It's going to be hard to top today–Oshkosh just keeps getting better and better. The day started out with the Master CFI breakfast, which usually draws around 50 of the approximately 550 Master CFIs. It’s a leisurely affair that affords lots of time to renew acquaintances with other CFI’s and friends in the media who attend.
For at least five years running, the keynote speaker has been…
the FAA Administrator and today was no exception. Bobby Sturgell spoke and also presented the Jack J. Eggspuehler Award to Cirrus Design. The award was accepted by Alan Klapmeier, co-founder. Good choice. Cirrus continues to push the envelope with innovative design and their recent introduction of the Perspective glass cockpit in the SR22 is a good example.
As an interesting aside, prior to the breakfast I was talking with Alan and his new Marketing Vice President Todd Simmons and I mentioned that I’d flown the new L3 SmartDeck glass cockpit that Cirrus is using in the prototype of their jet. Todd replied that someone had already forwarded a copy of my blog comments about it to him. Hmmm….so maybe blogging is becoming a form of community email?
Everyone was in high spirits at the breakfast, including Sporty’s Hal Shevers and ASA’s Mike Lorden who spoke briefly and it was great to catch up with them both after the breakfast.
Meet the Administrator
Next up was the “Meet the Administrator” forum. Rod Machado had just finished his presentation and we exchanged a quick hello. Rod wrote the endorsement for my Max Trescott’s G1000 Glass Cockpit Handbook and will do just about anything to support fellow CFI’s. Most people know him as an accomplished author and humorist. But he’s also an aviation mensch—one of the most admirable and decent people in the business. If we had royalty, he would truly be the Prince of General Aviation.
Bobby Sturgell opened his forum by recognizing the other three National GA Award winners and me and then made some opening remarks. He commented that some companies are not following the 51% rule that requires homebuilders to do at least 51% of the work required to build a plane and that compliance would be required. He also encouraged people to file comments by August 13th on the proposed changes to the Light Sport rules.
He talked about an improving safety record, but did so in terms of the declining number of accidents, rather than a decline in the underlying rate of accidents. Candidly, I wish that the FAA and other organizations would focus on the rate of accidents—which has not declined markedly—rather than the number of accidents, which has declined largely because of the decrease in the level of general aviation activity. This creates a false illusion that safety is improving significantly when it hasn’t, and diminishes the imperative to improve safety. It’s time the industry became more intellectually honest about this and stopped spinning the data by referencing the “number” of accidents versus the accident "rate."
Sturgell is particular concerned about runway safety, and mentioned that the largest number of runway incursions were by general aviation aircraft. My recollection is that when I previously looked at the data that was true, but that the most serious incursions involved airliners, not GA. Regardless, it’s a problem and everyone needs to study airport layout diagrams (which are free on the AOPA website) ahead of time and focus on following ATC instructions to the letter.
EAA President Tom Poberezny then sat with Sturgell and moderated the Q&A. The audience was respectful and there was only one question that seemed to originate on a different planet. The most interesting question came from a former controller who asked why the FAA has not renewed the contract for FAA controllers. Sturgell responded with a well articulated outline of the process that the FAA has followed to reach a new contract
He started by explaining that controllers can retire at age 50 with 20 years of experience, or at any age with 25 years of experience, but that they must retire by age 56. The current problem originated in 1981 when the FAA had to suddenly hire 5,000 new controllers in the wake of the PATCO strike. Sturgell pointed out that they hired 1600 new controllers in 2006, 1800 controller in 2007 and will hire as many as 2000 controllers in 2008. In 2003, a contract change allowed the FAA to reduce the total headcount to balance the workforce with the decline in operations in the wake of 9/11. As to staffing levels, he pointed out that there are fewer operations per controller and per fully certified controller today than there were in 2000.
In 1998 controllers received a substantial pay raise that far exceed that of other federal agencies. However, the agency feels that these pay levels are not affordable in the long term, and would cost the agency an additional $300 million in 2009 alone. In recent negotiations, the FAA reached agreement with the union on about 100 of approximately 110 articles. When they reached an impasse, they followed the Impasse Process mandated by Congress.
