Capt. Ken's comments

By Ken Armstrong

Most Canadian private and commercial pilots take considerable care during flight operations.
Transport Canada Aviation (TCA) has been targeting the others for years but it is quite possible they will be using a much heavier calibre weapon in the future and there may be casualties to the "friendlies" as a result. Especially, if they are forced to use a shotgun approach to regulation.
A recent get together with senior Transport personnel during a COPA directors’ meeting divulged some rather shocking information. They know numerous pilots are a threat to aviation safety and are essentially an accident looking for a place to happen.
This does not auger well for the new 2005 accident prevention plan. Essentially, they have promised the populace that they will significantly reduce aviation accidents and they have the power to do whatever they want to accomplish this goal.
While the accident statistics are showing a slight downtrend, it isn’t anywhere near steep enough to prevent them from ending up with egg on their face.

THEY KNOW THE TRUTH
TCA monitors the regulatory changes in other countries where freedom to fly is simply those three words rather than a concept.
They see the Europeans and Australians tightening up on flight training and constantly insisting on not only higher standards for licenses but also increasing currency requirements. These much greater demands on pilots and their proficiency is beginning to look attractive to transport personnel as a means of reducing accidents.
Their monitoring of the flying populace tells them that some pilots seem to forget almost all they were taught when it comes to flight planning and the operation of an aircraft.
The attempted introduction of the biennial flight review a number of years ago was aimed at weeding out the problem pilots or at least bringing their skill levels up to reasonable levels.
However, their mandate to work with the flying industry handcuffed their efforts as representations by aviators watered down TCA proposals so that a pilot could simply attend a safety seminar or take an open book test published in COPA from time to time etc.
But this did little to curb bad flying habits or hone pilot skills.

AND, THEY HAVE THE POWER
With the TCA commitment to lowering accident rates, they are looking at every conceivable means to improve aviators’ attitudes and skill levels. Truth to tell, it’s a few bad eggs that create problems for us all when they make an omelet out of themselves and passengers.
It is because of the few that others could likely have tougher flight tests and potentially the need for yearly flight checks with qualified instructors.
TCA has worked well with industry and are to be complemented for their efforts; however, the data base is building to an overwhelming level that will force them to eventually take action to ensure pilot skills and currency are adequate.
Do you want this? Is the additional cost of flying with an instructor, taking time to write exams and other potential requirements attractive to you?

WE CAN WIN
If additional onerous requirements are abhorrent to you, then it’s time to take action.
Oh yes, COPA will continue to do an excellent job of working with or fighting TCA regarding regulation changes, but we also need to do our part as individual pilots.
If you are one of those who has forgotten most of what you learned in ground school and fly only on sunny windless days because you might not otherwise be up to the challenges, it’s time to take action.
If you don’t know the difference between True Airspeed and Groundspeed or think the "P" lead of a magneto allows it to urinate, it’s time to get out the books.
If a crosswind is inclined to make you crabby rather than force you to crab or a stall is something you desperately fear, then it’s time to quit stalling and get some dual with an instructor or a high time pilot who does it right (not all of them do).
If we don’t take action to eliminate our individual aviation skill cobwebs, we could end up in a TCA trap.
Additional accidents will lead to additional regulation and this will undoubtedly require additional funds and effort on our part to continue flying.
On the other hand, if we reduce accidents by increasing our knowledge and flying skills, we can avoid additional regulatory intervention.
Combined with the Americans, we have the best aviation freedom in the world.
Certainly it's worth protecting.

TAKE AIM
To shoot down these additional regulations before they take flight, we all need to expend a little effort to achieve everyone’s goals.
We can save Transport a lot of effort by talking with our peers and convincing them of the need for change in attitudes. We should especially talk with that problem pilot we all know on the airfield.
We can also hone our own knowledge and skills with some prudent reading and instruction. After all, none of us wants to be an accident statistic and we all want to be superior pilots who can avoid incidents that might require our superior skills to survive.
If we don’t do it, Transport will do it to us.
I had an hour of emergency procedures in a Bell Jetranger with an instructor last week and wrote this article. Now, it’s your turn. Will you be part of the solution?

Ken Armstrong has enjoyed 14,500 flight hours on more than 350 fixed and rotary wing aircraft. He provides aviation consulting/training services and flies his Diamond Extreme motor glider out of a grass strip near Victoria, B.C.