(File photo: WRN)
President Trump wants to privatize the country’s air traffic control system, and that’s not sitting well with the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) in Oshkosh.
Spokesman Dick Knapinski says the move would do nothing to modernize the system, and it puts a private entity in charge of a government infrastructure. He says the members of the board that would oversee it would primarily be representatives of the airlines and their interests.
Knapinski says the EAA believes the change would hurt rural airports, and general and business aviation. “That is really what disturbs us about this,” he says. “Something that doesn’t solve the problem, doesn’t modernize the system, but puts a private entity in charge of a government infrastructure.”
The non-profit group would be exempt from Congressional oversight. The board could also implement user fees to pay for its operations, and capital expenses.
WHBY