Pilots are being asked to complete the General Aviation Flight Data Monitoring Survey, designed to evaluate the familiarity and perceptions of the general aviation community concerning flight data monitoring capabilities and objectives. The 18-question survey takes about five minutes to complete. Check it out here.
About Janice Wood
Janice Wood is editor of General Aviation News.
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As a child of WW2 I grew up seeing airplanes as the modern day equivalent of Harry Potter’s characters. never missed an episode of Sky King. I now have 2 adult children, 6 teen age Grandchildren, plus an assortment of their friends who, with no exceptions, consider private piloting as an old persons sport/hobby…. To meet a young person with a serious interest in flying is a very rare event.
No doubt I am talking to the wall. If the little guy/girl, pilots don”t speakup, were a gone. goose.
Ms Wood:
I am responsive to surveys, but I have no idea what “Flight Data Monitoring” is or why I should worry about it.
Maybe you should do a better job getting the word out on what flight data monitoring is before you ask people to take a survey about it.
one rarely sees aviation magazines at news stands anymore. It was exciting to read pilot reports on various model aircraft. Plane and Pilot, Private Pilot and Flying Magazine were showcasing new and older aircraft at all prices and condition. Early EAA promoted and demonstrated to the public low cost homebuilts like Stits Flutter Bug, Bowers Flybaby. the EAA biplane, all of which in 1964 could be built for the cost of an engine overhaul today.
Light Sport cost way too much and don’t have utility in even light winds. Ercoupe 415 could be built for less than any new model light sport aircraft commercially manufactured today and it can be flown in windy conditions, burns 4.5 gallons / $25.00 per hour and is also a fully certified aircraft. A new Cessna 172 retails for over $300,000. It is no surprise then, they are not selling many. If I can rent a new training aircraft with fuel for $65.00 per hour I’d be flying every week and showing other people the joys of flight and get them into flying and getting their Private licenses. General Aviation was soaring in the 1960’s/1970’s. Aircraft manufacturers were numerous and certified many makes and models of aircraft. FAR 23 is typical over the top Federal activity. To start with a clean sheet of paper and obtain a production certificate for a new light plane today would cost $50,000,000 dollars. That’s right million dollars. This is total insanity. In my youth we played with U control gas powered model airplanes built from balsa wood and tissue paper. young people play with Lego models, but they don’t fly. Bring aviation back into the class room and watch aviation take off! In the 1960’s we had the space race and focus on flight and space flight. We need to connect into their I Phones and steer them back into aviation. The Federal Government doesn’t even consider Professional Piloting as a Profession, hence the Department of Education doesn’t provide student loans for flight training. All this and now a 1500 flight hour requirement mandated by Congress the result of the airline Deregulation caused accident. Contemplate this, soon, foreign nationals will be piloting our airliners. Flight schools in Malaysia, an Islamic country, are booked solid and our flight schools are empty. If General Aviation continues its decline so will the rest of the economy.GA is integral to some much more of the economy’s health than the public grasps. Thanks for the soap box!
Its about time the airlines start tng there own pilots, and certifying there health conditions Why should you or I pay for that in taxes. I don’t think, the faa or the ama is going to giveup that strawberry patch in okla cty, do you?
One thing for sure, your surveys and article never address the problem of the disappearing private pilot. I have yet to read an aviation writer telling what it really is.
So many things are contributing to the decline; it’s difficult to single out just one or even a few.
Cost, time, Part 23, mechanical things no longer being cool (having been replaced by electronics and technology), the weaker dollar, people working more and having less free time, it goes on and on.
While I applaud opportunities for input, until these fundamental issues can be addressed, GA will continue to decline.
Hey, air worthy-ness(safety) is #1, but the 3rd class med has really done the damage I know of only one aviat writer who told the truth over 45yrs ago. aopa got more pilots grounded hustling the 3rd class med. than the faa.
I to, can identify with the good old days. Started flying in 1947, got my Private Certificate in 1948. I accumulated about 12 hours a year till 1958, then joined John Lane at Lebanon, Ohio when he wanted a partner in a Cessna 170A. He then convinced me to get my Commercial and Flight Instructors ratings. This occured in Nov. of 1959. I was John’s first Flight Instructor as part time help. We both went to MGY, now (South Dayton) to obtain our Instrument Ratings. During this time I was offered a job as a Flight Instructor by Paul Hilt, who was Chief Fight Instructor at that time. I ended up as Chief Flight Instructor and Charter Pilot in 1965. During that time I obtained my instrument rating and multi engine rating, type rating for DC3, and was also designated pilot examiner for Private, Commercial and Multi Engine Aero Commanders.
Offered a job with Aero Quip Company in Jackson, MI. in 1996 and was there 6 months. I had a friend that was flying for a Construction Co. in Winchester, Ky., that lost his medical and he asked me to come to Ky. and take his Corprate job over. I was there for 4 years, then went back to MGY attempting to sell airplanes. That didn’t work to well, so started looking for another job.
I got hired by the FAA in Baltimore, Md. where I stayed for 7 years as a Aviation Safety Inspector. Next was Oklahoma City at MMAC, FAA Aero Nautical Center. Stayed in OKC till I retired in Jan 1999. After retirement I volunteered as a Glider flight Instructor for the Soaring Sooners, based at Hinton, Ok. This last Nov, 2012 I let my CFIAG expire, over 50 years as a Fight Instructor. Also during this time, no accidents, violations or incidents.
Russ Craig
Hey partner, I probable did more saf seminars than you and had more attendance, spent time in a fsdo getting in info, and I don’t work fr the faa. Yes regulation rules are #1 but lets face it the faa and its lobbys (ama) have been working knocking out private flying since ww11.
Mel,
I didn’t say that I was a Accident Prevention Specialist, but I was for 2 years in Baltimore. I was wondering if you knew me then? I was one of the few Inspectors that came from General Aviation, most of them came from the military. Since you mentioned Safety Seminars and safety meetings. We from GA were more familair with the problems that General Aviation had.
Russ
Hey, you all know what the problem is and your dodging the issue.
The term GA is a worn out cover for the faa to stick to the pvt pilot. It a simple fact. The public dosen’t care whether you or I fly, as long as we don’t get in there way. The media is the worlds worst when comes to reporting a pvt acft accident.
There are no questions to answer…?
The questions come up when I click on the link. Maybe try it again?
don’t see questions
Link has been fixed, try it now.