President's Perspective

The week following the tragic accident involving John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, AOPA surveyed student pilots. The association wondered what impact this well publicized event might have on those who were learning to fly. With an accuracy of plus or minus 5 percent, an overwhelming majority of student pilots felt no change in their resolve to pursue their private pilot certificates. In fact, about 13 percent said they were more committed to training.

To me, this suggests two things. First, people who decide to become pilots are likely to be clear-headed, well-balanced individuals who are not easily discouraged. Second, flight instructors are giving students a solid background of aeronautics, safety, and self-confidence.

These notions seem to be shared by students: Nearly 75 percent saw no need to increase the amount of instruction leading to the private ticket. This response might have been influenced to some extent by the threat of added expense for primary instruction, but I believe most respondents recognized that instruction requirements are a norm, to be adjusted by the instructor according to the student's individual progress. Some students achieve satisfactory proficiency within the minimum required hours; most of us take a little longer. Past AOPA surveys have indicated that it takes students an average of 77 hours to earn their certificate, in spite of the fact that the regulations allow them to get it in a about half that time.

When asked which training areas should receive more attention if training requirements were expanded, 55 percent of student pilots thought instrument procedures should be stressed, 31 percent chose night operations, and 24 percent picked weather.

It's interesting to note that two of these choices match major causal factors in general aviation accidents. Continued flight under visual flight rules (VFR) into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) is, and has long been, a leading cause of fatal accidents. And how does a VFR pilot remedy that situation? By immediately going on the gauges, performing a gentle 180 degree turn, and emerging from IMC. The basic instrument instruction in normal private pilot training is designed to train for that life-saving maneuver.

Weather is frequently cited as a causal factor in National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident reports, but our own AOPA Air Safety Foundation's annual Nall Report on general aviation accidents says that "Weather doesn't usually cause accidents-poor pilot judgment does."

Every pilot, at whatever stage of training and experience, must evaluate weather conditions before and during every flight. And the evaluation must include the pilot's own skills and physical condition at takeoff time. It's often a question of both pilot judgment and having the courage to tell a passenger or employer that you won't fly or continue the flight until weather improves.

The prominence given to night operations by survey respondents (31 percent) is interesting. The facts show there's little difference between VFR daytime and VFR nighttime accident statistics. The nighttime fatal accident rate is actually lower than the daytime rate (0.76 vs 0.88 per 100,000 hours flown). Why? Many pilots simply prefer not to fly at night given its additional challenges, so relatively more experienced pilots have more of the night flying hours.

The vast majority of student pilots (nearly 85 percent) reported little or no increase in their concerns about safety following the Kennedy accident. Most of them had discussed the event with family and friends, but only a third said their intimates expressed increased concern. This is reassuring, because fearful friends or loved ones can be a serious deterrent to a beginning pilot.

I was pleased to see that barely 3 percent of these student pilots think this accident demands a substantial or moderate increase in regulations on flight training or VFR flying. As I pointed out to a Congressional subcommittee shortly after the accident, a single event, however visible and tragic, should not provoke knee-jerk reactions. Legislators seem to have gotten the message, because so far there have been few calls from Congress for regulatory changes.

It was extremely gratifying to learn that virtually all survey respondents who were aware of AOPA's work following the Kennedy accident approved or strongly endorsed our efforts. In the event's first four days alone, AOPA gave more than 150 interviews to major TV, radio, and print media outlets to help them provide fair and accurate reporting on general aviation.

It's a good feeling to know AOPA's efforts to promote accuracy, fairness, and unbiased news coverage were appreciated by those on whom general aviation's future depends-the student pilots of today.