Podcast – Jetwhine

I like hanging around with other flight instructors. Not only do they understand how an airplane flies, but they also know the intricacies of those dark corners of a flight envelope … things that can lead a new pilot down a rabbit hole of trouble if they’re not careful.

Good flight instructors also understand that while a syllabus is a valuable tool to keep both student and teacher focused on the goal … the checkride … instructors must understand the need for flexibility in the process because everyone doesn’t learn exactly the same way.

Dave Pavoni’s a new CFI at Morristown’s American Flyers. We spoke a few weeks ago about why he took the time to earn the rating, as well as what he’s learned about teaching people how to fly and how to keep them flying safely all their lives.

Give it a listen.

Jetwhine podcasts are available on iTunes.

Rob Mark, Publisher

If you’re receiving this Jetwhine post by e-mail, click here to listen … even from a smartphone.

When my wife and I were married a long time ago, we promised ourselves that if we ever had kids and wanted to travel on an airplane, we’d just fork over the extra money for a ticket. To us, the risk of injury should they fly out of our hands during an accident or in turbulence simply wasn’t worth the few hundred dollars we’d save.

Years later when we decided to take our then infant daughter on an American Airlines flight to LAX, we learned most of the flight attendants didn’t know much about car seats on airplanes.

Today, there is still nothing that requires a parent to put any kind of restraint on a child under two years of age. They’re still permitted to ride on their parent’s lap even though there’s no way a parent could hold them down in a crash. The 1989 crash of United 232 proved that.

So why do we permit kids to ride around in an airplane without a seatbelt when we’ve had laws for decades that prevent the same thing in a car? Here’s what I learned.

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Rob Mark, Publisher

If you’re receiving this Jetwhine post by e-mail, click here to listen in … even from a smartphone.

When the FAA tells you they’re changing the way they conduct business because they want to be more fair to someone, or that they want to save money, it’s probably time to duck. You can pretty much be sure that whatever they have in mind isn’t going to be as effective as they think.

Late last year the FAA completely revamped the way it hires air traffic controllers. The reasons seemed clear to the agency folks I think  … recruit a better caliber of controller, save money by reducing training time and … if you read between the lines, to increase diversity in the controller ranks.

Are you really going to be surprised when I tell you that they seem to have failed at all of these goals? AND, they created a problem at all 36 CTI schools – their regular supply line for new controllers – where one didn’t exist before.

Rob Mark, Publisher

If you’re receiving this edition of The Aviation Minute by e-mail, click here to listen to the show. If you have difficulty hearing the broadcast, e-mail me directly at [email protected]

I can’t believe I’m going to say something nice about the TSA again. That’s twice in a couple of months.

I do think it’s worth mentioning that the TSA has actually created a product with value in their new TSA PreCheck card, part of the DHS’s Global Entry system. Of course there is just one tweak I think it needs desperately. Give a listen and tell me if you agree.

Rob Mark, Publisher

If you’re receiving this via e-mail, this link should also take you to the program.

If you’ve missed any back episodes of the The Aviation Minute, you’ll find them here in our archive.

Pardon our tardiness delivering this week’s episode, but we wanted to wait for our new logo to show up. Many thanks to @runwaygirl’s sister Anne Kirby and The Sweet Core crew for launching us into the 21st Century.

On to the content. This week I’m focused on innovation and the people who create it, like my friend Dr. Dave Byers. A few years back, he figured out how an off-the-shelf radar system might just prevent midair collisions and runway incursions at non-towered airports. He called it the Synthetic Air Traffic Advisory System, or SATAS.

Dr. Dave Byers

After you give the show a quick listen, stop back and watch the short video of the SATAS demonstration from Sun n’ Fun a few weeks ago.

Rob Mark, Publisher

For those of you who receive Jetwhine updates via e-mail, click here to listen to this week’s show.

The past month has been one of amazement for most of us in the aviation industry as millions of people around the world try and figure out what happened to Malaysian Airlines flight 370.

CNN decided to go 24/7 with MH370 coverage, while I was happy to help the Fox News people with their own news analysis on the disappearance.

But here we are nearly a month after the Boeing disappeared and we’re only slightly closer to finding the airplane than we were in March. One of the biggest stumbling blocks of course has been the Malaysian government itself, that was woefully unprepared for such a calamity. Answering questions and researching news for Fox and for an upcoming book really got me thinking that it’s time to talk about the future of this industry. I’m not giving up on the people aboard MH370 of course, but we need to decide what lessons the next generation of aircraft designers, pilots and passengers must take from MH370 as it stands today.

With that, I offer you the next Aviation Minute.

The Aviation Minute: Episode 6 (for e-mail subscribers)

Rob Mark, Publisher

BTW, I owe those of you who receive The Aviation Minute on e-mail a huge apology. I had no idea you’d be unable to access the podcast player directly. While I work on a more permanent solution, I’ll continue adding a hyperlink to the episode as I did above which will allow you to listen to the episode.