Many of you may have seen an article from EAA this morning in Indy Transponder about the potential grounding of all military aircraft on loan from the Department of Defense.
The short story is Michael Turner (R-OH) is proposing an amendment, “Title 10” to the House National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4310). I am attaching some links that further explain the situation -- the first one is the article from Indy Transponder this morning and the second is a blog post made this morning by Commemorative Air Force president, Steve Brown.
This amendment, if passed, will permanently ground the only flying B-29 in the world -- FIFI. Please contact Michael Turner and also your representative to express your opposition to his actions. Please.
http://www.eaa.org/news/2012/2012-04-18_title10.asp Warbird Community Rises to Meet Threat
'Title 10 Amendment' could devastate historic aircraft fleet
April 18, 2012 - EAA and the Warbirds of America are joining with the Commemorative Air Force, Collings Foundation, and other warbird groups in opposition of a proposed amendment to the House National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4310) that could have a devastating effect on the fleet of civilian-operated historic military aircraft.
The amendment introduced by Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) would bar the Department of Defense from loaning or gifting any U.S. military aircraft or parts to any entity except those that would put the aircraft on static display, such as in a museum. The amendment would preclude the aircraft from being loaned to private individuals, associations, or museums where there is any intent of flying the historic vintage warbirds, even at air shows or demonstrations of support for veterans.
Military branches such as the U.S. Air Force often do not donate aircraft to private groups outright; they instead "loan" them under a Defense Department provision, Section 2572 of Title 10, to individuals and groups for indefinite periods. These private individuals and groups usually restore and operate the aircraft at their own expense to demonstrate these pieces of flying history to events such as EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.
"The Department of Defense has made numerous attempts through the years to preclude any former military aircraft from being flown in civilian hands," said Doug Macnair, EAA's vice president of government relations. "This view has never been supported by any safety or security imperative and is currently being couched as a move to supposedly 'preserve' rare military aircraft. We can be assured that the U.S. military has neither the funding nor the mandate to preserve these aircraft in flying condition, which would leave the only option for them to be used as static museum displays. That would truly be a tragedy and a loss of our aviation and military heritage."
Rep. Turner's district includes Dayton, Ohio, home of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, which has been adamant in its attempts to ground former U.S. military aircraft. Ironically, Dayton is the same site where this week more than 20 B-25 bombers - preserved and flown by private groups and individuals - are gathering in a public spectacle to honor the 70th anniversary of the famed Doolittle Raid on Japan.
EAA and the other warbird groups are working with staff in the House's Armed Services Committee and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, as well as the House General Aviation Caucus as the Defense Authorization Bill goes into initial committee review next week and to the House floor in early May. Although the exact language of the amendment has not been shared with the aviation community or widely on Capitol Hill, Rep. Turner plans to push the amendment despite initial congressional opposition.
EAA and Warbirds of America recommend that members contact their congressional representatives, urging them to voice their opposition to the Turner amendment and in support of maintaining the private ability to restore and fly these historic aircraft.
Steve's blog post:
http://commemorativeairforce.org/?pa...&cms_page=1267 Some of you may have already seen that EAA has released the story about Rep Michael Turner (R-OH) proposing an amendment, “Title 10” to the House National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4310). This is something I have been working on since last week, but since EAA has taken it public, I will give you the details.
The significance of “Title 10” is that it would bar the Department of Defense from loaning or gifting any U.S. military aircraft to any organization which would conduct flight operations with said aircraft. Those aircraft could only be loaned or “conditionally donated” for static display only.
Last week I was contacted by the staff of Rep. John Mica(R-FL) about their concern for this amendment. Rep. Mica is the Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which includes 6 sub-committees –notably: Aviation. The staffer told me about the language in the amendment and the Congressman who is proposing it and I smelled trouble instantly - which I explained to Rep. Mica’s staff member. Rep. Turner from Ohio is the former Mayor of Dayton – home of the National Museum of the US Air Force (NMUSAF). As many of you will recall, we were involved in a lawsuit with the USAF (spearheaded by the Museum) over the F-82, which we eventually lost; resulting in us shipping the airplane back to the NMUSAF, where it sits – permanently grounded. The reason we ended up in a lawsuit was due to the confusion over the Air Force’s “donation” of this airplane to the CAF in the early 70’s. The lawsuit went on for several years and we lost the suit and the subsequent appeal. I won’t get into the specifics of why, but it stems from confusion over the Air Force’s definition of “donation.”
While researching and preparing for the F-82 lawsuit, I looked into other aircraft that we have with this type of arrangement. Much to my surprise, this arrangement is similar with our most prized asset…our B-29 FIFI. FIFI is possessed by the CAF as a “Conditional Donation.” This means the airplane is permanently ours as long as we meet certain conditions of care for the airplane. Now this is the same type of language that the USAF uses for all of the aircraft you see on display at static museums around the country. The big difference is that we also have a subsequent agreement to allow the CAF to conduct flight operations with FIFI – and so we have for nearly 40 years. Well, when I was in Washington D.C. a couple of years ago, I met with the Colonel that oversees the history of the Air Force and all of their Museums. I told him that I was afraid that they were going to try to take FIFI away, as they were trying to take back the F-82. He said, “our lawyers have looked at the agreement with the CAF and they think that this agreement is too strong.” As you can tell by that sentence, it said to me….if we could take her back we would, but we think we would lose that legal battle. That was scary, but also comforting…until now. The only way that the USAF Museum could ground FIFI is by changing the law such that it is illegal to fly her.
Go back up and re-read the Amendment bolded above.
So, you will see and hear more from me, more formally and publicly, in the near future.
Steve
