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A million questions about the annual inspection will NOT be answered in a thousand word article written by a Flight Instructor/Aircraft Owner, but a lot of information will be touched upon. How you use it will be your personal decision. If it makes you take the time to think, ask questions, do some work yourself, shop around, ask around, and watch the work as it is being performed, then my time writing this article was well spent.

A lot of reading will be required on your part, but the good thing is that even if you decide to let the mechanic do it all, you will have learned exactly what you didn’t know about your very own airplane.

I have a good friend who always proofreads my articles. He hates them because to get anything out of them requires too much work. He really thinks that I should be able to cover the entire subject matter on two sheets of paper in about a thousand words. Not many subjects can be done that way and absolutely nothing involving aviation.

THE REQUIREMENTS: These are fully covered by FARs (and what isn’t?). Read 91.403 for a start, 43.3(d) and (g), 43.9, and now that you have read your FAR book for the first time since getting your Private ticket, let’s see what we have learned.

FIND THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS: Who can legally do the work? What work can you perform? What work are you qualified to do? When does it have to be completed? And that dreaded sign-off, how much weight does it carry?

What happens if we don’t do it according to the regs? Who’s to know if it isn’t done properly or at all? What constitutes an annual inspection for my airplane? How do I get this thing back to my home base if I am out of annual? Is my insurance effective after my annual runs out? What specific items can I do with the hangar doors open? Should I do them? What should be the average cost for an annual for my type airplane? Who did the last one? When? Was it satisfactory?

What items must be recorded in the aircraft logbooks? Where can I get a copy of the required maintenance schedule needed to do an annual on my airplane? Who is required to do a 50-hour, 100-hour, 250-hour, or an annual inspection? Am I? Of the 328 items mentioned by Cessna for my 172, which are recommendations and which are mandatory?

Is it true that I can legally do only 32 of those items without being in violation? Where do I, as an owner, get parts? What do Red Tag and Yellow Tag parts mean? Where would I get the necessary tools? Am I smart enough to do this work? How much do I know about my aircraft? How much do I really want to know?

RESEARCH AND READING: A lot of reading will be required on your part, but the good thing is that even if you decide to let the mechanic do it all, you will have learned exactly what you didn’t know about your very own airplane. When you total up your lack of knowledge, whatever you do, don’t tell anyone about it. They will either refuse to fly with you or turn you in for being so far behind the knowledge curve.

Read anything you can find about working on your particular airplane. Search Trade-A-Plane for service manuals and bulletins. Get someone to run you a copy of the Advisory Directives from the FAA that have been issued over the years. Read your Aircraft Flight Manual, Pilot’s Operating Handbook, and borrow, buy or copy your AP/AI copy of the service manual that applies to your airplane. Get a copy from your mechanic of a recent annual inspection sheet that he did on a similar airplane.

And now comes the one thing you really don’t want to know, but it will be your first question: How much do you charge to do an annual?

COST: First, decide what work is going to be done by your mechanic. Parts? Labor? Flat fee? And what does this flat fee cover? If I am paying for parts and labor, why am I also paying a flat fee? Am I nuts? Can I get an estimate? How much time will my bird be on the ground? Has he annualed a similar aircraft lately? Can I see that paperwork?

MISTAKES NOT TO MAKE: “It’s time for my annual. Can you do it for me? I fly my family in this aircraft and I want it to be perfect. Cost means nothing to me! Whatever it is, FIX IT!” Not knowing in advance some of the costs and how the total job will be priced can lead to a surprise that will knock your socks off. I’ve seen $8,000 annuals done on an airplane that was flying great the day before it went in. And the time to do these inspections is just as important. An aircraft down for three weeks from a flying club, for example, can almost put you out of business.

THE BETTER WAY: Know all the costs that are possible to project in advance. Are parts easily accessible for my aircraft? Anything that comes up should be personally okayed by you. A list of things you personally want done should be gone over before the inspection begins. If costs are important to you, shop around. Be wary of too cheap a price, and be especially wary of one-price fits all! Be careful of the mechanic who can’t or won’t show you any paperwork from prior inspections. You may be his first victim. Know your mechanic. Know the FBO or shop that is directly responsible for the outcome of this work and the bill! Get it in writing. Get the name of some past clients and talk to them.

