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The Future Has Arrived
When in “news debt,” you feel disconnected. What did I miss? According to the stack of magazines and our favorite writers, no one is sure how the lifelong, GA-using president will treat us pilots and the Part 23 revisions to aircraft manufacturing standards are approved. Pilot third class medical reforms are about to be implemented, electronic ignition for certified, piston aircraft engines is finally here, 94 UL fuel is out there and UL102 may be here in 2018. Electronic technology continues to enhance our airplanes. According to Mac, the future promised by the FAA 20 years ago has arrived as VORs give way to GPS. We have WAAS with LPV minimums, synthetic vision displays, HUDs, FADEC in every kitchen and, coming soon to a cockpit near you, AR (Augmented Reality) glasses that superimpose computer-generated images into our view.
The drone population is growing and development continues on pilot- less airplanes. The movie Sully was a hit and put a positive shine on all of us, some of the shine, unrealistically, at the expense of the NTSB. Several magazines dissected its accuracy and narrative including a review by FO Jeff Skiles. The bad news: we lost Bob Hoover, experienced pilots are still running out of gas and some of us continue to encroach onto active runways. While the used aircraft market has recovered to what is historically normal levels, turbine owners may be selling again. The final shocker is that GA is approaching a tipping point in pilot numbers that, if allowed to continue, will question the viability of the GA industry. What? When did that happen? I thought we were in a period of recovery and growth.
An Endangered Species of Swashbuckler
As hundreds of lifelong professional flight instructors, whom can instruct and inspire with Yoda-like results, begin to relax more often than they sit in a hot, bumpy trainer, GA is slowly losing oil pressure. EAA and AOPA have been promoting programs to entice
After years flying the MD-80, author Kevin Dingman has spent the last several weeks undergoing his airline’s training for the Boeing 737-800 NG.
young people into GA: Young Eagles and the You Can Fly programs. And they are helping. But the national completion rate for private pilots is just 20 percent. Gen-X and millennials aren’t any less skilled than previous generations. In fact, they’re a level or two of magnitude beyond previous generations in their ability to understand, interpret, and even embrace new technology. From computers to phones and tablets to avionics, it’s their domain.
Having finished a month-long course of training on the 737 using a combination of electronic trainers and simulators, I’m inclined to agree that a quantum leap in the use of simulation in GA is due. It’s a step to reduce the entry fee into our world and should increase the completion rate of these tech savvy students to something north of 50 percent. Medical reform should also have a positive effect by removing a perceived obstacle in learning to fly.
Another source of GA pilots is those already certified. There are about a half-million non-current pilots and my Wings of Mercy co-pilot is one of them. We all know that it boils down to time and money. I’ve offered to pay for him to get current. No time, he says. It’s
a matter of leading a horse to water, I suppose.
The new flight hour requirement for entry into Part 121 employment is not helping draw pilots to the industry. I agree with the point, but respectfully disagree with those that say the hours aren’t needed. A 400-hour pilot in the right seat of a 50-passenger jet, at night in the weather, flying alone after their over-60 Captain had a “medical event” is an invitation for brain freeze. Especially in a new pilot that has never faced the real (not simulated) boogey man up close and personal. Or watched a captain deal with him. The affordability of aircraft rental or purchase and the amount of income that f lying can potentially generate, remain the quintessential conundrums in gaining the experience to face these issues.
Rumors
For years, the regional airlines could hire relatively inexperienced pilots that were willing to work for historically sub-standard pay. Mainline Part 121 operators are starting to feel a hangover from that era as they cannibalize the pilot ranks from their feeders to
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