Letters and Contacts

Nice letter binovc...but just a NOTE. If anyone uses this and is NOT a pilot...make sure you take out the line that talks about being a pilot. If by the off chance these idiots read these letters, it would be weird if we were all pilots. That might lessen our credibility. Otherwise, nicely done.

Yeah, I meant that letters such as mine could be used as "idea material". Use as much as appropriate of course (and you could spell check better than I did too!). The "big" letters such as yours TCU should be good to go without any mods.

Here's a copy of an email I sent to the congressman of the district our airport is in a few weeks ago:

Issue: TRA

Message Subject: Proposed Closure of Weather Office at Orlando International Airport
Message Text:
Good Morning Congressman Grayson My name is XXXXXX and I am currently employed as a weather observer at Orlando International Airport. I have been informed that the FAA is planning to shut down the weather observation office at MCO and every other airport in the country as a result of the sequester. The weather observers responsibilities in a few words are to report the weather conditions at the airport hourly and to report any changes that could affect flight safety as needed. What the FAA is planning to do is have our responsibilities taken over by the air traffic controllers at MCO. The controllers are facing furloughs which will cut the staffing in the control tower and to add the additional responsibility of taking timely and accurate weather observations seems ludicrous to me. This will create a safety issue and will also result in longer delays at MCO especially during times of bad weather. The FAA plan also violates an agreement that they signed with the airlines and others to insure that certified weather observers and not air traffic controllers are taking the weather observations at large airport such as MCO. The weather office at MCO is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week. We have 8 employees at the office, several of whom are residents of your district who would lose our jobs if this plan was implemented. We would appreciate it if you could look into this matter. If you would like to contact me for any additional information please email me at xxxxx or call me xxxxxxx. Thank You

Would you like a response? Y

And here's the response I received last week, I'm planning to follow up with him if the FAA officially anounces the closings:

Dear Richard:

Thank you for sharing your concerns regarding sequestration budget cuts to the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and the scheduled closing of Kissimmee Gateway Airport. Hearing from you helps me better represent Florida’s Ninth District.

I am proud to announce that the Kissimmee Gateway Airport will remain open, as decided by the FAA on March 22. When I learned of the plan to close Kissimmee Gateway Airport, I immediately took action, meeting with airport stakeholders and advocating for the tower to remain open. In February, I wrote a letter to FAA officials detailing the impact of the facility’s closure and hand-delivered a copy of the letter to a White House official. I also wrote a second letter to the FAA in March, highlighting the national impact of Kissimmee Gateway Airport’s closure and spoke directly with the official tasked with finalizing the closures. All of these efforts were well worth it to have the FAA spare Kissimmee Gateway Airport from closure.

While this is excellent news, as you may know, sequestration went into effect on March 1. Sequestration is across the board cuts in spending included as an enforcement tool in the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA). It was designed to be unpalatable in an effort to force the last Congress to address the nation’s fiscal situation. I do not believe it is a smart way to address our fiscal issues and it should have never gone into effect. In fact, I offered an amendment to H.R. 933, the 2013 Continuing Appropriations Act, to repeal the sequester which was unsuccessful. I also voted against H.R. 933, which would reflect the sequester’s cuts in the level of funding made available to the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year. In addition, I cosponsored the Cancel the Sequester Act, H.R. 900 which would simply eliminate the sequester. I also cosponsored the Balancing Act, H.R. 505, which would repeal the sequester while implementing a balanced approach to deficit reduction by 1) utilizing both revenue and cuts, 2) enacting both non-defense cuts and defense cuts and, 3) investing in job creation.

Although sequestration has begun, rest assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind as I continue to advocate for responsible budget reforms that both maintain federal programs and improve our nation’s fiscal solvency.

Again, I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to sign up at my website, grayson.house.gov/contact/newsletter, to subscribe to receive email newsletter updates on the work I am doing in Congress and how it will affect you. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments in the future.