FINALLY: This is your airplane, your money, and, most assuredly, your responsibility, so do it your way. If the little bit of reading and chasing around is too much for your busy lifestyle, you deserve the results, and they can be scary.

An annual needs to be a learning experience. A little reading, a few questions, a little negotiating, some persistence, some demands, some commitments on both parts, and who knows but you might just make a new friend. Don't lose a friend just because you didn’t do your part of the bargain.

There are certain and several things that are required on an annual basis, and you can put them off until finally it’s time to pay the piper (or Cessna) since it has gone too far. Safety should always prevail in your final decision.

Good annuals DO NOT have to be all that expensive. During the year you should do a few things yourself, record what you did, find some necessary parts at a reduced price, get everything ready for the operation, all paperwork in order, price agreed upon, and time down settled. You are now ready to be inspected.

I’ll see you at the airport! Always remember, pilots who don’t fly have no advantage over people who can’t fly. What’s your excuse?

Written permission required to reprint this copyrighted article (2010).
James E. (Jim) Trusty ATP/CFI/AGI/IGI
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it WWW.JIMTRUSTYCFI.COM
FAA National Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year ‘97
FAA Regional Aviation Safety Counselor of the Year ’95 & ‘05

The name and contact information of an instructor that teaches spins in my area is at the bottom of this article. I hope that you have one close to your airport…

I still spin every student who flies with me, if they ask, no matter the certificate or rating, and I still teach exactly what a stall really is and how little reaction it takes to change the outcome. We still call them “landings at altitude.”

Before you take your next lesson, Flight Review, or acquire your next certificate or rating, why not have a talk with an instructor about doing some real stalls and spins.

Not knowing how to do them does not keep them from happening !!!!!!!

First, let me remind you that the airplane already knows how to fly and dearly wants to do so if left alone without a sudden input from you. So, if the airplane is intentionally put into a mistake (I do not believe in inadvertent flight into anything), it rejects what you are trying to do and it simply quits flying. It sounds all its bells and whistles to let you know it cannot proceed in this particular maneuver with this exact power setting or configuration, and it demands immediate response from you as the pilot.

I still teach both maneuvers on the ground and in the air, and by the time a student has successfully done a stall that intentionally led to a spin and recovered from that maneuver, they can now converse intelligently about the subject. It is not something they saw on tape, read about, or that frightens them. A stall is a mistake on the part of a pilot that CAN lead to a spin which is a maneuver that a pilot, with proper training, can fly out of.

I still teach both procedures at altitude so that if a mistake is allowed to magnify itself, the pilot can get out of it. I sincerely believe that knowledge is king, or queen, when it comes to aviation. Seeing it done will never replace doing it. I do not hold myself out to be an aerobatics instructor nor do I consider either maneuver to be particularly aerobatic if you simply go right into it and get right out of it.

The actuality of doing both maneuvers, more than once if required, is that nothing I have ever used before makes a greater impression on the student when it comes to pattern work, standard rate turns, cross controlling, steep turns, power and pitch management, and a half dozen other simple every day maneuvers. Nothing gets and holds their attention more than a simple stall and an even simpler spin. Private pilots end up doing three complete turns to the left and three complete turns to the right and have the knowledge to tell you what is going on at any time before, during, and immediately after the spin. I really think it makes for a better and more complete package when used in primary training.

I have always done this for every student who asked because of the total lack of knowledge displayed by some instructor candidates when I get them. Most have never done them, they are scared to death of them, and they know 20 pilots who have died from doing them (although they can’t remember any names). Why can’t we just sign them off? Other instructors don’t do them (again, no names), and a multitude of other equally great excuses why we should not stall and spin.

It makes for a great ground school session or two or three, and teaches more about aerodynamics than any other two maneuvers I can think of. What does an airplane do when it stops flying? Why does it want to fall to the right or left; which one it does favor and why? What causes flat spins? Another discussion of weight and balance comes into being about now--what can’t spin, what shouldn’t spin, can yours spin. Watch the tape again, and get prepared for the real thing--mentally, physically, and, more importantly, aerodynamically.

