Why is are there so many fees for GA in NZ?

[Jxbold]

I first learnt to fly in NZ about 7 years ago;back then the only fees I had to pay were for landings, flight plans and a feeto my avmed doctor. I recently startedflying again and I now find that I have to pay over $300 to CAA for my medical,an airways fee of $8.60 at any controlled aerodrome, a $1 fee for every touchand go at a controlled aerodrome and a $1 fee if I want to fly throughcontrolled airspace, as well as having to pay a yearly fee to get weatherinformation. I understand that many ofthese fees will be going up next year, some doubling. My question is why is GA getting so severelypunished with fees, and as CAA, Met service and Airways survived a few yearsago without these fees, they must all be millionaires today? I think these fees are killing GA in NZ.

[Jack Ranga]

If you really want to get arseraped for your aviation activities, come to Aussie cuz :ok:

[27/09]

CAA have a budget problem and the $300 fee is their way to solve that. They have moved from Lower Hutt into an expensive office in downtown Wellington and have much bigger staff numbers than a few years back. The staff numbers have gone up but the output doesn't seem to have changed.

On the met issue, every other recreational sphere get free weather, boaties, trampers, skiers. Aviation is seen as a soft touch.

Don't get me started on Airways, they are just thieves with a cost plus mentality with GA being forced to pay for over priced services they don't need. The day isn't far off when a circuits lesson costs more in landing fees than the aircraft costs.

[slackie]

27/09... AMEN to all of that!!

[Mach E Avelli]

A few reasons for high aviation fees - whether we use NZ, Oz, the UK or anywhere else to complain about - are:

1. ICAO lay all sorts of compliance requirements on Contracting States. If a State does not comply, it does not get to play in the international aviation arena. Then the States' respective governments lay on extra levels of compliance to fit their own legal framework. Dealing with all this regulatory stuff takes lots of pen pushers (or these days, keyboard tappers). Plus, by its complex nature, specialists are required at every level of aviation to make rules, enforce rules, assess applications, audit operators etc. Specialists in any field cost money.

2. Litigation. The travelling public expect 100% safety in aviation, even though 100% is an impossibility. When it occasionally does go pear-shaped EVERYONE gets sued - operators, manufacturers and regulators alike. Government covering its collective arse as it endeavours to stay out of court and the newspapers, costs. Arse covering requires plenty of input from lawyers, and we know that they don't come cheap. The more people looking at ways to discourage that damn-fool activity called private flying, the safer it will become.

3. A public perception that pilots and aircraft owners are 'fat cats' who should pay their way. In particular, pilots and aircraft owners are a very small segment of society - not many votes there. So screw 'em. Taxpayers and politicians see no good reason to prop up aviation at the bottom end.

Compare with, say, amateur boaters. They are a much larger percentage of the population - the common man fishing from his tinny is certainly not seen as a fat cat; more like someone exercising a right. Hence, the boating vote is more influential.
Maritime regulators extract most of their fees from commercial shipping and allow amateur boaties to enjoy a relatively free ride. e.g. it costs me $80 a year to keep my boat registered in Tasmania, and for that I get free weather on the hour every hour, SAR service, unrestricted use of navigation lights, marks and beacons, and at certain locations temporary use of free moorings. Although I do have to comply with certain safety rules, much of it can be left to trust, because I can only kill a very small number of people in one hit. I have been sailing since I was 12 years old, and have yet to have an inspection from the authorities. They are too busy concentrating on much larger hazards. Compare that with aviation, where we get one form of inspection or another at frequent intervals (medicals, proficiency checks, safety audits, ramp checks - the list is endless).

I am not defending high fees for aviators, just attempting to explain them. Don't shoot the messenger.

[Jxbold]

I agree with everything you say Mach E Avelli and I certainly understand inthis blame game society that everybody is out to blame somebody when somethinggoes wrong. I read a few years ago in the US that a dead pilot’s family managedto successfully sue the airframe manufacturer, the aircraft engine manufacturerand the propeller manufacturer even though the FAA determined that the accidentwas caused by pilot error. I just feel that fees in NZ are much higher thanelsewhere and a few years ago they weren't. The current fees have massivelyexceeded the rate of inflation, is this because NZ is so small? I love GA anddon't want to see it killed off by greed.

[Shagpile]

Another thread mentioned insurance was around half (??) of the cost of an engine. Anybody got a real figure for that ?

If we all stopped bloody suing each other, everything would be cheaper. Would people start making crappy engines? No. There is still a thing called business where if all your engines start failing, people stop buying them. There is still incentive to make the safest equipment.