GAARMS Report: October 2016 
Fred Gibbs
We are now three quarters of the way through 2016, or if you work for the government, it is the beginning of the new 2017 fiscal year and, of course, the FAA is gathering stats for last year’s safety record. Us real folks operate on the calendar year, and we still have 3 months to go. With no new fatal accidents since the last newsletter, there is not much to report. We currently stand at 6 fatal accidents so far, with 9 fatalities, all pilots, including 2 CFII’s.
Those of you that read Last month’s article saw that I quoted and/or paraphrased my old buddy Rod Machado’s article, “The Forbidden Question – Can we ever really be accident free?” Well, On Saturday, October 1st, like many of you, I went to the AOPA Fly-In down in Prescott, and guess who I ran into and ended up talking with for almost an hour? YUP, the man himself! It was like old times, and then, lo and behold, my other old buddy, Greg Brown of “The Flying Carpet” fame joined us and we had a great time. Interesting fact – I have known Rod for over 20 years and he LOOKS THE SAME – doesn’t he ever age????? And he mesmerized the crowd!
If you were at the AOPA Fly-in, you would have to say General Aviation is alive and well. They say over 6,300 folks attended. But I did notice one unique thing – many of the pilots were OLD! Where is the younger generation? Where are the future pilots when us old guys are gone? Whose is going to remember what “Stick and Rudder” means, or what the heck are “Steam Gauges”?
As many of you know, I fly (if I may say so myself) a really nice Bellanca Super Viking. Have had it for 28 years, put in lots of time, effort, and money on it, and really consider it in the same class as a “57 Chevy Nomad.” As I walked around looking at all the other airplanes, there it was – my airplane’s Grand-daddy! An absolutely beautiful, lovingly restored back to original (with a modern panel), 1959 Bellanca – the very first Viking to roll off the factory floor. Obviously, I stopped and talked with the owner, only to find out it actually started down the production line as a Super Cruise Master, but halfway down the line it was converted from the original taildragger configuration to the very first tricycle gear Bellanca. How exciting is that, to find the original Bellanca Viking, and in its original form, can still out run most singles today! Sure did help make my day!
As some of you may know, I spent 30 years in the FAA, and am considered a Subject Matter Expert on flight service operations. I still do consulting work in that area. I started way back when there were 365 FSS facilities all across the United States, many were small, oftentimes one person operations. Many a shift I was everything from the janitor up to and including the manager, responsible for every operation that FSS could possibly provide. I lived through, and often was directly involved, in the transition to the automated FSS’s, and was intimately involved in the transition to the Lockheed Martin FSS system. I have watched the FSS go from almost 5000 specialists down to approximately 600 today, and I’m watching the next transition as the FAA re-bids the contract in the very near future. FSS traffic has decreased significantly with the advent of automation and the self briefing capabilities associated with that automation. Self briefing has become the norm. Both the FAA and the pilot community have made a paradigm shift – in the old days, in order to comply with 91.103 Preflight actions, the only way to do that was to call flight service. Every call, every briefing, every flight plan, and every transaction that took place was recorded and archived to allow Flight Standards to do accident investigations. That is why you always had to give your N number. With the advent of DUATS, you had to log in, which gave us the ability to record and archive all the data you requested and received to help meet flight Standards requirements. However, automation has brought new technologies to bear, other ways to ascertain data, and all without a tracking and archiving mechanism. Pilots now self brief themselves , using all kinds of sources, and often do not really know the FAR 91.103 requirements for a preflight action. Notice I did not say a preflight briefing or a preflight weather briefing. FAR 91.103 specifically say “Preflight Action” – and that action includes a lot more than just weather. Any TFR’s on your route of flight? A Special Use Airspace NOTAM out? How about special arrival procedures for the AOPA Fly-In at Prescott? If you have an Accident, incident, or pilot deviation, the FAA often asks 2 questions – did you get a Preflight briefing and do you participate in the WINGS program? 2 YES’s go a long way with the investigation. They are not free get out of jail cards, but can certainly help in the final result.
Please remember, flying safely is a state of mind, a culture that embodies risk management and is not afraid to say “I ain’t going – conditions do NOT meet my personal minimums.” That is the smart play, and of course you can always say - “I ain’t going because conditions do NOT meet my personal minimums and I do not want to end up as part of Fred’s GAARMS discussion!!!”