We've had an interesting week here at ANN... having just crawled back to the secret ANN compound near beautiful downtown Winter Haven, FL. Hopscotching through a number of states and stories, the high-point of the week was a somewhat low-key meeting that combined the sympathetic interests of the CGAR and FITS program into a three day get-together within the confines of the University of North Dakota up in Grand Forks, ND.

For those of you who aren't already familiar with two under-reported but none-the-less pivotal FAA programs, CGAR stands for Center of Excellence for General Aviation Research. Their mission is "to make significant contributions toward the improvement of air transportation, safety and efficiency." Their modus operandi is to seek their goals with multi-disciplinary teams to enhance aviation related research, education and technology transfer and utilization in mission critical areas. CGAR consists of a conglomerate of academia, industry, and government that network in collaborative studies and research intended to further the progression of general aviation.

FITS, on the other hand, is a bit more tightly focused on a more unique agenda... flight training. The FAA/Industry Training Standards (FITS) program is a partnership between FAA, Industry, and Academia designed to enhance general aviation safety. This will be accomplished by developing flight training programs that are more convenient, more accessible, less expensive, and more relevant to today’s users of the National Airspace System. All FITS products should be non-regulatory and incentive driven. FITS is focused on the redesign of general aviation training. Instead of training pilots to pass practical tests, FITS will focus on expertly managed real-world challenges. Scenario based training will be used to enhance the GA pilots’ aeronautical decision making, risk management, and single pilot resource management skills. FITS promises to do this without compromising basic stick and rudder skills.

While the members of these groups are constantly communicating with one another, this past week was the main chance they had to meet in one place, compare notes, and set agendas and directions for the future. It promised to be an intriguing, if occasionally confrontational, meeting and it was that, indeed.

It was a three day seminar... with the first reserved for working sessions and the second for CGAR presentations. The third was dedicated solely to FITS seminars and associated programs.

The CGAR sessions were intriguing. After a greeting from UND's Bruce Smith, the Dean of the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences and some additional welcomes and intro info from the FAA's Pete Sparacino, the FAA's Program Manager for CGAR, the day got off to a fast start.

The first panel introduced the FAA's FITS program to CGAR members. Speakers included Frank Ayers, Charles Robertson, Tom Connolly, Pete Schumacher, Don Dubuque, Bob Wright (shown right), and Tom Glista. These speakers laid out a solid basis for their perceived need for FITS... with the FAA's Bob Wright noting that "Change is necessary," while also adding that flight training, per se, hadn't changed much in the last 40 years. Wright emphasized a need for enhanced professionalism among flight trainers for the new generation of pilots, but wisely intoned that he wanted to see these changes come about by industry effort, not by regulation.

UND staffers then offered a short tour of their altitude chamber... a novel offering in that UND is the only private university to boast such a device and the training to go with it. UND not only uses it for their own students but does a solid business training outside parties, mostly corporate pilots, as well.
  
The next presentation was intriguing... especially in that most discussion involving statistics make great substitutes for anesthesia. Surprisingly; this presentation, by Massoud Bazargan and Ken Knopp, did no such thing. An hour's breakdown of accidents over a number of criteria pointed out some intriguing trends and problem areas... especially when broken down by state and month -- it was obvious that certain parts of the country had some interesting problems to work on during periods when weather went sour and when traffic activity was up.

Other panels included "Analysis and Evaluation of Green LED Threshold Lights Installed at Phoenix and Grand Forks" by Tom Zeidlik and Don Gallagher, as well as a State Aviation Directors' Panel that further qualified a number of special concerns to various state aviation organizations. Afternoon sessions included "Airport Standards" by Kim Kenville and Ryan King, and an excellent presentation on "Ethanol as a Fuel for General Aviation" by Dennis Helder, Ted Aulich, Frank Argenziano, Skip Byrnes. With the price and availability of avgas creating significant concerns for the future, this group got the attendee's attention in no small way. A number of research programs have been flying on ethanol for some time, with one program involving an elder Piper Arrow examined in some detail. A new one will shortly introduce radial engines to this fuel... we're looking forward to hearing about the results. A somewhat final session discussed the use of lasers as dispersal devices to rid airports of birds. It was conducted by Jim Dunlop and Michel Hovan.

Another UND tour about mid-afternoon demoed their highly sophisticated ATC Tower Sim... a 360 degree device built up just like a tower cab in which students work all manner of air traffic... often provided by students flying sims from another room and working the system in a real-world setting. Pretty impressive.

To be continued...

FMI: www.faa.gov/avr/afs/fits/index.cfm, www.cgar.org, www.faasafety.org