Don’t give me that stuff that they are not required because they are unsafe. It just shows how little you really know about the flying capabilities of your own aircraft. Don’t dare say they are scary or unsafe in front of a real pilot. They were never meant to be a test of any kind of the pilot’s courage. It is a maneuver and it is programmable as to what the outcome will be. If you are not doing actual stalls and intentional spins, it may be because you have forgotten, if you were ever actually taught.

The stall now and the spin now are both as beautiful a maneuver as the lazy eight because someone has finally published a book to show when an aircraft stalls, when it spins, what causes it, how to prevent it, and, if not, how to recover from it. No, it wasn’t Rod Machado. It’s called the PTS (Practical Test Standards). And, incidentally, I still teach spirals, too, if I want to or feel they are something that will benefit my student. Just because something is no longer a requirement does not mean it has no further benefit.

If we want to get into a discussion about safe and unsafe maneuvers, we should spend a day or two talking about takeoffs and landings. Are they the most unsafe maneuvers we do? Well, according to the safety statistics, they are still responsible for almost 90% of the accidents we have in trainers. Now, admit it. Landings still bother you, don’t they? I’ve never heard pilots say they were going out to practice stalls and spins; it’s always takeoffs and landings. I guess this means they feel they are already proficient in stalls and spins but they can always use a little work on takeoffs and landings.

I feel that most of us just give up completely on the recurrency and training part of the program as soon as possible after being declared a pilot. Don’t fall for this if you want to live long and be an accomplished pilot. It takes continuous, intensive practice on your part each and every time you fly. Try something new each flight and always be willing to go back and stay current in those maneuvers seldom performed. Slow flight, stalls and spins will extend your life as a pilot. Not knowing how to do them does not keep them from happening.

Before you take your next lesson, Flight Review, or acquire your next certificate or rating, why not have a talk with an instructor about doing some real stalls and spins. It never hurts to become more knowledgable. Keep asking until you find what you are looking for, an instructor who can teach the fundamentals of these maneuvers. They are out there.

In closing, think about the following. Clearing turns are the most important maneuvers we do on a daily basis and the most often forgotten. How many degrees to the left and what to the right, or is it the other way around? And what about the traffic behind you? LOOK AND THEN MANEUVER. And here’s a little tip for you—anything will spin but not everything will recover! Will yours?

I’ll see you at the airport! Always remember, pilots who don’t fly have no advantage over people who can’t fly. What’s your excuse?

Written permission required to reprint this copyrighted article (2010).
James E. (Jim) Trusty ATP/CFI/AGI/IGI
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it WWW.JIMTRUSTYCFI.COM
FAA National Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year ‘97
FAA Regional Aviation Safety Counselor of the Year ’95 & ‘05

The FAA knows, and so do we, that pilots in general do not eat good nutritious food and are not necessarily prone to exercise. Consequently, by raising the medical standards just a little bit every chance they get, they allow us to drive ourselves right out the door of flying.

With the ever-changing medical rules in our profession the Federal Aviation Administration is trying to close down yet another accident avenue before it gets a chance to rear its ugly head. They know, and so do we, that pilots in general do not eat good, nutritious food and are not necessarily prone to exercise. Consequently, by raising the medical standards just a little bit every chance they get, they allow us to drive ourselves right out the door of flying.

They have allowed us to believe that anything can be waived if we start taking some kind of medication for it, and without even thinking, that’s what we do. Many drugs and medications have created more problems than they cure, especially in aviation. If you are slowly falling into one or more of the following six ailments, read on.

STRESS, CORONARY HEART DISEASE, CANCER, LUNG AILMENTS, LIVER AILMENTS AND SUICIDE. These six deadly killers are the most prevalent in our society. Most can be prevented, cured, or at least contained with the use of proper diet and/or food control, meditation or deep relaxation, brisk exercise of any kind, chiropractic adjustments, and perhaps a class in behavior modification. In some cases, some light medication may also be needed. Still with me? You must really like to fly or NEED to.

