Pilot Briefing: Fighting to Fly

“For many veterans, the decision to separate from service is one of the hardest they will ever make,” Ellis said. “For me, one thing offered reassurance in the uncertain world I was about to face—service members could utilize their earned benefit as long as it was offered as part of a degree program.”

At the university, Ellis discovered the VA had assigned responsibility for the guidance of VA flight training programs to the state accrediting agency (SAA). In late March, the SAA contacted the three major programs in Oklahoma and instructed them to provide documentation on their programs before April 15 or their program would be suspended from funding. There was no specific guidance as the institutions scrambled to address the SAA questions. In May, Ellis was notified that his flight degree was no longer approved for funding and he must switch to a nonflying degree—that also might or might not be approved—to retain his benefits. That was May 16, the last day to drop a class. If he dropped a class he would lose his housing benefit. With a wife and young son, these were hard choices. “My final option would be to take out student loans for the degree and risk putting my family into more debt. Or just quit,” Ellis said.

Ellis considered dropping his summer classes as the SAA continued to investigate. The faculty at his university doggedly addressed the SAA questions; the other two universities were forced to give up as the investigation lingered. In July, the SAA approved his university program but it was too late for Ellis to get into some of the fall classes. He was unable to get time off from his job, so he will not be taking classes until January.

“I am very thankful the university received approval, but believe the process was inefficient and poorly run—at the expense of vets and their families,” Ellis said. “Our vets put their own personal needs aside, without question for the people of this country. It would be nice if the people who serve in these approval positions would do that in return.”

AOPA, along with other avaition leaders, sent a letter to the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee urging members to oppose any cap on flight training benefits for veterans. The Veterans First Act is pending in the Senate and does not include a cap on flight training benefits. A similar House bill passed with a cap of $20,235, a figure far too low for career flight training.

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AOPA News

AOPA responds to crash report

NBC story lacks context, clarity

By Jim Moore

A tragic midair collision over Georgia in September prompted a response from NBC, which had a story on the air within hours of the fatal accident at West Georgia Regional Airport. The NBC Nightly News report cast a critical eye on general aviation safety. AOPA responded quickly to the news organization, noting missed opportunities for clarity, missing context, and mistaken notions that the 90-second report could create in the minds of viewers.

Three people were killed September 7 in a collision between two single-engine airplanes, and a witness statement reported to various media outlets by local authorities suggested both aircraft were attempting to land simultaneously. Little is known with certainty in the first hours after any accident. The NTSB investigation had most likely barely begun, if investigators had even arrived on the scene, by the time NBC hit the airwaves with a litany of fragmented facts and grim statistics. The airport has no control tower, and the crash was the “latest in a string of fatal crashes,” the network reported, citing other incidents in recent months in various locations.

AOPA President Mark Baker spoke to the network to express the association's concerns.The report quoted selected data, including the number of lives lost in GA accidents over the past eight years, and the fact that GA safety remains on the NTSB’s list of “most wanted” transportation improvements. (The NTSB has chosen a particular aspect of GA safety for its “most wanted” list for several years running.)

Omitted from the NBC report was context including the steady decline in GA accidents, and the decline in GA accident rates recorded in recent years. The AOPA Air Safety Institute published the twenty-fifth edition of the Joseph T. Nall Report in August, noting unprecedented success in accident-rate reduction.

The Air Safety Institute is not alone noting the gains and improvements: The Wall Street Journal wrote in April about a decline in GA accidents; Bloomberg reported in August on indications that technology has helped improve GA safety; Newsday noted in May that despite a local increase in GA crashes, the overall rate of fatal accidents is down.

Government experts have concur with the basic assessment that GA safety continues to improve. FAA Deputy Administrator Michael Whitaker spoke of progress during a GA safety summit, when he highlighted ongoing efforts to further reduce accidents through implementation of new technology. The NTSB noted in 2014 that GA accidents had decreased “in all measures,” based on 2013 accident data.

AOPA is aware that such context is often lost, or tossed aside, when tragedy strikes in dramatic fashion. Association staff work to educate reporters and news organizations about the successes as well as the challenges of aviation safety, and the imperative to allow experts and investigators to do their work before drawing conclusions about any particular incident. The Air Safety Institute draws on lessons that are learned with the completion of thorough accident investigations to keep pilots aware of trends, technology, and practices that are expected to continue improving aviation safety in years to come.

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Web: www.aopa.org/advocacy

Headlines that affect you Recent news from the aviation world

Red Bull Air Race Pilot Hannes Arch Dies
Hannes Arch, one of the select few pilots in the world to fly in the highly technical Red Bull Air Race series, died in a helicopter accident in the Austrian Alps. Arch was flying a Robinson R66 helicopter. Shortly after takeoff, the helicopter hit a cliff and crashed into a steep gully. The conditions at the time of the accident were night VFR. The cause of the crash has not been determined. —Flying magazine

Santa Monica begins evictions
Two weeks after the FAA reiterated its longstanding and unambiguous view that Santa Monica Municipal Airport must continue operating on “fair and reasonable terms” until at least 2023, the city issued eviction notices targeting both of the airport’s fixed-base operators, Atlantic Aviation and American Flyers. —AOPA.org

Sea risen establishes world speed record

It happened more than a half year ago but now it is official: The Italian-Swiss microlight manufacturer SEA (Swiss Excellence Airplanes) is now holder of the FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale) world speed records in Microlight class, with 323 km/hour or 174 knots. The record flight was performed on December 16, 2015, at the airfield Zamboni, Ozzano dell Emilia, close to Bologna in Italy.

The pilot was SEA co-owner Alberto Porto, and co-pilot was Sara Della Moretta. The aircraft is a newcomer to the European UL market; the Risen features a distinctive V-tail like that of the Bonanza. The aircraft belongs to the European UL aircraft breed, similar to the U.S. LSA two-seat aircraft but with lower allowed weight (MTOW of 1,040 pounds instead the 1,320 pounds in the United States) and the fact that ULs can use retractable gear and constant speed propeller.

The aircraft was a stock aircraft in base trim, and was powered by a stock 100-horsepower Rotax 912ULS carburated engine. The now-FAI ratified and current speed record was established in the following FAI sub-classes: R-Absolute Speed (ID 17912) and RAL2T Speed over the straight course (ID 17783). The previous speed record in this class was broken by more than 16 knots (30km/hour).

The older record was established by a tandem two-seater, while the SEA Risen is a side-by-side two seater with the cabin width of a Cessna 172. Porto said that he guarantees that the newest Risen, to be delivered by end of 2016, powered by a turbocharged Rotax 914 engine with 115 horsepower, will reach at 9,000 feet a fast cruise airspeed of 355 km/hour (191 knots or 220 mph).

The first three serial manufactured aircraft will be delivered in the coming months; German UL certification for the fixed-gear version, called Siren, is expected in the first quarter 2017. Pricing: Risen, the RG version, starts at $164,000 and the fixed-gear Siren starts at U.S. $110,000. ­

—Marino Boric

This month in aviation

“This is not a time when women should be patient. We are in a war and we need to fight it with all our ability and every weapon possible.  Women pilots, in this particular case, are a weapon waiting to be used.”

­—Eleanor Roosevelt

The first women of Jacqueline Cochran's Womens Flight Training Detachment report for Army Air Corps flight training in Texas. This group, along with the Womens Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, would go on to become the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) in 1943. Some 1,100 women volunteered to fly for the WASP during World War II, supplementing the ranks where there were not enough male pilots.