Editor’s Log

Just Do It
Often, once we obtain that magic piece of paper saying Private Pilot, for which we struggled so hard, we presume were good to go. We fill our Skyhawks with people, packages and petrol, and then blast off to the beach, to Grandmas house or to a business meeting. Weather sometimes keeps us on the ground, but as we gain experience and confidence, we learn more about what kinds of weather we and our airplane can handle. Soon, depending in part on how many hours we accumulate and how regularly we fly, we settle into a comfort zone where we can pretty much come and go as we please without too much drama.

Of course, geography plays a major role in the way we deal wit…

We constantly assess the risks of our everyday activities. When climbing out of the shower, we decide whether to step on wet tile or a dry bath mat. When approaching an intersection in a car, we may choose to accelerate when the light turns yellow. About to take off again after a quick fuel stop, we might conduct a cursory preflight inspection, instead of something more detailed.

In all of lifes activities-major and minor-were constantly performing risk-based calculations. Most of them-especially those not involving an aircraft-we perform every day.

When it comes to aviation, other decisions can involve using a set of skills and knowledge we may not have exercised frequently.

Just…

Even in the worst of times, the men and women working the scopes and the frequencies at your friendly neighborhood ATC facility usually refrained from allowing politics or personal opinions from interfering with their official duties. This was true following the August 1981 PATCO strike, during peak airline delays and congestion in 2000 and 2001 and in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. In fact, late 2001 saw unprecedented cooperation between controllers and operators alike as we all struggled with airspace requirements and traffic levels that changed on a daily basis. Thats the way it should be: professionals working together to get the job done as efficiently and as saf…

On September 1, the FAAs new rules implementing the Sport pilot certificate and Light Sport aircraft category (LSA) went into effect. This long-awaited set of regulatory changes is designed to make general aviations lower end more affordable and accessible by relaxing rules on pilot training and aircraft certification in exchange for certain specified operational limits. It represents the culmination of many years of work by industry and the FAA, especially the Experimental Aircraft Association and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Asssociation.

Given the current regulatory and political environment, its a miracle the new rules ever saw the light of day, much less made it all the way thr…

Everyone has an idea of what the word risk means. But connecting its definition with a real-world event is like nailing jelly to the wall, as Teddy Roosevelt once famously said. One mans idea of acceptable risk is anothers sweat-soaked nightmare. It has always been that way and, the truth is, it will probably always be that way.

One of the things we do in Aviation Safety is to illuminate the varying perceptions of what people call risky. For example, a few readers expressed dismay that we would advocate intentionally overloading an airplane. We didnt. What we did say is, Putting more stuff aboard than the airplane can legally carry happens more than anyone likes to admit. As long…

It was a normal June afternoon in the Washington, D.C., area-hazy, hot and humid. The main event was preparing for former president Ronald Reagans state funeral later in the week.

On Capitol Hill, the normal ebb and flow of tourists, interns and official Washington went on unremarkably. Suddenly, alarms blared, beepers beeped and people began running. You have one minute to impact! police reportedly announced. Images of well-dressed men and women sprinting away from the Capitol-some kicking off their shoes-were captured by the media.

But it was all a false alarm. A Beech King Air carrying Kentuckys governor was inbound to the otherwise-closed-to-GA DCA under a special waiver progra…

By the time you read this, the U.S. airshow season will be in full swing. Already, Sun n Fun has come and gone; AOPAs fly-in is scheduled for shortly after this issues deadline and the Experimental Aircraft Associations AirVenture extravaganza in Oshkosh, Wis.,-the granddaddy of all fly-in airshows-is coming up. Any number of other events are planned, too.

All of these fly-ins have one thing in common: A relatively large number of aircraft will attempt to arrive during a relatively short time span. For that purpose, event organizers and the FAA often create a set of arrival procedures designed to provide some order to the chaos. These procedures are published as Notices to Airmen (No…

Like the audiences they serve, magazines are entities that are-or should be-in constant motion. How and what subscribers think about the articles theyre interested in reading in a monthly magazine arent fixed objects anchored on a distant horizon. Opinions change, viewpoints shift, tastes and inclinations evolve but throughout, theres one constant: For the readers of this magazine, the need for practical, timely information about flying airplanes safely never changes.

And that, in a nutshell, is and always has been the mission of Aviation Safety. It will now continue under the able guidance of a new editor, Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside, a name many avid readers of aviation publications wil…

Help general aviation by making yourself a foot soldier in the PR war. Youll just be helping yourself

Spare us, please, from the inclination to stuff our flight bags with frivolous flying flotsam