WEIGHT MANAGEMENT, FOOD INTAKE, AND PROPER NUTRITION all come under the same heading. What it boils down to is whether you are eating the correct foods for your particular needs in the proper amounts and whether you are burning up the food or storing it as excess fat. Some helpful hints might include cutting down your sugar consumption (especially soft drinks which can contain as much as 7 teaspoons of sugar per can), avoiding white flour and overly processed foods, eliminating fried foods and foods cooked in heated oils from your diet, and limiting dairy products to low fat or fat free.

Try to eat more fruit and vegetables, 5 servings a day, especially in season, and stay away from canned, processed and frozen foods whenever possible. Stop eating fast and/or junk foods such as burgers, fries, and doughnuts. Eat your last meal of the day as early as possible. Eat starches and proteins separately; eat fruits and vegetables separately. Chew your food well and learn to enjoy the different flavors. Stop eating when your stomach is half full; the other half is still on the way down.

Fresh vegetables should make up as much as 50% of your daily food intake. Fresh fruit, 15%. Starch, 10%. Protein, 15%. Fat, 10%. Avoid foods high in saturated fats such as beef, dark-meat poultry, poultry skin, butter and other whole-milk dairy products. Read food labels on processed foods. Many proclaim themselves “cholesterol-free” when in reality they are often made with highly saturated tropical oils such as coconut, palm, and palm kernel. Snack on fruit, carrot sticks, air-popped popcorn or low-fat crackers instead of chips and other high-fat snacks.

Supplement this with 2 l/2 quarts of water each day which is about the amount we lose over a 24-hour period. Your body and this planet we live on are both 75% water. This is why it plays such an important role in your lifestyle and health.

Take these helpful hints and do some research on your own. Don’t take someone else’s word for your health but find out what is best for you based on your body’s needs. Now, armed with all the facts, you can design a weight management/food consumption program that best suits your lifestyle and your needs. As a result, you will not only feel better but live longer.

Even though it may sound like we should quit eating altogether or at least give up some of our favorite foods, it’s simply just a tradeoff. What you love to eat has gotten you this far. The question is, are you happy with where you are?

On the other hand (the non-greasy one) we all know how hard it is to give up foods that we have grown accustomed to eating and ordering over the years, so take small steps in substitution and meal modification. Try substituting some lower fat foods for regular ones or, if you just can’t stand the taste of the lower fat foods, limit your portions. Try vegetable stock instead of margarine when cooking, eat fresh whenever possible, drink lots of water at mealtime, and, something very important, practice portion control! Despite the new diets that promote counting fat grams or eating all the carbohydrates you want, the total amount of calories you take in still count.

Finally, one more thing to hate. Exercise. Start now to make your excuses and I guarantee that your mind and body will agree with anything you can come up with no matter how outrageous it may sound. Equate food intake to putting fuel in your airplane. If you put in more fuel than the tank will hold, it runs over on the ground. Same thing with the human body except it runs over on the waistline.

How do we get rid of excess fuel? Burn it! Same thing with food; we have to move around and burn it up. Taking a nap or lying down to watch TV after a big meal is not a great idea for burning up an overload of food.

Here again, the method that you accomplish for the end result is completely up to you. Do an activity that sounds like fun and try to break a sweat. Bad word, sweat. It means that you are going to have to do more than ride in a golf cart or lie on the beach or watch a ball game. You are going to have to participate and move around in order to burn what you just ate. Being thin and healthy doesn’t just come from what you eat; your body has to get in on the action, too.

The thought behind this is that after you realize exactly how hard it is to burn up excess food, you will think twice before taking in an overload. Example: jogging for one hour burns less than 500 calories; 3,200 calories equal one pound of weight.

You don’t have to train for the Olympics, you just have to move, so start small and work your way to the more difficult. Walking for 40 minutes to an hour at any pace is a start. Make it exciting like walking in the park on or the beach. Don’t live on the beach or next to the park? Imagine that you do. Get some headphones and listen to whatever makes you calm down and appreciate being alive. And little changes in your habits make a difference, too. Take stairs instead of elevators, park your car a distance from where you are going, and any time it’s possible walk instead of drive.

