Skip Airlines — Fly General Aviation! Top 10 Reasons

June 21, 2008

Have to fly the airlines to get to your work destination?  Or perhaps to a vacation spot?  Well, prepare yourself for a system that has steadily become one of the worst experiences imaginable. 

But there is an option. General Aviation. Smaller planes that you can fly yourself or hire as a charter.  This isn’t just for the corporate elite or the rich and famous.  Ironically, the changes in the airline industry are making General Aviation more and more an attractive option.

“GA Serving America” describes some advantages of using GA aircraft compared to the airlines.  With the changes in the economy and the airline system, we can update this.  Here are my top 10 reasons for skipping the airlines and flying by general aviation.

10.  You are responsible for your flight (or work with a motivated charter crew). You have control over the flight, even if just working with a polite, responsive charter crew. No pilots cancelling flights because they are “too upset to fly”. No surly airline flight and cabin crew. You have to feel for them, though. They are suffering through reduced salaries and benefits, loss of job security, and overloaded flights full of delayed, abused, and frustrated passengers. 

9.  Best seats on the plane.  Usually every seat is a window seat and as the pilot, you have the very best seat on the house, with a grand view of the entire flight.  Fly a charter and you not be subjected to a middle seat.  As part of the growing ala-carte (lack of) service program, airlines are going to charge you a premium for aisle and window seats; up to $15 (so far…) over your base ticket price! And cell phones on flights may be in the future if the airlines can find a way to charge to use them!  Avoid this nonsense by flying yourself.

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FAA Clipped our “Wings”!

December 6, 2007

Yes. FAA clipped our “Wings.”

Wings?  FAA’s “Pilot Proficiency Award Program“.  I’m at Level 4.  I’ve earned a distinctive FAA wings lapel pin (official FAA issue, not crap from a novelty store) for each level, plus an FAA certificate attesting to each level. Plus it satisfies the biennial flight review requirement.   There are 20 Wings levels that can be earned at 12-month intervals.  But it all ends on December 31, 2007.

FAA Wings Level I

Now I’m not saying the Wings program was perfect.  There’s lots of room for improvement, including the recognition aspect.  Any good management reference will tell you that performance is greatly enhanced by recognition. The military has medals and rank, the corporate world has titles and perks, and professional pilots have their wings.  But the little FAA “Wings” program lapel pins may not have resonated with some pilots, so it may have been one reason the Wings program is not as widely used as FAA Safety people would like. Did anyone ask us what might be more effective? Anyone? Anyone?  

Also, some people (like the insurance industry) were concerned that more specific guidance was needed for the knowledge and flight instruction aspects of the program.  So Wings can be improved, but it does work.

Pilots who used the Wings program were safer, having attended safety seminars and flying at least 3 hours with an instructor (covering a set of specific task areas) to earn each level.  Of course, this program requires an actual FAA human being to review and approve the applications and send out the wings and certificates.  Horrors!  Actually providing a service directly to pilots?  Can’t be spending FAA money on staff time actually looking at pilot accomplishments and mailing out certificates and pins!

Solution?   FAA kills the Wings program. 

Of course, in a move reminiscent of the movie “Body Snatchers”, FAA slipped in a lifeless, soulless, pod that they are calling the new Wings program.  The new official name is ”Pilot Proficiency Program“.  Didja notice they dropped “Award” from the name?  

So now we have the new, lame, completely-without-a-pulse ”Wings”.  Lots of mind-numbing on-line processes and registered instructor validation (because FAA doesn’t trust us, of course).  A complicated system of knowledge and flight tasks and timelines.  Would make the IRS proud. And what do you get with this new program?  To quote FAA, “…the added level of safety and professionalism…”  Safety is its own reward, doncha know?

They did simplify one thing.  Instead of 20 levels, there are now three phases: “Basic”, “Advanced”, and “Master.”  Maintain the Basic phase, and it satisfies the biennial flight review requirement.  No certificate (unless you print one yourself). No wings. Nothing except a database record somewhere at FAA. 

Satisfy the “Advanced” phase and you get……Nothing!  Satisfy the top “Master” phase and you get……Nothing! Again! But more of it.  Huh?

