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The recent termination of a popular DPE by the San Antonio FSDO has highlighted common questions about FAA management in the DPE program nationwide, and SAFE is asking the FAA to study and implement systemic improvements.

An FAA Examiner designation is a one-sided arrangement favoring the FAA. The designation is, in the FAA's words, a "privilege not a right" and may be terminated at any time with or without cause, which makes many DPEs uncomfortable and inhibits the participation of many otherwise qualified aviation professionals. Despite these terms, the FAA has recently increased available DPEs nationwide from 800 to over 1000 and eliminated geographic boundaries; positive change is happening.

"The Designated Pilot Examiners are the FAA’s direct connection to the GA community," said SAFE Communications Director Kevin D Murphy. "They are the gatekeepers who make sure that aspiring pilots have the essential skills, knowledge, and judgment to operate safely in the National Airspace System. But DPEs are also mentors to aviation educators who are training pilots, many of whom go on to become the airline officers and captains of the future. DPEs are truly the “face” of the local FAA office. DPEs voluntarily present safety programs for the FAA, appear at fly-ins, seminars, and events where they are role models for the community. They are the heart of the FAA safety culture."

SAFE directly addressed the FAA Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC). on DPE reform at its mid-December meeting. "The availability of good DPEs is one of the biggest roadblocks for growth in the entire flight training industry," SAFE told the FAA committee. SAFE is advocating more transparent, high-level oversight and review, especially in cases like Ken Wittekiend where a successful and popular DPE who generously serves the local pilot community is suddenly terminated. A locally produced YouTube presents a defense of WIttekiend and raises important issues from the local pilot community. Again, perception is as powerful as fact in many of these cases, and a better system needs to be in place.

In a recent public comment, FAA Branch Manager Jay Kitchens promised "increased involvement at the national level with review and consideration of any DPE termination efforts to allow for an outside review that goes beyond just a local FAA office staff." This is a big step in the right direction of improving equity and transparency; time will tell.

The report calls for the FAA to conduct a risk assessment of issues related to valid driver's licenses and use of state-licensed physicians and mitigate any such risks. It also asks the FAA to collect pilot flight hours from Basic Med holders so accident rates can be better compared to active pilots with medical certificates.

Dogged NTSB investigators in the October 2019 crash of the Collings Foundation World War II B-17 Flying Fortress have found problems with both engines on the right wing, as well as passenger seat belts that failed. A detailed review of the Board's findings to date appeared in a December Plane and Pilot magazine.

The NTSB's public docket on the crash was opened to the public on December 9.

That docket shows details that indicate Crew Resource Management (CRM) aboard the flight was less than exemplary. SAFE member Meg Godlewski, who flew in the accident B-17 many times, said reading the NTSB documentation of onboard CRM gave her chills. Now a professional CFI, Godlewski was a TV reporter in 1992, reporting on the B-17's CAF tour when she took her first flight on the aircraft. Since then, she has flown on the bird several times.

The tragedy that killed six, including the crew, is still under investigation by the NTSB and no statement on the cause of the crash has been issued. However, engine specialists found that the number three "…engine’s pistons and spark plugs showed evidence of detonation that would have resulted in a significant loss of engine power.” The number four engine had its prop feathered and “showed the P-lead to the left and right magnetos was separated from the magnetos’ housings, with both magnetos secured by a single strand of safety wire that was loose. The lead to the left magneto was completely out of the housing allowing the grounding tab to contact the housing, shorting it out."

Leading aviation writer Robert Paul Mark will be an inductee of the 2021 Illinois Aviation Hall of Fame, the Springfield-based organization announced last month. Mark, a long-time SAFE member, has been an air traffic controller, pilot, flight instructor, writer, blogger, podcaster and speaker active in aviation safety.

Earlier Illinois Hall of Fame inductees include Meigs Field namesake Merrill Meigs, simulator inventor Rudy Frasca and Octave Chanute, an early Illinois pilot who was hailed at his death in 1910 as the father of aviation.

"I was honestly lost for words," wrote Mark, in an announcement in his Jetwhine.com blog. "All I ever thought of during my life is trying to do the best job I could for the people who signed my paycheck, as well as the flying public I knew I also served."

The Illinois Hall of Fame is currently in the main terminal of the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield.

SAFE co-founder and aviation safety legend Doug Stewart's experience with power loss on takeoff is the latest episode of There I Was, a free AOPA Air Safety Institute audio podcast. The series features lively conversations with pilots across the aviation community as they encounter unpredictable scenarios and explain how they flew safely out of them.

Or didn't fly out of them, in this case. In his own words, Stewart tells about loss of power in his 1974 Cessna Cardinal at a 1,900 foot New Hampshire airport with ambitious trees at the end of the runway.

The AOPA ASI podcast is open to all pilots. It is the latest iteration of ASI's effort to revive the helpful parts of pilot "hangar flying," without quite as much exaggeration. The first such effort was a pilot-told, PowerPoint-based series called Real Pilot Stories.

