History of the BFR?

The BFR history is all in this advisory circular:

http://www.faa.gov/avr/afs/acs/61-98a.txt

"Curator"
N185KG



"Rod Madsen" wrote in message
...
I was a CFII circa 1970-1975 and I think it started in that time frame. I
never had a BFR before 1975 so maybe it was after 1973. I didn't fly from
1975 to 1998. Sold my Arrow and moved to Southern California. I don't
recall any rash of accidents calling for the change and there was no
significant improvement in accident rate after implementation.

Rod

"

I got my certificate in 1978, and BFRs had just gotten started about
then. I was renting planes then, and it really wasn't much of a concern,
except for the time and expense, because the insurance companies
required renters to fly at least once a month or once every 3 months,
depending on the insurance company.

So, checkriding once every two years wasn't a big concern. Except,
again, that it was a needless expense for those who flew a lot. In fact,
our nickname for "BFR" was "Big F**king Ripoff."

But.... I also knew some people back then who owned their own planes,
and who would flew once a year or once every two years or so, and they
were as dangerous as a drunk driver on a freeway. If they returned in
one piece, it was out of sheer luck.

So, I support the BFR... as least, for everyone else except me. I, of
course, don't need it.

Joe

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SendMoney + GetMoney
Instantly and easily send or receive money via email
www.PayToTheOrder.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



In article MaPfd.16873$R05.14718@attbi_s53,
says...
Mary is off doing her BFR as I write this, which got me to wondering about
the history of the biennial flight review.

As I understand it, BFRs were not required until fairly recently (like, in
the last 30 years?). Given the current uproar over the creation of
relatively simple new requirements (like foreign pilots having to register,
etc.), I can barely imagine the howls of protest that must have ensued
during and after the creation of a rule that required every pilot to "prove
himself" with a CFI every 2 years!

(Although, I suspect, CFIs at the time must have thought they had died and
gone to heaven! Talk about a guaranteed money-maker! :-)

Was there a rash of incidents caused by rusty pilots before this rule was
proposed? What happened to bring about such a radical change?

For those who were flying back then, can you give us a brief history of what
happened?

Jay.. I record my first BFR in 1976, having completed training in 1974

So.. it was around in the 70s, don't remember if it was on the written test
in 1974.

Bill T

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:MaPfd.16873$R05.14718@attbi_s53...
Mary is off doing her BFR as I write this, which got me to wondering about
the history of the biennial flight review.

As I understand it, BFRs were not required until fairly recently (like, in
the last 30 years?). Given the current uproar over the creation of
relatively simple new requirements (like foreign pilots having to
register, etc.), I can barely imagine the howls of protest that must have
ensued during and after the creation of a rule that required every pilot
to "prove himself" with a CFI every 2 years!

(Although, I suspect, CFIs at the time must have thought they had died and
gone to heaven! Talk about a guaranteed money-maker! :-)

Was there a rash of incidents caused by rusty pilots before this rule was
proposed? What happened to bring about such a radical change?

For those who were flying back then, can you give us a brief history of
what happened?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay, they WERE free, as long as you were enrolled as a full time student
and
were an Air Operations (Aviation) major. I paid a grand total of $600/
semester for this. You received around 1-2 hours each week,( in your
choice
of Cessna 172, or Cherokee 140) per semester. SUNY students could also
participate in the "Air Meets", a flying competition activity . This was
back in 1974.

Dang. How was SUNY paying for this? It sure wasn't coming out of your
$600 bucks!

GI Bill?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

So, checkriding once every two years wasn't a big concern. Except,
again, that it was a needless expense for those who flew a lot. In fact,
our nickname for "BFR" was "Big F**king Ripoff."

Yeah, the fact that they don't take into account currency or number of hours
in the last 12 months is one aspect of BFRs that I resent somewhat.

I mean, we fly every couple of days. Mary needs a BFR like I need an enema.

Oh well. I, too, know pilots who hop in their plane every sixth month, and
fly off to Timbuktu without a second thought. It's good to have CFIs
keeping a closer eye on those folks, I guess... And it's always kinda fun
to go up and scare the new instructors!

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 04:26:47 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

GI Bill?

Probably not, but that was the best thing ever to happen to general
aviation. Not that I got anything out of it directly, but it was the
lifelline for a zillion FBOs and it sold planes and got people into
the sky. It meant that when I started flying in '69 there were planes
on the line and healthy FBOs.

And outside of aviation, It got people into college and out into good
jobs. I was a snot-nosed kid out of highschool in '61, starting at
engineering school, but the ex-GIs, goddamn, they knew what they were
after and they worked their asses off and made us kids work or fall to
the tyranny of the curve.

Don

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 05:22:10 GMT, Don Tuite
wrote:

GI Bill?

Probably not, but that was the best thing ever to happen to general
aviation.

Your remarks on the GI Bill are right on target. The U.S. is only now
ceasing to see the economic benefits of the GI Bill, passed I believe
in 1944! Indeed, the benefits may still be operative, as the
grandchildren of the WWII vets obtain an education that they might
never have aspired to, had not the old man gone to college on the GI
Bill.

Not only my university, but even my high school (Brewster Free
Academy, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire) was swollen to capacity by a
significant number of "vets". Indeed, the student body at the
University of New Hampshire actually shrank each year that I was
there, as the vets worked their way through the system and graduated.

Higher education was never the same again.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
the blog www.danford.net

On Wed, 27 Oct 2004 23:08:26 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

"Flight lessons were free..."????

What paradise are you describing here?

Evidently he is describing SUNY (State University of New York). Nice
work if you can get it!

The dumbest thing I ever did iwas not to take up flying when the
guvmint retroactively designated me a veteran in the 1970s. My
educational benefit had expired by the time I became interested
(obsessed?).


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
the blog www.danford.net

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 04:31:21 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

So, checkriding once every two years wasn't a big concern. Except,
again, that it was a needless expense for those who flew a lot. In fact,
our nickname for "BFR" was "Big F**king Ripoff."

Yeah, the fact that they don't take into account currency or number of hours
in the last 12 months is one aspect of BFRs that I resent somewhat.

I mean, we fly every couple of days. Mary needs a BFR like I need an enema.

Oh well. I, too, know pilots who hop in their plane every sixth month, and
fly off to Timbuktu without a second thought. It's good to have CFIs
keeping a closer eye on those folks, I guess... And it's always kinda fun
to go up and scare the new instructors!

;-)
I understand your resentment because I know from reading your posts
for a long time that you are a constantly thinking pilot that is
always looking for a way to improve. I commend you for that.
Unfortunately, currency does not equal proficiency and they cannot
have a "Honeck" exception to the BFR requirement. I know of several
old codgers that fly several times a week. While their stick and
rudder skills are good, they are a menace to the aviation community.
They do not keep aware of the constant changes that are taking place
in the flying environment. They think we're still in the Sky King
days. There are probably as many like them as there are like you.
Think about them when you have to suffer through a BFR that I agree
you probably do not need.
Rich Russell

Jay Honeck wrote:
So, checkriding once every two years wasn't a big concern. Except,
again, that it was a needless expense for those who flew a lot. In fact,
our nickname for "BFR" was "Big F**king Ripoff."


Yeah, the fact that they don't take into account currency or number of hours
in the last 12 months is one aspect of BFRs that I resent somewhat.

I mean, we fly every couple of days. Mary needs a BFR like I need an enema.

You looked a bit constipated in the AOPA picture.