The average cash compensation of the top third of controllers is now $168,000. Apparently the FAA’s proposal didn’t cut this base pay, but would phase out one premium. New controllers are being hired under a new pay schedule that pays $50,000 to new hires, $90,000 after three years, and tops out at a base of $110,000 plus a locality pay that averages 17% additional.
Sturgell points out that the agency does salary surveys and compares controller salaries with that of private sector employees in the aviation industry including pilots and engineers. This is a fairly standard practice in private industry, and it helps companies set competitive salaries that allow them to attract employees. Sturgell pointed out that they received 11,000 applications for 3,000 positions, which suggests that the new lower pay scale is still competitive with the market.
Interestingly, this detailed response was the only one which brought applause from the audience. Clearly, Sturgell sold the audience on the agency’s position on this issue. In fact, all of my interactions with him over the last two days have sold me on his capabilities as the Administrator. Anyone who’s followed the FAA knows that his confirmation has run into roadblocks in the Congress. Candidly, I think the petty politics should be cast aside and Sturgell should be confirmed.
Lunch and More Fun
Next up was a recognition lunch for the other GA Awards winners and me. I sat across from AJ, the 17-year old son of speaker and author Captain Allan Engelhardt. We enjoyed talking about the fun he was having flying the Garmin G1000 and his plans for his senior year and college. I later let his dad, who is a former CFI of the Year, know about what a polite young man he had raised.
It turns out the National GA Award winners also get a lot of fun prizes as part of the award. I noticed that there was a handheld GPS, jacket and flight bag among the goodies before I had to dash off to meet with an editor. By the time I got back, everything was neatly packed up, so I still don’t know what is in the boxes. Opening them tomorrow may be like Christmas in August.
Next up was my all time favorite activity at Oshkosh—a private tour of the brand new Oshkosh control tower. It turns out they don’t give tours, as evidenced by the rather large sign to that effect on the tower. Apparently that’s not 100% true, as somehow someone made arrangements for me to see it. I dragged along my wife and Jack Hocker, the FAA Safety Team member from San Jose, CA who originally nominated me for the award. We were sent up the elevator, climbed the final stairs and were greeted by a view that almost took our breath away.
The new tower totally dwarfs the old tower and has a commanding view in all directions. We spent perhaps a half hour up there quietly observing the staff at work while snapping pictures in all directions. I’ll post a complete set of pictures on the blog next week, but will include at least one now to tantalize you. Suffice it to say, there’s no better place to watch the airshow!
During the day I also met with Henry Ogrodzinski, who runs NASAO, the National Association of State Aviation Officials. We talked mostly about the FAA reauthorization bill, the key Senators involved and the latest attempts to move forward on a Senate bill that doesn’t have user fees. By the way, when Sturgell spoke at his forum, he wasn’t optimistic about the chances of a bill being passed before the latest temporary authorization bill expires in September.
Toward the end of the day, I ran into former FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, who I’d met a couple of years ago at a Master CFI breakfast. She seems to be enjoying her new job as the President of the Aerospace Industries Association. Though not a pilot, she always seem to truly enjoy Oshkosh each year, and I was happy to see that she is still finding her way here in her new job.
The day wrapped up with the NAFI CFI recognition dinner. I enjoy seeing close friends from Cessna, AOPA and the FAA who came by and we were
[from left: John Mahany, Jason Miller, Rob Mark]
able to finally introduce spouses. It was also great fun putting together podcaster Jason Miller with blogger Rob Mark. Rod Rakic, who’s starting a new social network for pilots at mytransponder.com, also joined in and the conversation was something you’d expect to hear in a Silicon Valley coffee shop (though no VC’s were present). It was a wonderful conclusion to a spectacular day. I wonder if I can get Tom Poberezny to extend AirVenture for another week?