And try to halt weight gain before it gets beyond your control. When you’re at your ideal weight you will notice right away when you gain a little bit. Begin to immediately cut back. Losing the weight won’t take long that way because you’ll never get to where you need to lose much. The longer you wait the more you’ll adjust to being heavier and the harder it will be to get back in control.

What I have described in this three-step changeover is what most healthy people do to maintain good health. You know the ones I mean. They always look healthy and they always eat a lot of salads. It may look boring, but they generally live forever and keep flying long after we have lost our medical.

One final two-step addition to add to your take charge of your life program. You cannot smoke and drink and be healthy also. If I have ever made a statement in my life that can be backed up with more evidence than this one, I don’t remember what it was. Stop smoking and stop drinking (or drink moderately, if at all). A lot of personal sacrifices have to be made and the only benefit we can be assured of, besides feeling a whole lot better, is flying an airplane for a longer period during our lifetime.

Flying . . . Is it worth staying healthy for? Run this article by your Doctor, see if he agrees. I’ll see you at the airport. Always remember: Pilots that don’t fly have no advantage over people who can’t.

Written permission required to reprint this copyrighted article (2010).
James E. (Jim) Trusty ATP/CFI/AGI/IGI
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it WWW.JIMTRUSTYCFI.COM
FAA National Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year ‘97
FAA Regional Aviation Safety Counselor of the Year ’95 & ‘05

You would think that after reaching this level in aviation that the very last thing any pilot would want to do would be to create more paperwork. With all the forms and graphs they gave out at the recurrency school, the aircraft manual, Pilot’s Operating Handbook, manufacturer’s preferred checklist, GPS manual, approach plate books and charts, what could anyone possibly need with another scrap of paper? Well, on that last flight you took you were in a hurry, had a bad night or day, then this happened and that happened, and after landing safely at your destination, you remembered that you had forgotten something. No one probably even noticed because it was such a small thing to begin with, but it concerned you just the same.

Try doing too much…and then add something extra just for safety. You are just about halfway home… Now get out your CHECKLIST! The list I’ve been compiling over many years and have witnessed as a flight instructor in this level airplane includes: left the dipstick out; forgot to turn on the lights; landed on 20 left after being cleared for a visual to 20 right; forgot to change the frequency after being told to do so; took a 200 mile trip with the gear down; forgot to retract takeoff flaps; forgot to switch fuel tanks; forgot the approach plates because this was supposed to be all VFR; left the keys hanging in the door of the aircraft for the entire trip; forgot to top the tanks because I thought that line would do it and then forgot to check to see if they did. This list gets a lot longer and more use out of the word “forgot” than we really need to see in one article, but the point is made that we are all human and therefore susceptible to making mistakes, usually brought about by getting in a rush which causes us to forget on occasion.

The only thing that works well and on a regular basis is a personal checklist that you take the time to make up for yourself. Mine is four pages and it covers four subjects where I have found that I sometimes need a little prodding, such as (1) the walk around and start-up; (2) run-up and takeoff; (3) in flight and the emergencies that can happen; and (4) landing and shutdown. All the items included on this list are necessary and have been shown by past experience to sometimes get lost in the process.

The size of my checklist is 6” by 9”, laminated and on a chain. The items are in the same sequence as they appear in my trip, and they are not for anyone else but me. In the middle of each page is a 3” x 3” blank area with the title “New Items To Add,” and this is used from time to time to make an addition to my masterpiece in case something new rears its ugly head. I’m not saying that this checklist has given me all my memory back or made me a better or more competent pilot, but of the 100 items covered on the four pages, none have been forgotten in a long, long time.

Would you like to eliminate 100 bad habits from your life that could really cause you some problems? I certainly hope so. Why haven’t you thought of this yourself? Probably because no one wants to admit that they could be just a little bit less than perfect, especially a pilot, and no one wants to be responsible for creating more paperwork to deal with. But the process might also turn out to be enjoyable.

