I know about the user fees well as I discuss it everyday with friends and family members. I'm very bad remembering names so it's embarassing to say the least that I didn't know Blakey. Flame away at your hearts content. It's well earned as I see it. :o gulp. I guess I don't keep up with politics as much as I should.

Alright... sorry. Guess that I come off as a bit harsh, but seriously, some things are probably worth making sure you know about... In the end though, I hope that all of us feel that Blakey should be voted off...

Thanks for losening the grip on my neck. :D I feel better. So, I think I have my bearings straight on Ms. Blakey now. Sadly, I have read many articles about Blakey (as I am doing right now) and never put two and two together. Ooops. :rolleyes: Anyway, I'd like to keep buzzing around in our cute little Seabee so I'll be voting her off.

She's the one who's single-handedly caused hundreds of controllers to end their careers early, because of the draconian treatment she and her thugs have been doling out. With those retirements, went thousands of years of combined expertise, that will take years to recoup. :mad:

Funny, I just read the umpteenth article about this and it absolutely infuriated me. Maybe this is why we have such a big shortage of controllers at LGB. From what I understand, we're short 6 - 8 guys. Sheesh.

You're lucky if you're only short 6-8... I've heard of places that are operating at 50% or less staffing when compared to pre-9/11 days.

Even worse is that many new controllers that have operational experience with the military or other agencies are quitting in their first few months because it sucks so much.

This is just dunnage from the flying club gossip pool but I've heard LGB only has 6 people on staff. Ugh. I think there's more like 9 but still, that's not efficient. I remember when I was getting my IFR at LGB and the day of the checkride, the tower prohibited any pattern work due to understaffing, as heard on the ATIS. If you fly into LGB, you will hear that from time to time. That was a first for me.

Some people are busy working. I for one don't like to really go out and read or listen to people talk about aviation when it's a day off etc. This board is the only thing I do.

That's unfortunate. At the very least you should be getting some basic news updates about the industry and what's happening around you- particularly if you do this for a living. It's one thing for recreational pilots not to keep up on the news. Another for professionals to be out of the loop, particularly on major topics such as ATC issues and User Fees. Just because you are "busy working" doesn't give you an excuse to have your head in the sand... same thing applies to political issues that affect you directly.

Might I suggest that you subscribe to an online news delivery service that sends emails? (Such as AvWeb or Aviation International News)

www.avweb.com
www.ainonline.com

I'm busy doing manual labor everyday helping my folks build their house, then training after that. I don't feel like doing much after a day like that. I'm right with toilet duck, this is just about the only place I go on the internet. ebay and email sometimes too.

But thanks for those websites, josh. At least I can get some of the latest aviation news on the rare occasions that I do check my email. :D