FAA Wants EAA To Pay Them To Staff Oshkosh l

[Hal Bryan]

Realizing just who it is that wrote the article, I'm wondering what the real story is.

Just FYI, Jim's article was written after we posted ours and he called and spoke with Jack and Dick:

http://eaa.org/news/2013/2013-05-22_...shortfalls.asp

[Tom Downey]

Why should the FAA do these EXTRA services for free? Just because they have in the past, doesn't mean they must in the future.

[rwanttaja]

IIRC, Sun-N-Fun had to pay for their controllers this year, too. Shouldn't be a surprise....

Ron Wanttaja

[JoesPiper]

EAA does not have to pay for anything, they are a private entity. There are volunteer controllers. If Whitman field is open, which it will be, and that tower is staffed by the FAA, that tower must exhibit its duties. The FAA could close the tower for the event, but the FAA cannot close the event unless there is a threat to national security. If the FAA were to pull their legs that far, then the event can be moved elsewhere. Remember, these negative actions are being directed from a current President that sees NO advantage of GA, NO advantage of having events as such, and definitely sees GA as a threat to your own airspace. There is truly serious issues that are NOT right in Washington..............

[rwanttaja]

EAA does not have to pay for anything, they are a private entity. There are volunteer controllers. If Whitman field is open, which it will be, and that tower is staffed by the FAA, that tower must exhibit its duties.

The issue, I think, is the level of staffing. The 2-3 controllers per shift normally at OSH is way inadequate for the amount of activity during Airventure. If you read EAA's news release, you see the FAA is balking to paying the overtime, travel, and per-diem for the controllers that normally augment the permanent staff.

The FAA ate the expenses for these additional controllers in past years, but in a budget-constrained environment, they're apparently no longer willing to do so. All it takes is one Congressman saying, "The FAA is closing the airport in my home district, but they pay millions of dollars* to support a private air show for a bunch of fat cats, drinking champagne in air-conditioned chalets!"

Ron Wanttaja

* You know it's not millions of dollars. I know it's not millions of dollars. But that's precisely what a Congresscritter would say.

[Jim Heffelfinger]

I have to go along with Ron on this one. It is a private gathering. It is a 10 million dollar+ gate gathering. Sure it brings in 110 million in an economic bump to Oshkosh but not to the feds who have to support the busiest airport on the planet. There is major training to work in an environment like AV. So to have FAA request to be compensated for the extra staff and expenses seems fair - sadly not on the budget radar for EAA/AV.
jim

[Bill Berson]

If 5000 volunteers work at Airventure for free to run the event, why can't controllers serve for a few hours out of the week like other volunteers?
Is there a shortage of people willing to do this?

I know the controllers do request to be sent for Oshkosh duty, for the fun of it, apparently.

[MADean]

"...but in a budget-constrained environment..."

And who's fault is that?

Seems to me that if Washington quit spending money on things it has no business spending money on there would be a lot more money available to spend on those things it should be spending money on.

But then I'm not a rocket scientist.

[FlyingRon]

During most of the day operations there are FIVE teams of three controllers each at Oshkosh: two in the tower (9-27 and 18-36), two on the moocows, and one at Fisk.

That's way more than the two guys they usually stock that tower with.

Now if they decide to actually issue the billets to those who demonstrated the ability to work in the Airventure environment (this is the way they used to do it ages ago) rather than doling it out as a bureaucratic perk, then it might be worth paying for.