Originally Posted by
gcolyer
Good question.
How about becasue in good ole USA you get them for free.
Not just in the USA. Just the other day I landed VFR at certain major international airport in France. Got picked up by a van, shown to the pilot's room, etc. just as you describe---I then went to pay the landing fees (which are only €5.- or about £3, to start with) and the lady there said "oh, the computer's broken, so we're not charging anything". As I said, it was at a major airport with lots of traffic and we were only a spamcan in a VFR flight plan---still, the service we got was just as great as that given to all the big jets in front of us. All free of charge to us.
How in the UK they manage to charge many times the amounts requested in France and still not be able to afford to pay for the lights is anyone's guess