To create my own checklist, I first got together every piece of paper in the airplane and laid it all out on an empty desk. I then asked not to be disturbed for a couple of hours, or at least until I was heard screaming for help. Decision time—what information is absolutely needed for page number one—“The Walk Around and Start-up”? What am I looking for? What have I forgotten in the past? (I wonder if they make safety chains for those dipsticks?) I read the manufacturer’s list of items, the handbook checklist, got some great ideas from the first class I took, and now I’m writing stuff down. Trying to limit each page to 25 major items and no more, I walk around the airplane and touch and feel the metal and the glass and the rubber and the fluids, reminding myself that this is something I have not done in some time. It’s my airplane and no one flies it but me so that brings a quick thought to mind. All these things I haven’t been doing have not been getting done. Now that is pretty scary! My first page now has 34 items that I will pare down to the required 25 very quickly, but instead of just whacking some items I walked around the airplane again and that made it easier to eliminate a few things that would be easy to spot if left unattended.

Now with 25 items clearly in my mind and on my list and room for my “New Items” also, I was ready to proceed to the next page, “Run-up And Takeoff.” While sitting there with all this paperwork, I mentally taxied the airplane over the run-up area, going through all the checks and balances and then doing the takeoff in my mind. (When was the last crosswind, short field, or even good soft field takeoff I had done?) My Private Pilot checkride looms in my mind. This page is made up of a lot of numbers that need to be checked to see if they are the same as they were when this airplane was born. Probably not. VX, VY, V this and certainly V that. Set this and call them and copy this and do it all in some sort of sequence that will allow me to get off the ground and on course in a safe manner. What can I do to organize this entire sequence of events to minimize head movement and, in case someone is looking, try at least to look organized and professional in the cockpit? If your arm bone is connected to your head bone, everyone on board is going to be keenly aware of it as you rock the boat back and forth trying to get things done that should perhaps have already been done on the ground.

This page is very important to pilots because we tend to have almost as many takeoff accidents as we do landing mishaps, and we must do everything in our power to avoid either one. I always ask myself two questions before applying the power, “Am I ready to fly? Which way am I going to turn after takeoff?” This is important to a smooth and safe flight. What do you ask yourself? Never any questions might mean you are not concentrating completely on the flight at hand.

You should be really getting into this checklist thing by now and you may be enjoying the productivity of the effort. Nothing bad can come from this kind of effort on your part. There is no such thing as being too prepared and too ready to fly. Let’s move on to page number three, which is “In Flight and The Emergencies.”

This particular list changes almost every time we fly, different course, altitude, weather, weight and balance, time, approaches, routes, so the only thing that this checklist has to guarantee is that we are completely ready for this particular flight. Even though we are all getting GPS lazy, stuff can still happen and does quite frequently. Let’s make this list work on us in such a way that we are prepared to hand fly the airplane if necessary and do it well and safely. Design each step on the flight so that you are in complete charge of the entire operation.

At this point in the sequence of events that take place from the time we leave home for the airport until we land and leave the airplane at point “B”, there is nothing more frightening than to have the airplane start flying you or have it really get ahead of you and your planned thinking process. It can’t happen, you say? If you don’t think the airplane is faster than you are while it is in cruise, then you are further behind than you thought. Our only defense is to be better prepared for anything that could possibly take place on any given day and flight. This list might have the least amount of writing of the four pages, but it encompasses by far the most information. With this list you are going to have to fill in the mental blanks because each flight is usually different from the others, but you can do this. It just takes some time and some thinking from you as the pilot in command.

As you mentally fly a few flights that you have taken recently and start writing the necessary items for this page, you are going to start feeling smarter from day one. Part two of this page is for the emergencies that can sometimes occur. Those things that we call emergencies are different for each and every pilot and as such are handled differently. What you think of as an emergency could be considered run of the mill for the next pilot. Usually it’s what we are doing when they occur, how busy we are, how we as pilots react to them, and most assuredly the final outcome that makes them an emergency or not. If you think you needed more of this and less of that when the last emergency happened, prepare for it now with this list. Again we are limiting ourselves to 25 items on this page of your personal checklist and leaving room for “New Items" that may crop up. Don’t even think of leaving something out of your personal list because of how someone else might feel about it. This is for your personal use only, and in your mind it will make you a better pilot and a safer one, too, and that’s the bottom line with all this training and work that we do.

