by Danny Taddei

FAR’s come from the blood of other’s mistakes.  The sole purpose for many of our so-called restrictions is to protect our own stubborn arrogant selves from becoming a statistic.  Many laws seem a waste of time and irritate even the best of us if we do not take the proper steps to understand why the laws are there in the first place.  Why should we obey the laws?  If you look deep enough, almost all of them are rooted in a NTSB report, a complaint with at least some degree of legitimacy or, a cash claim somewhere.  In short, something happened first to provoke all those legislators to write all that legislation that finally ended up as FAR # *@!X#(%).   Many pilots are too young or too new to the game to remember why some FAR’s appeared.  Recently, while trying to find a Cessna 172 for a student of mine, a question came up concerning the value of spending extra money on a Mode-C equipped airplane (remember that Mode-C is the altitude encoding system on your transponder labeled as ALT).  The hopeful seller of one airplane in particular did not have a Mode-C equipped transponder and climbed all over the idea of having one.  He seemed to have complaints that ranged from the actual added expense to the phobia that big brother was watching him to closely.  I explained that FAR 91.215 & 91.13d did not come to pass because John Doe Transponder, Inc. decided to lobby congress so they could make more money selling more sophisticated equipment.  The Mode-C rules came about because a Piper Arrow decided to climb, and an Aero Mexico jet decided to land.  They collided and everyone died.  The FAA was ultimately blamed  with poor flight control procedures and the controller himself went through enormous distress.  Lots of money changed hands.  Blame went everywhere, but the truth is that the controller was simply in the wrong seat at the wrong time.  The accident would have happened anyway.  The radar equipment was fine.  The jet was well within airspace Bravo (TCA back then), but the pilot of the Piper was a little off course.  If he had had Mode-C, they would all be alive.  The paragraph in Part 91 on Mode-C is a piece of a page within many, many pages.  Why are there so many?  It’s because flying is maturing.  It is getting more hi-tech by the day.  It has to. 

The Rules & Why

Page Two

Those of us who fly a lot see why and fit in without complaints.  Some people feel that flying has lost its romance, but that’s not so either.  It is just changing.  We go faster, farther and we do it safer on less fuel.  The result is that it is still extremely rewarding and the freedom of flying to Catalina or Bimini for lunch is still with us.

With more and more planes in the air each year, the average age of planes growing older and the speed at which the fly increasing, it would only seem logical if midair collisions would be on the rise but the fact is, they are not.  Less people fly into mountains.  Fewer people become lost.  The “fly by the seat of your pants” attitude is maturing to be a work the system attitude.  Maybe if we could call it partnering or something trendy like that people would not be offended or be tempted to push the envelope.  If I could change the attitude of the general aviator by coining a phrase, I would.  Maybe I can.

Wouldn’t it be great if no one ever died in a plane again...ever!  Would you bet the next one who does will be disregarding the FAR’s?

I hate to even think a thought like that but it is a question that should be pondered.  Reviewing the FAR’s on a yearly basis with an open mind will obviously help with understanding the rules.  It will also help with the understanding of where dangers may lurk.   

Mode-C is just one of the many topics of complaint that I have bore witness to during my life as an instructor.  In fact the list is to long to go into without planning to write a novel.  I suggest that you do a little test the next time you are at the airport and go to your favorite hanger and start the ball rolling.  Do as we all have and start talking  about your least beloved FAR.  See how many one sided arguments come up during the course of your hanger flying session.  You may be surprised by the results.  Take notes on the ideas then sit down with a conscientious instructor and ask the appropriate whys and whats.  You might find yourself partnering sooner than you think.  Partnering will help all of us incredible men (OOP’s!...people) in our flying machines keep going up-edy-up-up.