This... Not User Fees... Is The Single Most Important Issue Facing ALL Pilots

By nearly accounts, 2006 will go down as a banner year for general aviation. Sales of GA planes remain healthy, with a varied selection of capable aircraft. You likely won't find many new plane owners complaining they couldn't find just what they were looking for. (Whether it was available at the price they were looking for, though, is a different matter.)

Furthermore, the wide selection of new planes available also serves to drive down prices on existing airframes. Whereas news planes can still be considered a seller's market... if a buyer is considering a used plane, they would seem to have the upper hand.

Even in the face of ever-climbing fuel prices, buyers don't seem to be put off too much by sticker shock, if GAMA's year-to-date numbers for 2006 are an indication. People are buying, planes have little chance to collect dust on dealer lots... manufacturers are happy.

Not all is well, though. Several issues that could tank -- I'll say it again, TANK -- the latest GA boom are just over the horizon. Most visible is the impending FAA funding battle... but there are very real concerns also about attracting new pilots to the fold, and insuring they are properly trained. As the baby boomer generation has aged, so has the pilot community... and we're not bringing in new bodies anywhere quickly enough. Yet.

The issue of pilot safety also looms large. The GA community was hit this year with several high-profile accidents... and now more than ever, the "general" media is paying close attention to any and all incidents and mishaps. All one needs to do is set up a news alert for "plane crash"... your inbox will be flooded with reports. All day. Every day.

There is also the question of new technologies. The dawning of the 21st century brought with it a plethora of new and innovative products for the general aviation pilot. Glass cockpits, GPS, TAWS, TCAS, ballistic parachutes... the list goes on. Perhaps it is to be expected that 2006 saw relatively little true innovation in the GA segment, after such a flood of new technology.

If there's one thing history shows us, though, it's that if the GA market doesn't innovate... it WILL stagnate, and sales will plummet as a result.

Over the next several days, Aero-News will consider the four key areas that impacted general aviation in 2006. We will also examine how GA is working to bring new pilots into the fold... and whether those efforts are having an impact.

Safety

This is it... the one issue, above all others (even, dare I say it, user fees) that could lead to the most significant trouble down the road for general aviation.

For all the talk of safety, and despite all the advancements in technology designed specifically to improve a pilot's chances when facing a critical situation (and more importantly... systems designed to keep said pilot OUT of such a situation)... 2006 may be viewed as a setback year for general aviation safety.

There really wasn't any one accident that tipped the scales against GA for 2006. True, some received more airplay in the "general" media than others, meaning more people outside the pilot community were influenced by the (often negligent) reporting by those sources. For every aviation mishap that was reported ad nauseum on CNN, though, there were dozens of others that slipped under the radar... involving all kinds of aircraft, and all kinds of situations.

It shouldn't be like this. In light of the many technological breakthroughs for GA pilots in the last several years, one would think the chances a pilot would be able to takeoff, cruise to their destination, and land safely would be better than ever before.

And guess what? All things being equal, those chances ARE better than ever before. We're not looking at same kind of scenario we had in the late 40s and throughout the 1950s -- when pilots crashed often, and those mishaps were almost always fatal. The wealth of technology and information available to pilots today is unprecedented... and you don't have to fly the latest glass-cockpit wonder to have access to it.

Just to name a few examples -- AOPA's Air Safety Foundation offers an extensive array of FREE online courses with the sole intent of making us all safer pilots. The FAA offers seminars on subjects of airmanship and safe flying, as well. There are more manufacturer-supported training programs available now than ever before... and pilots groups are realizing the importance of stressing safety to their members, as well.

When the time comes to plan a flight, pilots can get detailed weather briefings either online, or via a quick phone call. For the moment, it doesn't cost anything to file a flight plan (you DO file a flight plan when traveling more than a few miles from the airport... right?), nor will your credit card be charged anything for a call to Flight Service for an enroute update.

Step up into a newer model airplane, and a pilot has even more resources available... potentially life-saving features like terrain awareness, collision avoidance systems, 26-G cockpit seats (and seatbelt-mounted airbags), in-cockpit satellite weather, ballistic parachutes... the list goes on.

What none of these resources take into account, however... and what none of these resources can prevent... is the fateful go/no-go decision that all-too-many pilots made in 2006, in the face of fatigue, adverse weather, or other compromising factors.

In fact, those same advancements that have made planes safer than ever, can also fundamentally alter a pilot's bravado, and foster overconfidence in his or her ability to fly out of a dangerous situation.

None of those safety breakthroughs can execute a 180 degree turn out of the clouds when a VFR pilot encounters unexpected IFR conditions. None of those systems can force a pilot to set down at an alternate airport before the tanks run dry.

And therein lies the real problem facing us all. In too many accidents to count, it's not the plane that failed the pilot... but the pilot that failed the plane.

It doesn't matter what you fly. All one needs to do is look at the FAA's Preliminary Reports, to see that all types of aircraft are involved in the same basic kinds of accidents. We still have aircraft that are blundering off into weather for which the airplanes (and/or pilots), are ill-equipped; we still see way too many pilots dumping airplanes on takeoff or landing due to stalls; we still see way too many airplanes going down due to the inattention of the pilots, or their unwillingness to practice the kind of judgment they all claim to bring to each flight.

Most glaringly... too few pilots are taking advantage of the growing and impressive opportunities for additional training and retraining that would not only help perfect their judgment, but fine-tune their skills... and maybe, just maybe, help them avoid ending up on that FAA Prelim.

If there is one positive from the multitude of high-profile accidents that general aviation suffered in 2006, it is that pilots and manufacturers alike have started to increasingly ask the questions that are fundamental to reducing mishaps.

Yes, we need to ask if our planes are safe... and what can be done to make them safer? But most importantly --

• Are we teaching pilots all that we need to?
• Are those pilots listening?
• How do we instill the basic good judgment necessary to keep good pilots from pushing their aircraft into bad circumstances?
• How can we train pilots to properly handle an emergency, but not necessarily life-threatening, situation?
• What can be done to promote safety? Not just as a catchphrase, or a marketing tagline... but how can pilots and manufacturers alike train others to always, ALWAYS consider the risks of taking off into that dark night, or that dense cloudlayer, versus just sitting on the ground and waiting out the storm?

On my very first instructional flight, my flight instructor told me this one, simple axiom -- "There are bold pilots, and there are old pilots. But seldom are they both." Sure, there are exceptions... and those pilots are often quick to boast of their own bravado and skill. All things being equal... I'd prefer not to fly with them.

There will always... ALWAYS... be accidents, and many will not be preventable. Bad things do happen to good planes, and good people. It is the very nature of our existence that there are times a person can do everything right... and still encounter a situation that ends badly, through no fault of our own.

There will also, always, be a chorus of groundlings who will comment on what that pilot should have done instead. As pilots, we should do everything we can to keep those voices silent, with nothing to report on.

When pilots crash, it is not just a tragedy for their families and friends. It is a tragedy for all pilots, everywhere. In the end, we are all responsible for each other, and to each other.

And we need to do better by each other. Otherwise, general aviation runs the risk of being taken down from within -- not by onerous regulations, or the threat of skyrocketing costs and fees... but because we proved unable to handle the privilege.

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