The quiet time over the New Years holiday is a wonderful time to reflect on the good and bad of the past year and to look forward to the New Year. While most people are familiar with the Emmy, Tony and Grammy awards, few pilots are familiar with the General Aviation Milestone or Gammy awards.
Before revealing the 2008 Gammy Awards, let me say that...
I'm very optimistic for the state of General Aviation in 2009. We may have a few more slow months, since for most parts of the country this is the slow season, though it’s the busy season now for flight schools in Florida and Arizona. Avgas prices are back to where they were four years ago and the cost of flying is decreasing—probably for the first time in history. Now is a great time for people to go fly their airplane or to start flight training. Make sure you encourage any of your friends with an interest in aviation to start working on their pilot certificate now, while costs are lower.
New Years Resolution
I have suggestions for a few New Year’s resolutions. First, don’t make the ridiculous one about going to the gym more often; you’ll just make it more crowded there for the first 2 weeks in January. Instead, make some fun resolutions that are easy to keep and will help G.A.
1. Find people interested in flying and take them with you for a demo flight. After all, it is a lot more fun to fly when you bring other people along. Then become a sales person for G.A. Figure out which aspect of flying is most appealing to each friend and then communicate either the fun, the usefulness of flying, the challenging of getting a license or just the satisfaction that comes with doing a new skill well. Let them know that flying is more affordable than it’s been for four years.
2. Resolve to get a new rating or checked out in a new type of aircraft. Instrument ratings are great and you can save money by doing up to 20 hours of it in a flight training device. Or, get a less expensive Commercial certificate or a sea plane rating, which you can do in a day or two. A few years ago, for my birthday, I treated myself to an hour of dual instruction in a Stearman and had tons of fun doing loops and rolls.
3. If aviation is your passion, get a CFI rating. Then give back to this great industry by sharing your passion with others. Many pilots rank getting a pilot license as one of their proudest achievements and you’ll have fun helping them do it.
2008 Gammy Awards
1. The 2008 Gammy Award for the most successful acquisition at a bargain price was awarded to Cessna for excellence in executing the purchase and integration of Columbia into their product line. Business schools teach that only about 10% of all acquisitions work out, but Cessna made it look easy. The Cessna 400 has always been one of my favorite airplanes. I enjoyed being back at the factory again in Bend, Oregon last January to fly across the country with the owner of one of the first “Cessna 400s.” Always one of the most beautiful airplanes, this bird looks even better with the Cessna logo on its tail.
2. The 2008 Gammy Award for Design Innovation was awarded to Cirrus Design with their introduction of the Perspective glass cockpit and later, their Enhanced Vision System (EVS). The Perspective is essentially Garmin G1000 software with all new hardware in the cockpit including new 12-inch displays and a new autopilot control panel. If you know how to use the G1000 and GFC 700 autopilot, then you already know how to operate 99% of the avionics in the plane. The EVS system provides a forward looking view using infrared and should enhance safety and reduce accidents by making it easier for pilots to spot the runway at night or in reduced visibility.
The runner-up for the 2008 Gammy Award for Design Innovation was the Icon A5 Light Sport Aircraft (LSA). This new amphibious LSA, which has yet to ship, has folding wings and is trailerable. It will also contain a quick deploying “ICON Complete Airplane Parachute” or ICAP and an Angle of Attack indicator to warn of impending stalls. I can’t wait to see these in lakes and reservoirs everywhere.
3. The 2008 Gammy Award for Innovation in Teaching was a tie. It was jointly awarded to CFIs Arlynn McMahon and Bob Miller. Arlynn has written the first book on scenario based training (SBT) titled Teach Like You Fly. There’s been a lot of talk about the value of SBT, but Arlynn is one of the first to act on it and produce a book which makes it easy for flight instructors to incorporate it into their teaching.
CFI Bob Miller has long been a proponent of changing the way flying is taught. In particular, he has encouraged CFIs to integrated realistic cross-country flights early into their curriculum, rather than as a separate topic near the end of flight training. To spread his ideas more widely, he started the Bob Miller Flight School in suburban Buffalo, NY where he and his team teach in modern G1000-equipped Cessnas.
A few years ago, an FAA friend of mine said, “we’ve been teaching flying the same way for 50 years.” Arlynn and Bob are both leaders in finding new ways to improve flight training.