Checklist page number 4 is “Landing and Shutdown.” According to statistics, this is the other area where we have the most trouble. Most accidents happen in some stage of takeoff and landing and usually mention weather in the final report. What does it take to land your particular airplane and how well do you usually do it? Twenty-five items that get it on the ground, locked and chocked, serviced and ready to go again if necessary. This is your responsibility; no delegation, no subbing it out. This is your airplane and you are the pilot in the air and on the ground. You are in charge. As a reminder, my landing list has some critical V speeds and the point in this particular approach where I have everything done except touching the ground with the wheels. Gear is down at a certain point, radio is finished, landing configuration, flaps if needed, passengers are ready and so am I . . . at some point. Review with this list any problems you may have had in the past with this part of the flight and cover yourself now with information so that it never happens again.

Your checklist is now nearing completion in a rough draft. Not taking any chances, we mentally fly our last trip again as best we can and try to see if we could add or subtract anything that seemed important at that time. How we finish these lists up and how elaborate they appear in final form is up to the individual, but our very own flying record has established the completeness of the list. This is your personal list and no one else would feel comfortable with it. The rhythm and flow of the way you get things done, the order in which you check things off, would probably never, ever fit the flying style of another pilot. This is great! We are all individuals and as such have the leeway to make these decisions ourselves. We as pilots have only one main objective and that is to fly from “A” to “B” and land safely.

Nothing we can do will ever replace recurrency training, keeping up with the changes in our industry, and actually flying the airplane, but sometimes something as subtle as a personal checklist might just make us think a little about the job at hand and that is, bottom line, “flying the airplane, better and safer.”

If this article seems like a good idea to you and you would like some help getting started with the project, feel free to e-mail me at ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and I’ll be glad to share the way I’ve seen these lists used and the best way to organize them from the start. No charge, just glad to help a fellow cabin class traveler and aviator of other flying machines.

If I could go back in my career as a flight instructor and measure what I have spent the most time teaching to pilots and students alike, it would come up heavily in favor of safety. Everything we do in the name of safety affects everything else we do in the course of a flight in a positive way. Aviation is a lot like speaking Latin and playing golf. I personally don’t think that you ever get perfect at either of them. In order to try, we have to keep asking more of ourselves. This list is just another tool that allows us to be a little more on top of our game.

I’ll see you at the airport—using your personal checklist, I hope!

Have you ever wanted to smile really big and say this to an inspector just before he started his inspection or your check ride? I really hope that you didn’t.

I have been involved in aviation long enough to remember a time when that statement rang true, but I believe that a lot of positive changes have taken place in the last few years. I have been a volunteer in the various Federal Aviation Administration sponsored safety programs for over 20 years and have seen education get in the left seat and enforcement placed in the jump seat. This is a great advancement for all of us that fly, no matter the level or certification.

The changes that we saw take place after 9/11 coupled with an FAA that sincerely believed that enforcement would make you a better pilot had to have a turning point. The change that took place was that the aviation community was made keenly aware that education linked to the knowledge that enforcement was available to those that needed or demanded strict attention to the problems they presented has been working. Also, the cut backs that our government has had to make because of budget constraints meant a leaner FAA to handle all the complaints.

Inspectors actually have a pretty tough job when you look at the work they perform. What we really have are about 50,000 people in the FAA trying hard to police 500,000 or more aviators who need constant help and attention. A quick visit to your local office will confirm the activity that I describe. They are at half staff at best in most offices. Every airplane that flies has someone that is responsible for it in some way, Airworthiness, Maintenance, Education, Research and Development, and if nothing else, random paperwork.

The FAA is full of thankless jobs and dedicated professionals who devote their entire careers to producing a better and safer aviation community. We actually do very little to help them in this project. What a chance to make a contribution. You can fly safer, understand the rules and follow them, be respectful of the authority, attend the safety meetings offered, volunteer for the FAA projects offered, or take a close look at what employment is currently being offered by the government and see if your time would be beneficial to them.

They pay a competitive salary, offer full benefits, and the work is interesting if you are in this industry. Want to see what is actually being offered and what is available in your own general area? Get on your computer and dial in www.faa.gov and pull up careers and jobs.

