Disobeying the FAA

At the end of 2015, the FAA counted 590,039 active certificated pilots. Divide that by the over-18 population of about 248 million people in July, 2015 and we discover that pilots make up just 0.24 percent of the population. If that doesnt mark us as nonconformists, what does? There is a place for out-of-the-box thinking in aviation, even in that most rigid domain of airline aviation. I would rather fly with someone possessing something like Sullys creativity than fly with a living automaton who would have gone right to the FMS looking for a solution while the airplane descended inexorably toward earth. Im certain there are creative cockpit thinkers taking creative and appropriate actions every day. They just dont make the front page.

Fred Simonds

Wednesday, November 16, 2016 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Aviation regulations are critical for safety, and an anti-authority attitude toward them is extremely dangerous, often leading to severe FAA penalties or fatal accidents.
While pilots are inherently non-conformist, there's a crucial distinction between healthy questioning of irrational rules or clearances and outright disregard for safety regulations.
The FAA's shift toward a "compliance philosophy" aims to foster safety, but inconsistent enforcement or poorly conceived regulations can still fuel pilot frustration and anti-authority sentiment.

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A long time ago a big-shot businessman pilot told me that the regulations were just guidelines, that he had always regarded the law that way and it had always worked for him. I blanched at the thought. But as a brand-new instructor, and a little uncertain of myself, I said nothing.

That failure became a big shoulda-coulda-woulda lesson in my professional development as an instructor. Today, I would tell him point-blank that the regulations are written in blood and cast in stone, that they aren’t casual guidelines, that deviations invite FAA scrutiny, and that if the Feds train their boresight on you, you’re going to have some explaining to do—and your explanation had better be good.