letters from our december 2016 issue

Somebody has to say it: What is the FAA thinking? I was pleased to read Rod Machado’s article “License to Learn: You’re Too Slow for Slow Flight.” His comments were spot on and far more restrained than my own. A public airing of this Safety Alert for Operators was long overdue.

Teaching the “power curve” regime is an essential part of learning to be a pilot. Loss of control at low altitude has been identified as an area of concern and a primary cause of general aviation fatalities by both the NTSB and the FAA. The SAFO is counterproductive and should be rescinded.

Jim Crawford
AOPA 780850
North Conway, New Hampshire

Say it isn’t so! Opening my December issue of AOPA Pilot with the usual eager anticipation, I was shocked and horrified to read Rod Machado’s final paragraph.

He and Barry Schiff’s monthly columns have been one of those stable parts of aviation life that gave me comfort, knowing such great soldiers were manning the fortress to protect our unique flying privileges in the United States, and teaching us to fly safe.

Suddenly, I feel less safe. Machado has served with honor, and deserves a break, but who will now step up and fill such a giant hole on the wall?

Clayton Wilson
AOPA 786307
Houston, Texas

I have always enjoyed reading Rod Machado’s columns. While educational and informative, we could always count on a good chuckle. I will miss his monthly column but look forward to continuing via all his other learning ventures.-Andy Nahas, AOPA 7214586, Boscobel, WisconsinGolden girl

I enjoyed reading the article about “Golden Girl” (“Golden Age Ambassador”). I made my first commercial airline flight in 1946 in a Capital Airlines DC–3 from Philadelphia International Airport to National Airport. I have also spent many hours working on and flying in a vintage C–47/DC–3.

I worked for the Palm Springs Air Museum for almost 10 years. In 2003, the museum obtained a C–47 from the Israeli Air Force. The airplane was delivered to the Royal Air Force in 1944. It was used in Operation Market Garden. After the war the RAF gave it to Belgium, which used it in the Berlin Airlift to deliver, among other things, coal. During restoration, we found coal dust under the floorboards.

The Belgians then sold it to the French, who used it in Indochina. It was used in the evacuation of Dien Bien Phu. The French then gave it to Israel, where it was used in the 1967 and 1973 wars. It was then converted to an electronic warfare aircraft and was used to detonate IEDs from the air using electromagnetic pulse. The aircraft had been in continuous military service from 1944 to 1999.

When we restored the aircraft (N60154), I found that they added a lot of strange wiring and the biggest three-phase rotary inverter that I have ever seen in an aircraft. I found some strange wiring going to what seemed like a burglar alarm box and two hidden switches on the right side of the wiring panel, next to the “hamburger” door. Lo and behold, I traced everything out and found a detonator for a self-destruct charge. Needless to say, it was all removed before the airplane was inspected and registered in standard category. Today it is flying regularly.

Richard C. Grosser
AOPA 5842176
Los Angeles, California

Sim time

I just finished reading Bruce Landberg’s column concerning the use of flight simulators and ground trainers to make pilot training more efficient and affordable (“Safety Pilot: Only Using the Hammer to Train?”). I am in favor of increasing the use of simulators in training. I received my private pilot certificate in 1967, then stopped flying in 1973 after approximately 175 hours due to family and financial considerations. I purchased Microsoft Flight Simulator in 1998 and have been an avid user. In 2013, I was given a birthday present of an hour of dual in a Cessna 172. I was able to fly the entire flight, including the landing, after 40 years of being out of the cockpit. I realize that the flight simulator I use is not as sophisticated as the ones used at flight schools, but I feel that using the simulator during the intervening years helped maintain my skills.

By the way, I have since become active again and am thoroughly enjoying flying the “real thing.”