Whatever you decide to do, be nice in your approach. We are all chasing after the same goal, AVIATION SAFETY!

Written permission required to reprint this copyrighted article (2010).
James E. (Jim) Trusty ATP/CFI/AGI/IGI
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it WWW.JIMTRUSTYCFI.COM
FAA National Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year ‘97
FAA Regional Aviation Safety Counselor of the Year ’95 & ‘05

The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) reported this month that corporate jet travel is down 25% since December, 2007. NBTA conducted a survey among business travel buyers late in 2008.

Businesses reported a $140-175 increase per trip domestically, and upwards of $400 increase on international trips. The result has been alternative travel methods, or meetings conducted online rather then the costly trip. In fact, according to the survey, 56% of companies surveyed reported taking cost cutting measures when it comes to business travel. This has become aparent in the aviation industry. Small business are being affected by the increasing price of air fare at the airlines, while large corporations are being pressured away from the use of private jets. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reports that air taxi operations are down 18% nationwide since 2005, while general aviation operations are down 30%.

Meanwhile. the number of aircraft for sale is ever increasing while prices are slowly falling. Corporations like AIG and Leehman Brothers, who received bailout funds, have dumped thier jets for millions less than what they paid for them, at public and government pressure. Even companies who have not taken any bailout money are closing down thier aviation programs for fear of public perceptions, flooding the market with used corporate jets.

"We're hearing stories that people are very concerned about flying to Washington, because of the potential for being targeted by the media and the politicians" John Meehan, general manager of Landmark Aviation at Washington Dulles airport, told National Public Radio.

The industry crisis has sparked action from the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA). CEO Ed Bolen has lauched his "No Plane, No Gain" campaign aimed at convicing Washington that there is a place for business avaition. Bolen recognizes that business aviation contributes $150 billion into the U.S. economy with more than 1.2 million employees (www.noplanenogain.org). Another misconception of business aviation is that every corporate flight is a pleasure cruise for CEO's. An NBAA survey found that 86% of business flights are made by mid-level employees. It is simply cheaper, once air fare, time spent in airports waiting to board, deplane, waiting on luggage, etc, are all calculated, for the businessman to fly privately than to take an airline. The use of a private jet also allows the passenger to continue working, via phone or internet, while airborne. The NBAA says that companies that use private aircraft, return more to their shareholder than companies who do not.

"Business aviation is a fundamental part of our nation's aviation system, but there's a lot about the industry that's not well-understood" Bolen said at a FAA forum in late March. "[Business Aviation] provides a lifeline for the many communities across the country that have little or no airline service" continued Bolen.

The Office of Manegement and Budget assesses how federal agencies keep projected timelines for federal projects. The Office last month rated the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Automatic Dependend Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B), the new satellite based air traffic control system, a .97 out of a possible 1 for completing installation and deployment on time. The $1.8 billion project was awarded to ITT corp. The 18 year project is set to replace the growingly obsolete radar based system currently in use.

In South Florida, all ground based systems are already functioning and equipped aircraft can receive the free traffic and weather service in flight. The ADS-B is scheduled to be active throughout the U.S. by 2013. ITT Corp. was awarded a better then perfect score of 1.04 for being under budget.

For more on ADS-B check the FAA's website on ADS-B.

The Obama Administration has released the first budget and aviation groups are in outrage. “The Budget proposes repealing some aviation excise taxes and replacing these taxes with direct user charges,” quotes a line from page 129 of the budget found here. These user fees would begin in 2011 and would fund approximately half of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) $7 billion budget. “It is often said the devil is in the details, but even with only a few details, we are concerned,” said AOPA President Craig Fuller in a press release, noting the lack of details in the budget. The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) sent a letter to the Administration, expressing they are very “troubled by the budget outline issued by the White House.” National Air Transportation Association (NATA) President James K. Coyne also disagreed with the proposed budget. "While the Bush Administration proposed a similar user fee, NATA is hopeful that Congress will reject the proposal as they've done previsouly," express Coyne.

The “user charges” should concern general aviation as well as charter airlines. “Direct user charges are just another name for user fees,” noted Fuller.