Don’t ground angels

A week after the flood of 2008 crested, volunteers flying out of the Rockford, Ill., airport, delivered 5,000 pounds of donated supplies for flood victims in Cedar Rapids. Pilots from the Angel Flight Central chapters in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa made 35 flights. More than 3,800 people came to the distribution center at Prairie High School for their share of items provided by Operation Hawkeye Relief.

It was one of many acts of kindness our community has seen over the past year. But many of those volunteer and other general aviation pilots worry that proposed federal regulations may discourage or even end such charitable initiatives, as well as overly restrict many businesses and agriculture operations that depend on non-commercial aircraft.

Serious concerns.

The General Aviation Services America campaign, endorsed by more than 400,000 pilots and aircraft owners, sees two basic threats.

One is proposed security rules for the large aircraft security program. Any aircraft of 12,500 pounds or heavier would be subject to regulations similar to those required for the large commercial carriers - even though the Homeland Security Department's inspector general last month said that the national security threat for general aviation is "limited and mostly hypothetical."

Another objection is that Congress and the Federal Aviation Administration once again are considering new user fees for general aviation. General aviation supporters say they already pay their fair share through fuel taxes to support air traffic system costs and that user fees would largely subsidize the needs of commercial airlines, for which the system is primarily designed. They also say an extra fee would require an expensive layer of bureaucracy to implement and that the FAA already has sufficient revenue flow.

If these proposals are as excessive as critics claim Iowans could be significantly affected.

General aviation serves agriculture, many businesses, emergency medical flights, flight training, cargo delivery, Civil Air Patrol and public service. Nationwide, it accounts for 77 percent of all domestic flights; in Iowa, it's 88 percent.

Angel Flight pilots, who donate their time, planes and cost of the fuel, belong to Air Charity Network, whose 7,500 pilots annually provide charitable transportation to more than 35,000 children and adults with critical illnesses or other personal emergencies. In Iowa, it often means assisting people in isolated rural areas.

The FAA and Congress must avoid onerous rules that would ground these angels. Nor should they inflict unreasonable financial or security burdens on the entire general aviation industry, which pumps $150 billion a year into the U.S. economy and helps many American businesses compete on the world stage.