License to Learn: Fly-in firsts
From fist bumps to medical reform
My first “first” was a first for me. It was a fist bump. That’s right. Until Oshkosh, I’ve not had an opportunity to engage in a fist-bump ritual. Then again, it never occurred to me that shaking hands was so last century. Today, bumping knuckles apparently means the same thing. An AOPA friend of mine had his hands full of eating utensils when we met at Oshkosh, so he formed a fist and held it straight out at me. Normally, the sight of a fist activates my duck-and-weave gland. This, though, was a friendly greeting and “bump” happened. A first.
Another first for me was this year’s EAA Founder’s Innovation Prize competition. The goal of the prize is to inspire innovative solutions to general aviation’s important problems. This year’s prize was offered in hopes of finding a solution to general aviation’s loss-of-control accidents. I was honored to be one of five judges on the panel that reviewed more than 140 entries. It was clear to me that almost everyone who submitted an entry packet had given a great deal of thought to solving the LOC problem. Picking five finalists from more than 140 submissions wasn’t easy at all.
The five finalists presented their ideas in front of the judges and audience, and then answered questions on their presentations. All the finalists had an impressive knowledge of their products, but clearly only one would win the $25,000 first prize (with $10,000 and $5,000 going to the second- and third-place winners).
First prize was awarded to Ihab Awad for his Airball flight display device. The Airball device presents symbolic data—airspeed, angle of attack, and yaw data—on a smartphone located on the airplane’s panel. Changes in the size and location of a blue circular image (ball) on the display provide the pilot with a single source of symbolic flight information. The inclusion of symbolic yaw data is important given that coordinated flight reduces the likelihood of an airplane spinning after it stalls. This is the first instrument I’ve seen that allows the pilot to monitor three types of critical LOC information using a single symbolic image.
For the first time in all the years I’ve attended Oshkosh, there’s been a major change in pilot medical certification. No doubt you’ve heard about it, unless you’ve been hiding in your bomb shelter.Quite frankly, no one knew exactly what to expect from the entrants—or what to expect from the judges—this year. This was a first. EAA plans to offer this competition every year for similar innovations in aviation safety. Are you feeling innovative? Then enter 2017’s contest. If you don’t win the prize money, you may at least earn a fist bump from a judge.
My final first is a really big one, and Mark Baker and his fine staff are primarily responsible for it. For the first time in all the years I’ve attended Oshkosh, there’s been a major change in pilot medical certification. No doubt you’ve heard about it, unless you’ve been hiding in your bomb shelter with your headset on. Once the FAA finalizes the new medical certification rules, you’ll need to do only a few things to fly without needing a current third class medical certificate (please check AOPA’s website for details). First, you’ll have to take online aeromedical training every two years. This might include training in such things as hypoxia, fatigue, and drug usage. No doubt you’ll also be asked a few simple questions such as, “What causes that beating noise in your chest?” and “Why is air our friend?” I’m sure you’ll do fine here.
You’ll also need to visit a physician every four years for an examination that’s guided by an FAA medical checklist that you’ll print from the FAA website. You should be fine as long as you hand the doctor the FAA medical checklist and not the checklist you use to preflight your airplane. You’ll know that you’ve provided the wrong checklist when the doc asks you to remove your pitot tube’s protective cover for inspection and crawls underneath your belly to check out your exhaust stack. I wouldn’t want to be the first to experience that “first.”
Web: www.rodmachado.com