Boeing Company is hiring up to 160 pilots to be embedded in airline 737 Max flights as instructors or cockpit observers, the company said last month. The new Boeing pilots will serve 35-day assignments and earn an equivalent annual salary of $200,000.

New instructors are Boeing's latest bid in its efforts to help its redesigned 737 MAX launch smoothly after the 20+ month grounding of the Boeing workhorse. Boeing's losses due to the grounding to date are estimated at more than $20 billion, with an enormous public loss of trust in the company.

CCL Aviation is hiring pilots on Boeing's behalf. The company is based on Isle Of Man in the United Kingdom but has offices worldwide, including the US. The company calls itself the world's largest provider of flight training personnel and instructors. Training Poster for 737 Max Pilot Training

A 2.5-minute video of a cockpit view of the newly-OK'd Boeing 737 Max 9 takeoff and landing is available for SAFE members.

A webinar titled "Birds, Bears and Bullets," presented December 3, details the most common bird, animal and gun attacks on aircraft. Hosted by AVEMCO, the series of insurance-related webinars is hosted by SAFE member Gene Benson.

Gruesome photos of victim airplanes show bird strikes, bear strikes, cow strikes, deer strikes, bullet holes, presented by AVEMCO Insurance Underwriting Manager Kim Skipper. Bears in Alaska have flattened several parked bush aircraft tundra tires, but it's the airplane-eating cows that really rack up damage claims. "Cows are attracted to airplanes landed off-airport and left overnight," explained Ms. Skipper. Famed aviation author Gordon Baxter once wrote an entire column about airplane-eating cows in FLYING Magazine.

"How much does a towbar cost?" Ms. Skipper asks, waiting a pregnant second before answering, "it depends on whether or not it hits the prop before you remember to take it off." One recent tow-bar vs. propeller strike claim was $10,000.

Some of the company's claims come from "distracted taxiing," which long-time CFI Benson says can be reduced by insisting the learner have one hand on the throttle and one on the yoke at all times on the ground, preventing checklist reading.

Implied throughout the webinar was the company's strong support for professional instruction; of AVEMCO claims analyzed, the average number of days between any instruction and an accident was 373, just over a year.

When Rudy Frasca started his Frasca International flight simulator business in 1958, the day of the old stubby-winged Link Trainer was passing. Today, there are nearly 100 museums displaying Link Simulators, AKA the Blue Box, should you be interested.

Ed Link was the original with his Link Trainer in 1929. It uncompromisingly taught instrument flying to more than a half-million US pilots through WW II and beyond. It's been designated a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

But look at that panel! And you're complaining when your CFI fails your HSI or moving map GPS?

Edwin Link created his trainer at his family's business, the Link Piano and Organ Company in Rochester NY. His father's employees who understood pumps, valves and bellows used in organs helped Ed create that first motion simulator. Ed's timing was nearly perfect (except for the Great Depression, which started that same year), as interest in instrument flying exploded in the latter 1930s.

Then came World War II and Link Aviation Devices pushed more than 10,000 of the so-called Blue Boxes out the door. At its peak, the company rolled out a new AN-T-18 simulator every 45 minutes, and by the time the shouting was over Link could claim more than a half-million US pilots trained on its simulators. Much background information is in the Wikipedia entry on Link.

Link's company is now part of L-3 Communications and makes specialized simulators for the military, such as this Navy Hornet simulator.

SAFE member Andrew Marinelli of Youngstown OH was re-designated a Master CFI for the eighth time in December.

Andrew is single- and multi-engine seaplane rated, a Gold Seal CFI and teaches at Gemco Aviation in Lima OH. He is a FAASTeam Representative for the Cleveland FSDO.

He was named the Cleveland FSDO's Flight Instructor of the Year in 2008.

The Master Instructor designation is a national accreditation recognized by the FAA. Candidates must demonstrate an ongoing commitment to excellence, professional growth and service to the aviation community, as well as a rigorous evaluation by a peer Board of Review. To learn more, go to Master Instructors.

Candidates for a Master CFI must demonstrate an ongoing commitment to excellence, professional growth and service to the aviation community. They must pass a rigorous evaluation by a peer Board of Review. The process parallels other professional continuing education regimens. To learn more about the Master Instructor program, go to Master Instructors.

Joel serves as a lead FAA FAASTeam representative for FAA's Orlando / North Florida FSDO. Additionally, he owns and operates Beach Banners based at Jacksonville's Craig Municipal Airport, which provides aerial advertising services, aircraft rental, and tailwheel flight training.

The Master Instructor designation is a national accreditation recognized by the FAA. Candidates must demonstrate an ongoing commitment to excellence, professional growth and service to the aviation community, as well as a rigorous evaluation by a peer Board of Review. To learn more, go to Master Instructors.

SAFE is a 501(c)(3) educational, not-for-profit professional organization building aviation educator excellence and aviation safety. Our more than 3,300 members include many of the best-known, best-credentialed and most experienced CFIs as well as many FAA Designated Pilot Examiners.

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