Both EAA and AOPA are pressing for the FAA reauthorization bill to not include any type of user fee. EAA devoted a large section of the Member Village tent to the cause. A petition is available to be signed, along with buttons that state “EAAers Unite: Say NO! to User Fees.” Hundreds of photographs of the people who signed the petition are now posted on the display. Senator James Inhofe is expected to be in the Member Village tomorrow. Sen. Inhofe, along with other members of Congress are expected to attend a forum on this topic tomorrow. The people who are staffing the booth, including myself, estimate that about 1,000 people a day have stopped by to sign the petition.
One member came back requesting another button. He wanted us to ask him why he needed another button. OK, We asked him. He said he saw FAA Administrator, and user fee proponent at an aircraft display and told her he wanted to give her something. He then handed the button to her.
AOPA has very large posters for people to sign to express their opposition to user fees. They went through six of these posters today alone.