The wide range of opinions in the aviation community is something I continuously marvel at. Take our continuing coverage on the update of the Pilot’s Bill of Rights 2 legislation. The comments vary widely, both in scope and tone.
“After patiently waiting these last few years to hear what the people we trusted have come up with in our defense, it’s utterly insulting to say the least,” says Joe Gutierrez. “It seems to me this kind of decision making could of been made in a couple of weeks, not years. We private pilots never seem to get to the gold mine but we sure get the shaft, often. Not good.”
I’ve never heard that last phrase, but I sure get the picture. Ouch. As a DC-outsider, I’d agree with Joe that this legislation should’ve taken “a couple of weeks, not years.” But thankfully, I’m a DC-outsider.
Not everyone is against Senator James Inhofe’s efforts.
“Senator Inhofe is the best friend of the GA pilots we have in Congress to date,” says CJ. “Carry on sir.”
While opinions do vary on Senator Inhofe — especially as they relate to his other non-aviation stances — it is nice to have a pilot pushing hard to make this happen.
Lest anyone forget, the Pilot’s Bill of Rights (PBR) came about because of Inhofe’s run-in with the FAA after landing on a closed runway. Admitting the original PBR was imperfect legislation, Inhofe came back with PBR2, with third class medical reform attached.
Commenter Chris Libby was fairly incensed by the update: “Unfortunately, Inhofe & (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association President Mark) Baker have stabbed GA in the back. The only people PBR2 will now benefit are old farts like Baker & Inhofe themselves, who see their medicals on the line in the near future as they get older. Prospective pilots and/or those who have been out of the cockpit for years due to FAA medical bureaucracy will see NO benefit from this ‘reform,’ as it still forces you to go through the arduous third class debacle at least once, and all caveats therein. Everyone should be angered about this and make your voice heard.”
Like Chris, I am disappointed at the twists this legislation has taken. But here’s the thing: It is still moving. Maybe not on a continuous path forward, but it is moving.
Any third class medical reform legislation with an all-of-nothing stance will result in…nothing. Thus the changes.
Unlike Chris, I don’t believe “Baker & Inhofe have stabbed GA in the back.” Being up to their eyeballs in the legislative morass, I believe they see these changes as the best way to alleviate concern and non-support from fellow Congressman. But I’ve never pushed a bill through Congress before, so I could be wrong.
“Two steps forward and one back,” is the more even-keeled view of Wood Eppelsheimer, a retired airline pilot and 45-plus year active GA pilot. “While I understand the surface politics of the 10-year maximum since the last-held FAA medical, if I were a non-flying congressman it would sound like a contradiction of the facts and I would question the legitimacy of the whole concept. The fact is we self evaluate every time we fly, years of light sport and glider flying prove the concept. The 10-year lookback is meaningless. It will only serve to deny some older pilots the same rights the rest of us seek and, in my view, could damage the effort.”
I’d take Wood’s words and go a step further. All pilots — LSA, glider, full-scale GA, CFIs, airline pilots, etc. — have all “self-evaluated” forever. But the accidents that don’t happen — because the flight never took off — don’t show up in any non-accident database.
The range of opinions on this — and any other aviation-related topic — vary widely. Most important in all this is to get engaged, stay engaged and be ready to help when the time is right.
If we can get anything from this screwed up government, I say “Take It” and be glad you got it. Then go back for what you did not get. This is so simple that it boggles the mind to think of why it takes years to resolve. Attaching one thing to a bill that is for something else, only gives these cowardly politicians an excuse for not voting for the bill. Keep it simple. Give them only one choice, vote for this one thing ( keep it on one page, so they will actually read it ) or don’t. Most of them are idiots and we must come to grips with that.
I was great with the original bill which was simple and straight-forward, but it’s already been mucked it up with the recent compromise language. These compromises are set to exclude thousands of medically-fit pilots. Politicians will never revisit this once it passes, so the time is now to make a common-sense change, as outlined here: SenatorInhofePleaseChangePBOR2. This change to the compromise language is already being considered on the Hill. It keeps the “teeth” in the bill – just in a more meaningful way. Please follow these easy instructions to join the broad support for this simple change.
Easy instructions for joining broad support for simple, common-sense change to PBOR2 compromise language is here: http://www.SenatorInhofePleaseChangePBOR2.com
Many of us have not applied for a medical going back more than 10 yrs in anticipation of common sense prevailing in elimination of the 3rd class med. I could solidly pass a 3rd class med (due to a recent medical procedure that fully mitigated the reason for my original disqualification) did I not have to provide my history.
If an examining FME cannot detect any physical reason for disqualification, that exam should be the criteria for being issued a 3rd class, or, in event the 3rd class clearance for being fit to fly (all ratings, to include all CFI activity, below commercial for hire)
Various excluding conditions of the past have been fully-mitigated via evolving medical procedures and technologies. Shouldn’t matter how far back, the only criteria is, does the pilot currently rate a driver’s license. A suggested criteria could be a pilot who hasn’t had a medical in the prior ten years must have a driver’s license issued within the prior 2 or 3 yrs.
