuel is far better than the bureaucracy of user fees.

A tax increase of 64% is steep, I'll agree; but business aviation knew this was coming. As our industry continually battles optical and image problems, I would hope that this increase finally ends the castigation of business aviation [not] contributing their "fair share" to airspace modernization or to airport congestion at the nation's busiest hubs.