Political Quotes

“The gentleman from Missouri, a strong advocate of general aviation, a great member of our committee, has expressed a very genuine concern and has introduced legislation; a bill that was introduced in March of this year, referred to our committee. We have asked for comments from the administration; that is, from DOT and FAA. Meanwhile, the FAA in January of this year initiated a process to address the issues created by the so-called ``through-the-fence'' agreements. They formed a policy review team to gather information, evaluate the concerns, decide what kind of action could be taken to address the concerns. And what are these concerns? Well, I know the former president of the Airport Owners and Pilots Association, Phil Boyer, retired, I think, to Florida, to a place where he has an airplane literally in his garage. He can roll it out onto a runway and fly wherever he needs to go. That's the kind of thing we're talking about here. Under these agreements, people have total access to runways, taxiways, sensitive operational parts of the airport. But people and pets have ventured onto airport property. Homeowners have hunted. They've thrown parties. They have buried pets on airport grounds. These are the reports we got from the FAA. These agreements have hamstrung airports in planning for the future, planning for safety and improving safety. With airport land encumbered by such agreements, airports may not be free to make the necessary safety improvements they require.…”