Soaring and Critical Mass of Participation.

Fred,

I agree completely since I worked hard to become an instructor too.
And I wnat new instructors to have the same type of training. And
I want them to meet the same standards I met.

What I don't want is barriers to new instructors that have NOTHING
to do with meeting that standard. Having to schedule months out for
a DPE test, not having a DPE within 200 miles to give the test,
having no idea what the weather or glider or towplane or topilot
or own medical capability will be several months away all are barriers
that have nothing to do with maintaining the standards.

Let me give you an example of "barriers." I recently wanted to
get checked out as an instructor in the back seat of a G103 at
a local club. I called the regular instructor, and she mentioned she
was having an unexpected adverse reaction to a medication and couldn't
fly. I called the club, and the towplane was in annual, which may
be completed that day. But even if it was, the other instructor
was going to be busy training a new towpilot, since two towpilots
had recently quit.

Imagine if I had scheduled several weeks out for a practical test.
No towplane, no towpilot, and no examiner. And a delayed practical test.
How does this improve the standards or training of the student?

Now a contrast. I had me, a second instructor, a towplane, pilot,
student, good weather, and freshly annualled 2-33 just coincidentally at
the gliderport. We happened to have an 8710-11 and a FAR/AIM handy.

The student was an ASEL pilot transitioning to gliders, and
had soloed the 2-33. The other CFIG did a few more flights with him,
signed him off for a "Sport Pilot proficiency check for glider"
and then I flew with him. His flights were flawless, and he met
every standard in the Sport Pilot PTS close enough that I couldn't
see a single mistake.

What would have been gained by having him pay $250 instead?
And scheduling 2-8 weeks out? Nothing. Just hassles, breakdowns,
and barriers to entry.

Instead he's happy, we're happy, and since he is a college professor,
we're trying to convince him to become a CFIG. He's so amped
up on the VALUE he has gotten, he is looking to become more active in our
club.

Fred, I think there are many, many barriers in our sport that
do nothing to improve or even maintain safety or standards.
The perhaps 50 to 1 ratio of instructors to examiners is one barrier.

Other barriers include not enough instructors, or perfectly safe and
flyable aircraft that are out of annual waiting for an IA.

Sport Pilot allows a reduction in barriers, with what I percieve
as NO reduction in standards. And Light Sport Aircraft allows a
reduction in barriers to maintenance, again with what I consider no
reduction in standards or safety.

Morris Yoder has been building dozens of powered parachutes for
customers for over a decade. Now the FAA wants him to take the A&P
written and practical tests so he can become a DAR. Morris asked me
why the FAA wants him to study how to reskin aluminum wings,
or study turbines, to work on powered parachutes?

Barriers to entry. No added safety. No added skill. Pure and
simple just some blanket requirement. The Man, getting you down.

I told Morris to just keep making the FAA inspector come out, time and
time again, and look blankly at the vehicle he knows little about,
and look to Morris every so often to see if he nods yes or no.

After a few months of this pointless exercise, the FAA will
issue a special letter of authorization so Morris can be a DAR,
and common-sense will once again reign...

Fred, I suggest that making something harder to do doesn't
necessarily mean the standards are higher. Sometimes it's just a barrier...

In article et,
f.blair wrote:
I don't think that the current procedures and regs should be viewed as a
"barrier" for new instructors. I worked very hard to become an Instructor
and want new Instructors to have the same type of training. Even with all
my work and continual studying, I still know that there are things that I
can improve on.

Lessening the requirements would only lead to bad training and more
accidents. The goal is not to have more people in the air, but more well
trained people in the air.

Fred Blair

same as soaring. The difference is that they hand out
"Basic Flight Instructor" certifications much more
readily.

If there is one part of the FAA regulation that has really
confounded this whole thing, it has been the barriers to entry for
instructors. And the barriers to Airplane instructors are
important too, because there is a lot of instructor spillover.





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Mark J. Boyd