Sincerely,

Here is my BS response from my congressman. It's hit and miss with these idiots. Some seem to care, others have an intern send out the standard reply with a few tweaks. F them all...not voting for a single incumbent this next election. I would rather write in "long live the CWO" as the write in (and this coming from a very pro "get out your vote" guy before all this fiasco). This is the second congressman I have heard from, at least the first one called and personally emailed me, this one...not so much.




Thank you for contacting me with your thoughts about the "sequestration" spending cuts. It is good to hear from you.



As you may know, due to last year's debt ceiling deal and the failure of the so-called "super committee" to agree on a deficit reduction package, across-the-board spending cuts have been in place since March 1, 2013. These cuts, known as "sequestration," will result in approximately $85 billion in cuts for Fiscal Year 2013. That $85 billion in cuts is divided half between defense and half between domestic discretionary spending. Because defense is a smaller part of the underlying budget than the non-defense part, the sequester's actual impact will be a roughly 7% reduction in spending on national defense and an 5-6% reduction in domestic programs like the National Institutes of Health and education programs. The sequester was never intended to be implemented, but was rather a mechanism designed to force Congress to come to an agreement on responsible deficit reduction measures.



On May 10, 2012, I supported H.R. 5652, which is the House of Representatives' proposal for addressing the sequester. The proposal contained $242.8 billion of deficit reduction aimed at weeding out wasteful, fraudulent, inefficient, and duplicative spending. The savings included requiring recipients of the Child Tax Credit to provide a valid Social Security Number, making sure that only those who are actually eligible for SNAP benefits (also referred to as food stamps) receive them, and repealing and defunding portions of ObamaCare. Though sequestration has already begun to take effect, I continue to support replacing the sequester with a package of cuts similar to H.R. 5652, and look forward to considering other proposals to replace its cuts with more rational, common sense cuts to other parts of our budget.



Thank you once again for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to do so again in the future.

Maybe we need to make a list of which Congressmen have actually responded about the CWO program.

Hey Rich, we got the same letter from a very small man.... Senator Bill Nelson is an empty suit phony that couldn't give damn about his constituents or safety.

Letter from Bill Nelson is an exact copy of the one Rich received.... Thank you for your concern regarding the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) closing air traffic control contract towers due to sequester budget cuts.

The FAA announced their decision to postpone the tower closures scheduled to take place on April 7. They will maintain funding for air traffic control operations at these towers through June 15 while continuing to review the risks and give airports time to plan for the changes. On March 22, the FAA released the list of the 149 contract towers slated for closure across the United States. Fourteen of those towers are in Florida.

I am an original cosponsor of S. 687, a bill to prohibit the FAA from closing air traffic control towers. The safety and efficiency of our aviation system has always been a top priority, and I will continue to work to protect aviation. In the last Congress, I supported the FAA's reauthorization bill because it reflected the best interests of Florida's flying public and opportunities for general aviation.

I appreciate your taking the time to share your concerns. I am working hard on this issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future.

Sincerely,
Bill Nelson

P.S. From time to time, I compile electronic news briefs highlighting key issues and hot topics of particular importance to Floridians. If you'd like to receive these e-briefs, visit my Web site and sign up for them at billnelson.senate.gov/news/ebriefs.cfm

The regulations which currently govern the quality of weather services around the nation are documented in the Federal Register: 61 FR 32887, and were agreed upon by the FAA, the NWS and a user group which include:


Airlines for America (A4A)
Aircraft Owners and Private Pilot Association (AOPA)
Airline Pilot Association (ALPA)
American Association of Aircraft Executives (AAAE)
Aircraft Dispatchers Federation (ADF)
AOPA Air safety Foundation (ASF)
Airports Council International (ACI)
Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA, Helicopter Association International (HAI)
National Business Aviation Association (NBAA)
Allied Pilots Association (APA)
General Aviation Manufactures Association (GAMA)
National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO)
Alaska Aviation Safety Foundation (AASF)
Regional Airline Association (RAA)