News
News
Welcome to the WSPA website, a publication for pilots with water on the Brain
It's that time of year again, Annual Membership for 2009 is due! (dues are for the calendar year)
Visit us at the Northwest Aviation Trade Show and Converence this weekend.
Please be an early bird and send in your check. Print the "Dues/Donations by mail" page and send it in. Or Pay on line see the "Dues/Join/Donations on line page" and hope to have that up and running soon, but please don't wait for me. Do it now.
How can you help seaplane pilots? Please see Greg's comments under the BoR's Final Ruling ......
Headlines.....
Bureau of Reclamation Final
Ruling! Yes,
Finally!
You can now pay your Annual
Dues on line, they are for the Calendar Year 2009....
Classifieds----
Removed! But it's free with your email newsletter!
President Bush
signs Wild Sky ..moved.. see new page "Legislative Issues"
Missouri
Breaks Still an Issue... moved.. see new page "Legislative
Issues"
The Bureau of Reclamation
The BoR is has yielded. This is good news. They have "sort of" restored the CFRs to pre-ban wording. We believe this has been a direct result of the reaction to the State organizations and SPA weighing in on the issue.
A thank you to Bill Wainright from CSPA for being on top of this issue. Bill is also SPA's field director for Idaho and Oregon. He sent the following ...
The BoR published the final rule on Dec.11th. I just found it by accident when trying to find the source of the Seaplane Access Status document. They responded to the question of “Vessels” but didn’t make any commitment to helping with the Managing Partners. I copied the part on comments so you won’t have to search through the whole document.
Comments and
Responses
Comment:
Several commenters
were concerned about the
changes we made to the effect that a
seaplane is not considered a vessel
under part 423.
Response: The question of whether seaplanes are considered ‘‘vessels’’ when on the water is essentially not material to whether seaplane activity is allowed or not allowed on any particular reservoir. The applicable rules of other entities such as the United States Coast Guard, the National Park Service, the States, and/or local governments remain in effect and must be observed. This includes other entities’ rules concerning the definition of ‘‘vessel,’’ and pilots must be aware of all applicable Federal, State and local laws and regulations when contemplating landings on Reclamation lands or waterbodies.
Due to the fact that
the other entities that have varying
degrees of jurisdiction over Reclamation
waterbodies differ in how they define the
term ‘‘vessel,’’ we added the sentence ‘‘A
seaplane may be considered a vessel’’
to the definition of ‘‘vessel’’ in section
423.2 of this final rule. We also revised
section 438(a) by adding the words ‘‘or
seaplane’’ after the word ‘‘watercraft,’’
and we added the words ‘‘other
watercraft, or seaplane’’ after the word
‘‘vessel’’ in section 438(b).
Comment:
Several commenters
expressed concern or
disagreement regarding the status
of particular Reclamation reservoirs
or groups of reservoirs with
respect to seaplane activity, difficulties
in determining that status, and the
allowance of seaplane activity in
general.
Response:
This rule does not
determine the status
of any particular reservoir or set of
reservoirs with respect to seaplane
activity. One of the purposes of the
amendments made on September 24, 2008,
was to recognize the aircraft-related
laws and rules of other Federal, State,
and local entities that have jurisdiction
over the surface waters of many
Reclamation reservoirs.
Reclamation believes
that in general, decisions to allow,
restrict, or prohibit aircraft on
Reclamation lands and waterbodies should be
made at the local level and/or by the
Federal, State, and local entities that
have jurisdiction. However, Reclamation
reserves the authority to intervene
when necessary for reasons including,
but not limited to, safety, security, law
enforcement, and reservoir
operations.
Reclamation will
continue to provide the status of the
reservoirs we manage, but pilots ultimately
bear the responsibility for
determining the status of reservoirs under
the jurisdiction of our managing partners
and/or other entities.
Comment: One commenter expressed concern over the use of the term ‘‘local government’’ in section 423(b)(2). The commenter believed this term might be interpreted to exclude employees of water districts and other political subdivisions, thus making them subject to this rule when carrying out their regular duties on Reclamation projects.
Response:
Reclamation agrees
with this comment and we
added the phrase ‘‘or other political
subdivision’’ after the words ‘‘local
government’’ in section 423(b)(2).
Summary
of Changes
As discussed in the
‘‘Comments and Responses’’ section
above, the changes we are making to the
interim final rule published September
24, 2008 are:
1. Adding a sentence
‘‘A seaplane may be considered a
vessel’’ to the definition of
‘‘vessel’’ in section 423.2.
2. Adding the words
‘‘or other political
subdivision’’ after the words‘‘local
government’’ in section 423(b)(2).
3. Adding the words
‘‘or seaplane’’ after the word
‘‘watercraft.’’ in section 438(a).4. Adding
the words ‘‘other watercraft, or
seaplane’’ after the word ‘‘vessel’’ in section
438(b).
Where do we go from here? I'm not sure how much help we a going to get from SPA, they have not responded to us on several occasions. The reason we exist is to manage a front line of defense for keeping our water bodies open. BoR is mostly a western state issue that I feel we must stay on top of. The following comments are from our VP Greg Corrado who offers an excellent suggestion. I think part of our planning for next year should be to get groups of volunteers to fly to all of the bodies of water. We should start out by having someone contact the appropriate Managing Partner and getting their opinion on Seaplane use. Then regardless of their opinion, have a group of 2-4 planes visit the locations, preferably overnight, or in the case of facilities with Marinas actually use the Marina facilities and purchase goods or services so we can start logging this and then get copies of peoples logbooks to be retained by our Associations in case of actions down the road. We need to start being more proactive and a little more visible.
Greg Corrado
I agree.... Let's plan on doing that this year. Check in at our booth at the trade show to see what you can do to help with the plan.
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