From NAFI HQ

Socrates Is My Co-Pilot

"Flying is done largely with the imagination. If one’s images of the airplane are correct, one’s behavior in the airplane will quite naturally and effortlessly also be correct."

 — Wolfgang Langewiesche, Stick and Rudder

A stationary front loiters above the Northeast. Fog blankets the region. A budding aviator and her mentor, grounded and merrily sipping peppermint tea, are found deep in dialogue exploring the concepts of flight. For two and a half hours, the duo vigorously volley back and forth — questioning, analyzing, refuting, reflecting, predicting, experimenting. In good jest, the instructor stumps the learner, the learner stumps the instructor.

It begins with a simple question. In this Socratic exchange we are partners in dialogue. The catalyst: “How does a wing fly?” It matters little who posed the question. We have our point of departure. A guided inquiry takes flight with singular purpose — to reach the heart of the matter, or at least gain greater clarity on the way. There is no lecturing. No rote dogmatism. No pretensions to knowing it all. With active minds, both take turns listening, examining, challenging, reasoning. Should a question remain unanswered, we walk away invigorated with curiosity, realizing we have much to learn.

Cultivating habits of thought. Despite a preponderance of books, videos, and (online) ground schools, there remains infinite latitude and profound need for active dialogue. Through dialogue, we stimulate imagination and model processes of thought that will influence and shape the aviator as a lifelong learner. A healthy skeptic. An independent thinker. One capable of formulating good questions and who bears the mark of candor, civility, and humility in their everlasting pursuit of knowledge and mastery.

Rules of engagement. Next time you’re grounded, start with asking a simple question. See where it leads. Exploring concepts soon becomes an exciting challenge. Questions beget questions. Ideas unlock and connect, leading one higher up the ladder of Bloom’s taxonomy. As you and your student acclimate to this method, you both prepare for each lesson more deliberately. Your minds become sharper and more agile. You will both learn how to learn, the ultimate enduring, invaluable reward.

George Charles Allen,

NAFI Board Member

Save the Date: Next Week

Wednesday, January 18 at 8 p.m. Eastern

for MentorLIVE

Improving the Culture of Flight Instruction: Eliminating a Mindset of Apathy,

presented by Jason Archer, CFII, CFI-G, MEI, AGI, IGI

Now more than ever, the aviation industry needs us as flight instructors to conduct ourselves as aviation educators. As the training pipeline accelerates and the quality of instruction suffers in measurable ways, a cultural shift is required in how we view the profession, how we mentor new instructors, and how we conduct ourselves with and around students. "Good enough" isn't really good enough, and leaves little to no margin for safety or performance. Join career aviation educator Jason Archer for a solution-oriented discussion about how we can improve the culture of flight instruction by combating professional apathy, one instructor, and one interaction at a time.

Jason Archer is a seasoned educator with a deep passion for aviation. He serves as chief flight instructor for Berkshire Aviation in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. There, he prides himself on mentoring a cadre of instructors and sharing distinctive, effective instructional techniques. Jason is particularly passionate about teaching in tailwheel aircraft.

NAFI's January 2023 MentorLIVE broadcast is

generously sponsored by Gleim Aviation.

MentorLIVE is NAFI's monthly, live-streaming broadcast airing the third Wednesday of every month at 8 p.m. Eastern. These programs feature subject matter experts from many aspects of the flight instruction industry to help CFIs be more successful in their training endeavors. 

MentorLIVE is broadcast free of charge to all aviators as a NAFI community service. To help support the production of these courses, consider making a donation to the NAFI Education Foundation. Click here.

FAA News

FAA Proposes Mandating Risk Mitigation Program

The FAA proposed a rule that requires charter, commuter, and air tour operators, and aircraft manufacturers to implement a critical safety approach that has helped create the safest era in aviation history. The program, Safety Management System (SMS), is a set of policies and procedures where companies identify, monitor, and address potential operational hazards before they become serious problems. U.S. airlines have been required to have SMS since 2018. The rule would support the FAA’s preventive approach that detects and corrects potential safety issues before they result in accidents or incidents. The FAA has encouraged aviation industry members other than scheduled airlines to voluntarily implement SMS. Boeing, Bell, GE, Pratt & Whitney, and Sikorsky all have approved SMS programs. More here.

FAA Issues New Heliport Guidance

The FAA has issued its new and long-awaited heliport planning, design, and construction Advisory Circular 150/5390-2D that provides largely voluntary guidance to the rotorcraft community. This new AC supersedes previously issued guidance from 2012. The FAA notes that “the standards and guidelines contained in this AC are practices the FAA recommends for establishing an acceptable level of safety, performance, and operation for heliports.”

Principal changes contained in the new AC include a new organizational structure of the material contained therein covering general aviation, transport, and hospital heliports; heliport gradients and pavement design; taxiways, taxi routes, and parking; markings and lighting; site safety elements; pre-designated emergency landing areas; and perimeter lighting for VFR operations. New dimensional, layout, and offset requirements also are included, as is a “heliport evaluation process flow chart.” More here.

5G Aviation News

FAA to Require Upgraded Altimeters by 2024

The FAA will require both cargo and passenger airplanes in the U.S. to install 5G C-band tolerant radio altimeters, or an approved radio frequency (RF) filter, by February 24, 2024. This latest directive is an update to the FAA’s December 2021 requirement that prohibited passenger and cargo planes from operating in the vicinity of 5G C-band wireless transmitters unless they were approved by the FAA. To give the airlines more time to upgrade their altimeters and to allow normal flight operations to continue, Verizon and AT&T responded to the FAA’s December 2021 directive by voluntarily modifying their 5G C-band deployments. Both companies agreed to use lower power transmitters and incorporate buffer zones around airports.

The FAA said that airlines are making progress at retrofitting their airplanes to accommodate the 5G C-band transmissions, but added that this longer-term solution makes the retrofits mandatory. In addition, the FAA is requiring airlines to revise their flight manuals to prohibit low-visibility landings after June 30, 2023, unless the retrofits have been completed on that airplane. More here.

Even with airplanes, you don't judge solely by what is on the outside. "I don’t know what was more prominent — the upturn in my mouth or the tear in my eye." Read the latest NAFI NOTAMs blog post here.