Gary Hess
AOPA 6073746
Aliso Viejo, California

I wholeheartedly agree with Bruce Landsberg’s recommendation for the use of more simulation in flight training. All my type ratings were done in the aircraft except the Boeing 767, which was done entirely in the simulator. My first time with hands on the aircraft flight controls was on a passenger flight from St. Louis to LaGuardia under the supervision of a line check airman.

Knowing that the B-767 simulator time was valuable for flying maneuvers, not doing checklists and starting engines that are done on the ground, I learned the checklists, flow patterns, and engine start procedures in the Cockpit Procedures Trainer. My 767 instructor pilot and I went through instructor pilot training together on the Convair 880 many years before my 767 transition. We completed the two-hour simulator syllabus with time to spare, so I had a chance to do several takeoffs and landings under various conditions. This was not only fun, it was a valuable confidence builder.

Landsberg hit the training nail on the head. Cockpit procedure trainers and simulators are valuable time-saving and money-saving devices that should be used to the full extent in flight training.

Jerry Lawler
AOPA 238200
Palos Heights, Illinois

STEM in schools

I read with interest the article “You Can Fly” describing efforts to start flying clubs and especially to encourage science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) aviation courses in high school. High school education in America is now about 50 years behind Europe because it does not fit to the training needs of society. In the 1960s we removed vocational training from the high school curriculum, moved some of it to college, converted universities from an academic to a business model, and told the public that to be successful, a college education was needed.

The result is high school graduates only qualified to flip hamburgers, massive unemployment among inner city youth who cannot afford college—and a third more students in college than should be, who run up a huge debt while learning what should have been taught in high school. The skills needed for certain types of engineers, electronic and medical technicians, computer programmers, bankers, nurses, accountants, dental assistants, “real” mechanics, et cetera, should be taught in high school, just as they are in many European countries. Students are much happier to learn math, physics, and chemistry if it is part of a vocational curriculum.

J.E. Butler
AOPA 928058
Iowa City, Iowa

Rebate rules

I read “Navigating the FAA Rebate” by Mike Collins with a sense of curiosity. My curiosity was satisfied when I learned that my impression of the FAA rebate for ADS-B installation was shared by others, in particular Joe Goodin. He described it accurately as “next to useless.”

I installed a Garmin GTX 345 1090-MHz ES transponder in my Cirrus SR22. I then accessed the FAA website, which detailed the criteria that must be met to be eligible for the rebate. I found it ridiculously cumbersome and restrictive. But then again, this is the FAA and I expected no less. 

Kudos to those few who can actually navigate the maze of requirements and get a check from the FAA. For me personally, my time is worth more than the $500 I would receive. And by the way, the $500 is taxable.

Kenneth Cahall
AOPA 1055912
Show Low, Arizona

Clarification

In the December issue of AOPA Pilot, “Answers for Pilots: Head to the Islands” said a special validation is required for Experimental aircraft that fly to the Bahamas. The standardized validation form is available on AOPA’s website. No prior authorization is required. Further, Light Sport Aircraft and pilots that meet the driver’s license standard are welcome in the Bahamas. Learn more online.

Hangar Talk

“Mike and I had some preconceived notions before we arrived in Idaho,” says Senior Features Editor Julie Summers Walker of her and Senior Photographer Mike Fizer’s story “Fields of Gold” on page 58. “First, I thought it would be a lot warmer—shorts and a T-shirt were not appropriate for autumn in Idaho; it was 30 degrees each morning—and both Mike and I believed the drone we’d be seeing would be a quadcopter. When Robert Blair [pictured] showed us the eBee Ag drone, Mike and I were in shock. Its bird-like looks would make it hard to photograph, and it just didn’t jibe with our vision of a ‘drone.’” The pair learned a lot about drone technology and how having pilot skills benefits the operators from pilot Robby Schoepflin. “Oh, and birds are surprised at this drone, too,” says Walker. “Large predatory birds such as hawks often attack the drone as it flies over the fields.” The drone that Schoepflin nicknamed Goldfinch has the scars to prove it.