DISILLUSIONED BY THE COMPROMISE LANGUAGE RECENTLY ADDED TO THE PILOT’S BILL OF RIGHT’S 2?
A simple, common-sense change is being put forth that benefits all parties. Show your support by following the easy instructions at: http://www.SenatorInhofePleaseChangePBOR2.com It only takes a few minutes. YOUR VOICE CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE!
Unfortunately, the Pilots Bill of Rights 2 is not going to solve everybody’s problems. No piece of legislation ever does. Laws are the result of compromises between warring parties. Everybody usually walks away annoyed and shaking their heads, regardless of which side they’re on.
It’s disappointing that the FAA continues to stonewall the entire issue with it’s bloated bureaucracy. That’s where this issue should be resolved in the best interests of the aviation community and the public.
The legislative solution that has been negotiated – and which will pass as proposed – is yet another step to fix a woefully outdated system in spite of efforts by the FAA to maintain a broken system.
I’m aware of the efforts of AOPA and EAA and key legislators to get us all to this point. I appreciate what they’re doing in an incredibly difficult uphill battle. The bill has a huge impact on tens of thousands of general aviation pilots.
Terry: Thank you for your comment. I agree that compromises are part of our political process; however this change to the compromise language is already being considered on the Hill and will not change the likelihood of passage. It keeps the “teeth” in the bill – just in a more meaningful way. This is of utmost importance for thousands of your fellow pilots who are medically fit but will be unable to fly without this simple, common-sense change. I ask you to join the broad support for this change, but respect your opinion regardless.
As I understand it Bryan, both EAA and AOPA have been involved in the 3rd Class medical and have spoken out in favor of it. Ed’s comment that the FAA would like to have Congress act on this, rather than them, is certainly on target. As a former FAA inspector, I found that the current agency has become very reluctant to act on anything controversial. So we now come back to Congress. It would probably help if we all contacted our elected senators and representatives and told them that the 3rd class medical has been proven to be not needed (gliders and LSA ops) and that WE WANT them to support action to delete the requirement for having that medical exam.
Just last week I was reading about Australia General Aviation planes were under attack by the government. There government wants planes up dated to outrages standards that adds doubles
to triple the cost of airplane in maintenance costs . Also this has not doing any thing for safety. As a result they are sending the planes to where they can get some of there money back in there investments. Just think if that were to happen here. The only thing that stops that here is the AOPA, The EEA, and a few ORG. like these we would be in the place.
It’s all about the money. The AME’s have the pilots under their thumbs. Why do you think ALPA came out against Pilots Bill of Rights 2
Ben, first off, thank you for your continuous support of GA, it is appreciated.
I think that it’s important to understand that GA is just another Special Interest Group, albeit, a very small one, when compared to the major players, i.e., Wallstreet, Major Corporations, Unions, etc. Subsequently, most politicians just don’t pay much attention to us, because we don’t pay for their attention as the major players all do.
The issues associated with the elimination of the third class physical are many. The first issue is the FAA has turned into a typical government bureaucracy, and we all know that bureaucracies are focused on themselves, not the public they are supposed to serve.
Worst yet, the FAA is led by a lifetime bureaucrat, so it isn’t surprising that nothing gets done, unless he is motivated by his hierarchy, and the current administration has proven to be no friend to aviation, much less GA.
Add to these issues the fact that government agencies are loath to take any kind of chance, such as eliminating the third class physical, and you the reason why it has been 4-5 years since we have been given lip-service from the FAA.
The only possible chance for eliminating the third class physical is to bypass the FAA. My guess is the FAA would secretly welcome that strategy. Here’s to hoping that Senator Inhofe, along with the help of AOPA, EAA, and NBAA memberships finally get some movement on this no-brainer attempt to assist GA.
You might want to pay attention to Representative Schuster’s attempt to insert user fees into the long term FAA funding bill that is imminent. That is going to have a much bigger impact on general aviation than this PBOR sideshow distraction which doesn’t stop CBP or any federal agency but FAA from stripping away all our rights.
Notice AOPA, and even EAA have had nothing to say on this issue ? Supposedly that’s because ‘there hasn’t been a formal proposal for user rights yet’. Both of our associations maintain this fiction even though Schuster was trying to get Boehner to put it on the calendar for a vote. The long term funding bill for FAA will be another chance for Schuster to insert user fees into legislation, and that will happen later this year. The truth is neither AOPA nor EAA supports general aviation anymore. They, like Schuster and his A4A airline lobbyist girlfriend, have been co-opted serve other interests.
“The truth is neither AOPA nor EAA supports general aviation anymore.”
There’s only one word fit to describe this: NONSENSE!
Art Linkletter used to have a TV show where he would interview little kids.
The segment was called “Kids say the darnedest things”
Adults, however, say the dumbest damned things.