4. The 2008 Gammy Award for Innovation in Marketing was awarded to Cessna. In an industry that’s often been criticized for doing things “the same old way,” their team is breaking the mold and making many innovative changes in the way they communicate the value and utility of their airplanes. Two small examples show how they are exploiting the capability of the internet. One is a creative Youtube video that compares flying from the Midwest to NYC in a Citation jet versus flying on the airlines. Another example is their advertising on Flightaware.com, which provides real time tracking of aircraft. When users request a real-time flight track for certain aircraft types, they’re offered a demo flight in the Cessna 400.
5. The 2008 Gammy Award for Excellence in Government was awarded to the FAA’s Global Navigation Satellite System Program Office and their National Flight Procedures Office. The former has spent the last decade developing and deploying the incredibly successful and economical WAAS system. The latter has charted nearly 1400 LPV approaches, more than all ILSs installed, and plans to chart another 500 approaches in 2009. Soon, virtually every airport with a runway at least 3,200 feet long and 60 feet wide will have a near-precision (similar to an ILS) GPS approach available to both ends of the runway. This should make instrument flying even safer. Great job!
6. The 2008 Gammy Award for the best fought battle was awarded to Phil Boyer and AOPA for their unrelenting fight against user fees. There’s no organization than I hold in higher esteem than AOPA and all pilots should be a member. Other major successes at AOPA this past year include:
A successful search for new President which ran about 9 months while interviewing more than 100 candidates. A new charitable foundation: AOPA Foundation is raising money to continue to defend General Aviation. A new Learn to Fly initiative giving potential pilots a free $149 certificate that can be used for a demo flight or first lesson.
7. The 2008 Gammy Award for Green Aviation was awarded to Virgin Atlantic, which in February became the first airline in the world to successfully fly a plane using biofuel. The Boeing 747 flew from London to Amsterdam burning a mix of 20 percent babassu nuts from the Amazon rainforest and coconuts from The Philippines and 80 percent standard jet fuel.
8. The 2008 Gammy Award for Pure Fun was awarded to the Rocket Racing League, which debuted this past year. What could be more fun than a general aviation airplane with fire coming out of its tail—intentionally!
Gammy Awards for the Worst of 2008
1. The 2008 Gammy Award for “What were you Thinking” was awarded to the FAA for their original NextGen proposal. The original proposal required pilots to pay for a redundant ADS-B transmitter that delivered zero benefits to General Aviation pilots.
2. The 2008 Gammy Award for “Innovative Thinking Ahead of it’s Time” was awarded jointly to Day Jet and Eclipse. Day Jet was the company in the southeast that offered per-seat, on-demand air taxi services using Eclipse jets. So far, other companies, such as SATS Air Taxi are successful in this market, but use Cirrus SR22s, costing less than half as much as an Eclipse and with half the fuel burn. Day Jet was widely reported to have 1300 Eclipses on order, fully half of the 2,600 Very Light Jets (VLJ) that Eclipse sold.
Eclipse used more than $1 billion in investor’s money to develop their innovative VLJ before going bankrupt. Just as Cessna bought Columbia last year for a bargain price, some company will undoubtedly buy the Eclipse design for a song and the aircraft may survive under a different name.
3. The 2008 Gammy Award for Nuisance Fees was awarded to the airline industry. Now, passengers pay extra for luggage, movies, drinks, and perhaps someday for seat belts. To their credit, they’re not in Washington asking to be bailed out again, so the fees are working for them. Fuel prices have dropped, but many airlines will be stuck paying high fuel bills, since although they finally starting buying contracts to hedge against higher fuel prices, they did so when fuel was at an all time high! So even though the market price of fuel has dropped, their costs will continue to be high.
Looking Ahead to 2009
This should be the year of many new student pilot starts. The cost of flying is lower than it’s been for several years. Exciting new aircraft, like the SkyCatcher, may ship later this year and Cessna is developing a New Learn to Fly program to go with it.
This could also be the year of a large increase in spending for airport infrastructure if the new stimulus bill includes airports. Hopefully the money will be spent building more runways, not just more fences.
2009 may also be the year of the combined Private/Instrument syllabus. Look for a new book out this year by Paul Craig and the team at Middle Tennessee State University. Pilot programs over the past few years show great success in teaching new students the Private and Instrument rating simultaneously and I expect this new industry direction will enhance safety.
This will be the year that some pilots learn to use the WAAS-capable GPS receiver they bought in 2008. If there are still some things you don’t understand about your new GPS, we highly recommend this WAAS training course.
We can predict with near certainty that in October 2009, the FAA will announce another decline in the number of GA accidents. What they probably won’t say in the press release is that the decline in the number of accidents will be mostly attributable to a decline in the number of hours flown, not in any meaningful decline in the rate at which accidents occur. Using that logic, if we could just get pilots to fly zero hours per year, we would have a huge decline in the accident rate.
