Tuesday, July 29, 2008

An Uphill Battle - To Be Sure

I spoke with "Grant" at Senator Gordon Smith's Washington, D.C. office,

Washington, DC Office
404 Russell Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202.224.3753
Fax: 202.228.3997

and I got the usual Washington bull@#%!.
"Yes, I see where it would be a safety issue"
"yes, I imagine that the certification results for aircraft evacuation would probably be different with impaired passengers"
"BUT..."

Here's what it boils down to:
1) There has to be large grassroots support
2) There has to be local government support (State level - National Governor's Association)
3) There needs to be support from organizations (ALPA, AOPA, EAA, OPA...)

So, here is where we stand. The government cares about our flying safety only if we can drum up the support from some big guns. Anyone willing to go to the mat on this? Maybe you have a contact or an inroad to a politician. Maybe you can get friends or relatives to write to Senator Smith, as he sits on the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation.

I'll fight alone if need be, but if we all stand up and take on this challenge, we can make a difference.

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