Wow.  You can just feel the air being sucked out of the program.  Instead of promoting and improving a program that worked, FAA basically killed it.  They gutted a program that really improved pilot safety.  And it killed one opportunity to provide some recognition, some sizzle, some light to pilots and the GA community. 

Hey FAA, bring back the REAL Wings Program!!!

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Hog-Wild for Flying…Part 2

November 28, 2007

 Why aren’t we more Hog-Wild for Flying?

What do you think of when you see the word: “Harley“?  Strong images and sounds.  Cemented together with the clothes, accessories, attitude and community.  It’s not just transportation, it’s a package, a culture.  Black leather and chrome.  And it’s compelling, as evidenced by the many people, including boomers who are climbing aboard hogs and getting immersed into the club. And the image is reinforced regularly through films and television. 

Harley riders

Are people buying this image?  You bet.  Even with recent slowdown in sales (attributed by some to the soft economy), motorcycles still sell, and Harley is still a strong brand.  How many are selling?  In 2006, Harley Davidson reported sales of over 349 thousand motorcycles, worth about $4.5 billion! Plus about a billion dollars in parts, accessories, and general merchandise.  And this is one motorcycle company.  Intensity. Can you feel it?

So what about flying?  No, not the airlines.  I mean Our kind of flying. 

That’s the first hurtle.  When you mention “flying”, most people just think of the airlines.  Get screened, walk down a chute through a doorway into a tube with seats. Close the window shades to see the movie, or sleep.  Sorry, this isn’t flying.  It’s just “getting there”.

Real flying.  The flight is the thing; it’s what keeps us coming back.  We put up with 30+ year old planes renting for $100 per hour, worn FBOs, intense regulation, and $5+ a gallon gas, just so we get that 1.2 hour fix as PIC, with the best view around.  Flying keeps me (close to) sane.

Cessna 152

But we still (mostly) fly these old planes, from old airports, served by worn FBOs, and maybe see someone we know that day at the airport.  Aircraft brokers mostly are still selling the 30-year-old planes.  Most FBOs sell the pilot basics: charts, fuel, supplies, headsets, maybe a teeshirt or ballcap.  Community and culture feel are rare. When was the last time you saw GA featured in a movie or television show unless it was reporting an accident, TFR violation, or silly stunt?

Our excitement for flying is stoked almost entirely from within.  For a potential new pilot or owner, there isn’t that excitement, sizzle, image, to latch on to.  In this sensory rich modern age, people expect to be stimulated. 

What grabs you, the black leather and loud pulse of a Harley, or the faded paint and 1970s upholstery in your rental Skyhawk and local FBO?

It may seem artificial and superficial, but I think we need to bring back that excitement to flying.   Barnstormers had the right idea, if a bit crude. 

 How do we bring back the sizzle to flying, while keeping its utility and safety?  Black leather and chrome Pipers?  More in Part 3.  Cheers!

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Hog-Wild for Flying!…Part 1

November 25, 2007

Just got finished watching (again) ”Wild Hogs“, the 2007 Touchstone Pictures movie about 4 middle-aged guys who take a cross-country trip on their Harley-Davidson motorcycles. A star-filled cast with Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, William H. Macy, Marisa Tomei, and Ray Liotta. Very funny movie. Makes me want to learn to ride. There’s even a special feature in the DVD about convincing your spouse to let you buy a Harley.  Hmmm.

 Wild Hogs cover

Ya know, motorcycles in general and Harleys in particular are very popular these days, especially with middle-aged, relatively well-to-do adults.  Meanwhile the pilot population is not growing (except for airline pilot wannabees) and small airplane sales are down. So as a pilot, you gotta ask:

Why aren’t more people hog-wild for flying?

Ok, cost is certainly a factor. Owning, operating, or even renting a plane has never been cheap.  Then there’s the requirement to get that pilot’s license.  But I think there is more to it than this.  More visceral.  More emotional.  Next time, Part 2–Why are we buying and riding Harley and not Cessna (or Piper, Cirrus, Beech, Grumman, etc)?

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