Out Of The Pattern

It doesn't take much to churn the general media into a frenzy these days, and woe to those who freeze in the cross-hairs of our international "curiosity." General aviation has been the media's latest target. Op-Ed pieces with titles such as "Arrogance and Airplanes" and "The NRA of the Air" purport that general aviation aircraft are chock full of politically connected, inexperienced risk takers exercising bad judgment on a daily basis.

Now, you and I know it just ain't so. Yet one high-profile accident and the media storm that follows can change your flying life in very direct ways. Let me explain. Shortly after JFK Jr.'s twisted, sodden Piper Saratoga was raised from the Atlantic seafloor, an FAA memo circulated straight out of headquarters listing an aggressive plan of initiatives aimed at the heart of the perceived problem with general aviation pilots. All this came long before the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) completed its investigation of the accident and its causes.

Though the memo opens by stating that 1999 seems to be stacking up to be one of the safest years on record for general aviation flying, the high-profile nature of this one tragedy demands action. So, what do the feds suggest? The list begins with a healthy dose of reactive training; basically reaching out to the flight instructors nationwide to put more emphasis on preflight planning (including an awareness of the FAA's Hazardous Area Reporting System and the use of VFR flight plans), spatial disorientation training, and basic instrument training. The memo also calls for extra attention to night flight training. (It is seemingly oblivious to the relatively new Part 61 rules of the federal aviation regulations regarding night flight training and instrument training for the private pilot rating-rules that went into effect after Kennedy completed his private pilot rating.)

None of this, however, is going to impinge too much on your flight training progress if your flight instructor has been up to snuff all along. It is the last section of the memo that smarts. It says that the FAA is currently looking into encouraging the industry to promote more extensive night flying experience and to "influence" pilots to obtain an instrument rating. Read that: Insurance companies should demand more money to provide coverage for low-time night flying pilots and pilots without instrument ratings. This would provide an incentive for pilots to get more night training and to push on right away into an instrument rating. Neither of these is "bad" per se, it is simply that there is no need to force people to get on with their training. We, as a pilot population, have shown that we are advancing on our own, without penalties such as higher insurance rates to spur us on.

What's worse, the memo lets us know that the FAA is also considering possible rule changes that would require private pilots to have more night flying experience before earning a rating or might even mandate the use of VFR flight plans.

The memo doesn't say it, but one FAA official who preferred anonymity even suggested that private pilot VFR night flying privileges may disappear altogether. Yes, all this because one pilot erred one night-one pilot who everyone seemed to know.

Regulations get made this way more often than you'd think. Perhaps a study was in progress or an item was under review, but mass media attention works like a laser beam to cut through years of red tape and careful analysis to create new rules that prevent such tragedies from happening again. Except that rules don't prevent accidents-pilots using good judgment, making sound decisions do.

The AOPA Communications Division worked tirelessly in the days and weeks after last summer's tragedy to explain to the public that small airplanes are not inherently dangerous and that those who pilot them are already adequately regulated. But only we can turn the tide back by piloting responsibly so as not to cause an accident that will add fuel to the fire. As you can see, it doesn't take much to spur the FAA toward making rules that make our skies a more restrictive and more expensive place to fly. We don't want to let bad press ruin the freest place to fly on Earth.