2009 will undoubtedly see more bankruptcies and acquisitions of companies with VLJ programs. I have no idea which companies they’ll be, but this seems to be part of the normal aviation life cycle. It should be a rebirth for some companies, letting them get out from under their debt load and put their planes back into production.
I also predict that 2009 will see the release of several new books and computer-based training programs from Max Trescott. Stay tuned—it should be a great year!
I read this post and I couldn't help but laugh. Optimistic? About what?
1. Most of the GA fleet are planes built 30 years ago based on designs from 40 years ago.
2. An airplane use to be about 4 times the average cost of a car. Now it's 10 times. It's great that the FAA watches over everything- unfortunately it makes everything far more expensive than it should be. Does it make planes safer? Probably- but I suspect the difference is marginal. The whole process of building and certifying aircraft has to become easier and less costly.
3. We're still using leaded gas. It's 2009- we stopped using leaded gas in our cars more than 25 years ago.
4. We're still using carburetted engines- despite the incredible reliability of fuel injection and the obviously superior fuel economy, simplicity and immunity to icing.
5. We run our gasoline engines at high output almost all the time which is terrible for them- but we've been extremely slow in certifying and producing diesel engines which thrive under exactly those same conditions.
6. Cessna may have bought Columbia- but the Mooney Type S is a faster plane with a lower fuel burn than the Columbia 400. Is the C400 a nice plane? Sure- but why would you choose it over the faster, more efficient and less expensive Mooney? Fixed gear? Did they do a great job integrating the company? Sure. Was it a good idea? That I'm not so sure about.
7. Pilot instruction has not kept up with the faster pace of modern society. People don't have a year to spend learning to fly- we need to lower the barrier to entry. The sport pilot license is a joke- it's 90% of the work for 10% of the benefits. A lot of people need to feel like they are making more progress more quickly or they get discouraged and walk away. Those are the people we need to get back.
In fact- some of the things I think need to change on the flight school front:
We could start with better resources for people to use to decide on a flight school. Customer reviews and ratings on a recognized site like AOPA's would help a great deal. Why isn't that there now? I know it would have helped me a lot. The first flight school I went to ended up being a big mistake. It turned me off flying for quite a while.
Flying scenarios also need to be a lot more engaging from the start. People want to know how to fly an airplane- to them that means taking off, going somewhere and then landing. Too many flight instructors put off landing practice and cross country flying for flight test flying- i.e. practicing turns and stalls. Is that important? Sure- but you can learn the same stuff while actually flying somewhere and while actually learning how to land. Learning stall characteristics early on isn't that important when the instructor is sitting next to you- and most people would have an easier time learning those skills if they'd been engaged in real flying from the start.
Your flight instruction Gammy is in the right direction, but we need to go a lot further.
Posted by: Mark Richards | February 06, 2009 at 11:39 PM
Mark, the Gammy award post was designed to recognize what's good in General Aviation. You've offered the other side, which might be called the Whammy awards. Sure, I agree there's a lot which isn't right in GA or in the world. Let me respond to your comments.
1. True, the average age of the GA fleet is old, but my post was about what's new in GA.
2. True, new airplanes are very expensive. Health care and college education costs are probably rising even faster. Flying isn't cheap, but it's still a lot of fun.
3. True. This is a ticking time bomb and needs lots of attention before it gets resolved!
4. I disagree. The overwhelming majority of new planes ship with fuel injection. I guess you're talking about the fleet as whole, which of course is not going to change immediately.
5. True. Engine technology advances have been slow to almost nonexistant. Some of diesels out there have been a disaster. I feel bad for all of the DA42 owners who are facing a huge expense replacing their diesel engines.
6. Huh? We gave a GAMMY for the "most successful acquisition at a bargain price" to Cessna for their purchase of Columbia. Their net cost for two type certificates was only about 2 million dollars, which is a bargain compared to what it would have cost them to develop their own version of the C350 and C400. That has nothing to do with whether the Mooney is better or faster.
7. True. An FAA friend of mine said "we haven't changed the way we teach flying in 50 years." I think the jury is still out over how effective the Sport Pilot certificate will turn out to be. Certainly, there's been a lot of development of lower cost LSA aircraft which is encouraging. mark, you have lots of good ideas about flight instruction. If you're not already a CFI, I hope that you get your rating someday and put some of those good ideas in practice!
Posted by: Max Trescott | February 07, 2009 at 12:44 PM