The debate of total time versus training is probably as old as aviation itself. In fact, sailors were probably debating this issue centuries before the Wright Brothers ever got anywhere Kill Devil Hill. Would you rather fly on an airliner piloted by two people who have at least 1500 hours of total flight time or by people trained to operate that specific aircraft in all the normal, adverse and emergency situations it might encounter...even if one of them had fewer than 1500 hours? Is that 1500 hour mark magical? In emergency conditions, is a pilot with 1500 hours guaranteed to save your life when a pilot with only 750 might not? Not in the case of Colgan Airlines Flight 3407. The FO was the low-time crew member with over 2200 hours and they still crashed.
However, ever since that accident some people have been clamoring for higher minimum times for all airline pilots. The bill that made it through congress (HR 5900) set that requirement as a 1500 hour ATP rating for all airline pilots, no matter what seat they're in. Though Some Celebrate this the families of those who died on Flight 3407 celebrate this, I worry that the unintended side-effects of this legislation will cause some serious problems for aviation in America. I don't think I'm alone either.
This isn't just a cool video. It's the final landings of something very special. Exactly 100 years after the birth of Swiss Aviation, two friends decided to honor aviators of the past with an around-the-world odyssey...
...and what pilot doesn't at least toy with the idea of flying around the world? It's been done before and it'll be done again, but I think it's an impressive accomplishment every time. A couple Swiss pilots recently completed one of these amazing adventures. They flew around the world, in formation, in a pair of Flight Design CTLS LSAs. What a blast! 44,000 kilometers from April 30th to June 19th. They called their adventure "Azimut 270."
As reported by AvWeb, the FCC made an almost completely surprise move by announcing recently a new rule that prohibits "certification, manufacture, importation, sale, or continued use of 121.5 MHz ELTs." Yes, that's right. Within 60 days of this rule getting approved you could be required to spend about $1000 for a new 406 MHz ELT and even more to have it installed.
I just wrote about the pressure the FAA is feeling to allow UAV operations in the National Airspace System. Although I'm not a fan of the idea in general, I realize it's going to happen some day. As such, I'd like to present some of what I think should end up as regulations for UAV operations. I don't mean this to be a complete list. Please take a minute to read through them and leave a comment with your feedback.
The FAA has contracted the RTCA Special Committee 203 as the body to help them figure out this issue. I don't presume to think any of them read AviationBull, but I hope these points make it to them. As someone who's shared plenty of airspace with UAVs, here are some things we need before we let them into our national airspace system:
AviationBull has been covering developments in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) issues for some time. The operational and economic benefits offered by UAVs are enormous - they can fly longer and cheaper than equivalent manned aircraft in most cases. Most importantly, they can operate in dangerous conditions that would otherwise put a pilot at risk.
Though these benefits are great, there is one key fact preventing UAVs from flooding our skies: Right now, UAVs are completely incapable of operating safely in the same airspace as manned aircraft.
As Google and the AP report, the FAA is thankfully taking the careful approach to UAV certification in spite of growing pressure.
Do you hold anything in aviation sacred? I do: the sweet feeling of a great landing, the sound of a radial engine, the complete absence of sound at the top of a hammerhead stall in a glider, breaking out of bad weather to see the airport right in front of you...exactly where it's supposed to be, thermalling with eagles, I could probably go on all day.
I wouldn't go so far as to call flying a religion for us pilots, but it is definitely a spiritual force in our lives. We do hold parts of it sacred and we hate for that sanctity to be violated. We do a pretty good job of policing ourselves, but I'm worried that some airport officials in Wisconsin may be trying to slip through the cracks. They're dangerously close to committing a great sacrilege: killing dozens of birds to prevent an incalculable possibility of danger to human flight.
Is any part of being a pilot more cumbersome than trying to check NOTAMS? Either you call flight service and the briefer rattles off dozens of of them far too fast to copy, or you find a good website and still end up with a couple pages of cryptic language that may or may not be current information. How about TFRs? You have to look in a completely different section on even the best websites. Best of all, NOTAMs only need to be published about 2 hours before they take effect so if your time from checking NOTAMs to landing at your destination is more than a 2.0, you might not have any way to find out about issues before you land. What a pain!
Don't get too disgruntled yet though, according to PressofAtlanticCity.com, Atlantic City International Airport is testing out a new system that could streamline this process.
A tragic event occurred on Thursday. Disgruntled with the IRS and others, a man named Joseph Stack crashed his Piper Dakota into an IRS building in Austin, Texas. Sadly, one person in addition to Stack was killed in the event.
