Pilots

When the Civil Aeronautics Administration evolved into the Federal Aviation Agency in 1958, the agency was replete with inspectors who had deep roots in general aviation. They considered it their responsibility to assist pilots and promote aviation. During the ensuing years, however, many of these enthusiasts retired and were replaced by others who were less dedicated to aviation.

As a result, knowledgeable pilots have come to regard the phrase "I’m from the FAA, and I am here to help" with justifiable skepticism. Fortunately, there are many exceptions to the rule. One noteworthy example and a true friend of GA is Jack Norris.

Norris became interested in aviation in 1949 while working as an electronics technician for Bell Telephone in Southern California. There he worked with Bill Dutton, whose contagious enthusiasm for flying inspired Norris to take lessons at nearby Compton Airport. He made his first solo flight in an Interstate Cadet that same year.

"I couldn’t believe what I was missing," Norris says with a grin. "But I had no intention of flying professionally. I just wanted to fly for the sheer fun of it."

Norris’ career took a turn when he got a job in 1956 with Aero Service Corporation, an aerial mapping firm in Philadelphia. After spending two years working on airborne electronics in deserts and jungles all over the world, it finally dawned on him that the mapping pilots in his company made much more money and lived a lot better than he did.

While working in Libya in 1958, he became a copilot on a Boeing B–17 Flying Fortress (armed only with cameras) and a Lockheed Lodestar for two years. He upgraded to captain and flew mapping missions over 40 countries in Aero Commanders, Twin Beeches, and Cessna 320s.

Airplanes that are equipped for extensive aerial surveying brim with electronic equipment. Unfortunately, this led some Sudanese officials in 1967 (during the Six-Day War in the Middle East) to the erroneous conclusion that Norris was a spy for the CIA. After spending a month in a primitive African jail, Norris decided that aerial mapping of third-world countries left something to be desired. He returned to California in 1968 and began flight instructing for Gunnell Aviation in Santa Monica, California.

In 1971 he took a job at the Federal Aviation Administration. As an aviation safety inspector, he could still remain actively involved in GA. Every pilot in America should be thankful that he did.

During his first 10 years with the FAA, Norris was an accident prevention specialist at the local General Aviation District Office in Santa Monica. During his tenure in the Accident Prevention Program, Norris organized hundreds of safety programs and worked closely with many of GA’s alphabet groups.

Norris then moved up to the FAA’s Western-Pacific Regional Office as an airspace safety inspector. His division manager noticed that Norris was called upon frequently to help resolve local airspace problems. Norris was so effective at resolving and explaining differences that the FAA wisely decided he would be most valuable to both the FAA and the pilot community by working full time on such issues. In 1988, he became an airspace safety coordinator, a position created exclusively for him.

Since then, Norris has worked with the Northern and Southern California airspace user groups in helping to resolve their complaints about airspace difficulties and encroachments. Having flown GA aircraft all over the world, Norris recognized firsthand how excessive regulation can strangle the freedom of flight. His goal, therefore, has been to make flying as safe and as free from restriction as possible. While he technically represents the FAA, his heart has been with the pilots (sometimes to the chagrin of his superiors).

Norris was instrumental in developing and promoting charted and easily navigable VFR routes through the restrictive, complex airspace in the Los Angeles Basin. He also worked with utility companies to help reduce the threat of wire strikes to helicopter operators.

Public Law 101 made it impossible for him to slow down the steamroller that created airspace restrictions over the Grand Canyon on a grand scale, but they would have been worse without his interdiction and dedication to the needs of GA.

Norris knew that airspace restrictions over the Grand Canyon could not be shown in sufficient detail on the Las Vegas Sectional and fought for development of a large-scale chart of the canyon. He also wrote the briefing pamphlet that comes with the chart and contains his photographs of critical VFR checkpoints.

Norris was the first to recognize that airspace restrictions over the canyon increased the need for real-time weather information in the area. He managed to get a financial commitment for several AWOS stations, but first had to negotiate with the Havasupai Indians (who live in the canyon) for permission to allow this equipment to be installed on their land. This required riding a horse into the canyon during the winter to visit the tribal council. He has thus far been unsuccessful but does not intend to give up.

Norris has more than 8,000 hours in 80 different makes and models of aircraft, and his airline transport pilot certificate contains Learjet and DC–3 type ratings. He currently flies a Piper Comanche 250 and a Mooney Mite.

When Norris, now 71, eventually retires from the FAA, GA will lose one of its staunchest and most effective allies. He can be believed and trusted when he says, "I’m from the FAA, and I am here to help."