Advocating for today’s pilots

Most of these innovations have been tangible upgrades to aircraft, systems, and equipment. In more recent years, we have witnessed advances in unmanned aircraft, navigational instruments, electric propulsion, and even the commercialization of space flight. These technological achievements have materially improved safety and efficiency and are vital to aviation and its future.

However, along with the many advancements we’ve seen in general aviation, we’ve also confronted complex and complicated issues that directly impact today’s pilots. These issues have taken many forms and are certainly keeping your advocacy team in Washington, D.C., and around the country, on our toes.

As you can imagine, nothing is ever easy in Washington, and the bureaucratic and legislative processes are always winding, cumbersome, and challenging. The only thing predictable in Washington is that everything is unpredictable. Our small but effective staff addresses issues affecting the future of general aviation and today’s GA pilots. These issues are many, but a few include modernization of the third class medical special issuance process; the development of a fleetwide unleaded fuel replacement; ensuring timely availability of designated pilot examiners; affordable aircraft insurance; airport hangar availability; FBO pricing and fee transparency; opening up Canada to BasicMed pilots; and notam improvements.

There are plenty more of these issues, but with pushing, prodding, persistence, professionalism, and a heavy dose of common sense, we can—and will—find solutions, whether in the bowels of the bureaucracy or in the halls of Congress. If I learned anything in my 25 years on Capitol Hill, it’s that you need to know the rules of the game and play it better than anyone else. It’s often a battle for myriad reasons, but the cause of protecting our freedom to fly is well worth it.

The FAA says it will take them up to three years to fix this through the regulatory process. That from an agency with a mission to “provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world.”One of the issues that you’ve probably been hearing about is the FAA’s misguided interpretation of flight training (see “Action: Top Stories,” p. 14). Over the summer, the FAA turned 60 years of precedence on its head by redefining flight instruction in certain aircraft categories as receiving compensation, even if it is free, or the carrying of a person for hire. The last time I checked, compensation for flight training was and is purely to train pilots and to improve skills and safety, and not to be construed as compensation for carriage.

Now, the FAA is requiring pilots flying certain airplanes (experimental, limited, and primary categories) to obtain a letter of deviation authority (LODA) or exemption to receive flight instruction or flight training in the same airplane that they have been training in for years. You can’t make this stuff up. And the FAA says it will take them up to three years to fix this through the regulatory process. That from an agency with a mission to “provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world.”

It is exactly why AOPA President Mark Baker sent all members a “Call to Action,” urging them to contact their elected representatives in Washington. Legislation has been introduced in Congress that defines compensation for flight instruction as what it has always been—compensation for training—and ensures the FAA doesn’t expand its new interpretation of flight training to all pilots.

AOPA has reached out to all its members only twice since 2013—once to urge Congress to support third class medical reform and again to defeat the airlines’ attempt to take over our air traffic control system. Both these efforts were successful because thousands of AOPA members responded; they contacted their elected officials in Congress to support legislation. It’s vital that we do it again for today’s pilots, as well as for those to come.