Money And The Origins Of ADS-B

I’m someone here on the front lines in Florida, fighting this usage of ADS-B. Our airport manager floated a proposal to implement these fees here in Fernandina Beach (KFHB) by Vector. The airport pays for Virtower to collect operations data that is useful to help in planning, getting grants, etc. So this proposal by their offshoot company Vector seemed like a good idea to him, a way to collect more money for all the growth he wanted to implement at the airport. His presentation to the City Council was met with a lukewarm response. Then he presented it to our local pilot group and was TROUNCED by the idea. The arguments are all the same as above, and since I’m the AOPA volunteer representative I approached our regional manager. At first she said AOPA wouldn’t weigh in on the matter too heavily, so I was happy to see they changed their minds. We pay taxes on every gallon of AvGas we buy, no matter where, so that the system can stay solvent and infrastructure improved. Adding fees on top of that, especially using a system that we had to invest heavily in for our aircraft, is just egregious. The good news for us is that this manager has moved on to a different airport in Colorado (no bad feelings for him, this was just a better fit for what he wants to do) so it seems like this idea is dead for now. But we remain ready to fight against it should the time come.