That’s why we were so pleased recently to stop by the Redbird Skyport in San Marcos, TX to congratulate the students from Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology in Flushing, NY on passing their ground school and starting their flight training.

These students are engaged in an accelerated training program for their Private Pilot certificates at the Skyport flight training laboratory. Vaughn College and the Redbird Skyport are working together to determine the most effective way to use simulators in Private Pilot certification. The goal is to turn out a pilot who is not only physically proficient, but is a good risk manager and truly ready to be pilot in command.

The accelerated program at the Skyport flight training laboratory uses the latest computer-based software from Cessna, developed by King Schools. Instructors will introduce flight maneuvers in a full-motion simulator, and then have the students practice what they have learned in the actual airplane. The folks at Skyport aren’t worried about how much or little credit the FAA will give for the simulator time – they’re just interested in whatever provides the most thorough, cost-effective training. (Very few pilots finish their Private Pilot training in the FAA minimum time, anyway. The average flight time is about 73 hours.)

Skyport will also be testing the Redbird Parrot program (interactive ATC) on the Vaughn students, as well as their GIFT program (Guided Independent Flight Instruction, which provides video instruction from us in the simulator before and after they practice maneuvers), to see what changes should be made to these programs in order to provide the maximum help to a student.

And they’ll also be testing the results from a fun, competitive cross-wind simulator

Experimentation over a period of time, with these Vaughn students and others who will follow in their footsteps, will establish the best ratio and sequence of simulator time to airplane flight time. That’s why Redbird calls the Skyport a flight training laboratory. And the good news is that Skyport will publish its results and conclusions, so every flight school in the country can benefit from what they learn.

You might be asking, are these Vaughn College students hand-picked and special? They’re special only in the sense that everyone in love with aviation is special – they are excited, enthusiastic, and motivated.

So congratulations to these ground-breaking, soon-to-be-pilot, students from Vaughn!

Pictured are Left to right: Karen Ramsdell, Airport Director, Martha King, Jim Armstrong, City Administrator, John King, Camino Sanchez Chief of Police, Helene Schneider, Mayor.

As you may know, the last time Martha and I were at Santa Barbara airport, we were met by the police, held at gunpoint, and placed in two separate police cars with our hands cuffed behind our backs. This time we were met instead by Craig Fuller, President of AOPA, and invited to the Mayor’s office.

There we visited with the Mayor, the City Administrator, the Chief of Police, the Deputy Chief, and the Airport Director. We presented them with a planning guide and law enforcement officer checklist for the interception of an aircraft on an airport. The main idea behind the guide and the checklist is to allow the airplane to go to an FBO rather than sending it to a remote part of the airport. When we were sent to the remote area it tipped us off that something was up. When we spotted all four police cars lined up in wait for us, we knew something interesting was about to happen. Any real culprit in that situation would have simply put the throttle in and taken off. So the technique they used wouldn’t have captured the bad guys.

The use of a remote location came to mind for them because they, like all the rest of us, had seen on TV hijackings handled exactly that way. The technique works for a hijacking because the pilots are in cahoots with the police against the bad guys in back. But when the suspects are the pilots, the technique gives them a tip-off and an opportunity for escape.

Pilots who are instead allowed to go to an FBO won’t be tipped off. When they get into a parking spot, just like all the rest of us, they will get out, and most likely chock or tie down the airplane and lock the doors. They will have immobilized the airplane in anticipation of transferring to ground transportation. This is the time for the police to deal with them. They are on foot and usually inside a fenced area. There is little opportunity for escape and little need for the police to draw weapons.

The result is a procedure that does not tip off the suspects, minimizes the opportunity for escape, and is less risky for everybody. This doesn’t come to mind for law enforcement officers, because in most cases they just don’t know about airplanes. They don’t know such key things as the pilot will very predictably go to an FBO after landing and then immobilize the airplane, and that if you want to keep a piston airplane from going anywhere all you have to do is pull in front of it, because it can’t back up.

The planning guide deals with the need for law enforcement agencies to, in advance, recruit folks with aviation knowledge to assist them. In our case the subject airplane was actually a Cessna 150. We were flying a Cessna 172. The police wouldn’t know the difference, but nearly every pilot would. The police had thought they had covered this detail when they asked the tower, “Is this a Cessna?” The tower replied that it was. The problem with that exchange is that Cessna has built over half of all the single-engine airplanes in the world. The police hadn’t narrowed it down much, because they just didn’t know the right questions to ask.

This is where you come in. Print out the card with a color printer, have it laminated and take it to the law enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction over your airport. This card has practical recommendations developed by people who know both law enforcement and aviation, including police chiefs and past and current members of the board of the Airborne Law Enforcement Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

The other aspect to our interception is that it was the result of a multi-agency governmental mix-up that resulted in the Santa Barbara Police Department being falsely notified that our airplane was stolen.

The FAA is, for unimaginable reasons, re-issuing to different aircraft the registration numbers of aircraft that have been stolen. Then the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is listing the registration numbers as belonging to a stolen aircraft even though they are now attached to a completely different aircraft. Finally, the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) is sending alerts out to police departments like the Santa Barbara Police Department when they spot an aircraft on the list in the IFR system headed their way. EPIC does this without even bothering to check the status of the registration number in the FAA’s registry. This takes about 30 seconds on the first page of the FAA’s website.

So AOPA, NBAA, and other organizations as well as our local congressman, Brian Bilbray, are working to resolve those issues. Let’s hope they are successful.

Checklist: Aircraft Interception On An Airport

Our incident in Santa Barbara certainly could have ended with a tragic headline.  Instead, it has turned into a real opportunity to positively impact General Aviation.  We’ll be following up with details on a recent meeting we had with the Santa Barbara mayor, police chief, airport director and other officials and suggested changes to reduce misunderstanding between GA pilots and law enforcement in the future.

You can help!  We’ve created the following checklist: Aircraft Interception On An Airport.  It gives Law Enforcement Officers tools to better prepare for dealing with pilots and aircraft and alternatives for more effective and safer interceptions. Pass a copy along to your local law enforcement officials and to your local airport authorities. And forward it to fellow pilots so they can deliver it to their local authorities also.

Less stressful times with N50545

By now you have probably heard about our being handcuffed at gunpoint by the police at Santa Barbara Airport. Our registration number had mistakenly shown up on a stolen aircraft list.

Being detained at gunpoint, handcuffed and placed in two separate police cars, left us shaken enough that we had misgivings about flying home that afternoon—especially using the IFR system that had set us up for this ordeal in the first place. Sleeping at night hasn’t been easy either. Our minds keep replaying the events.

This could, of course, have happened to any pilot. The important point is to turn this into a learning opportunity for everyone involved so this doesn’t happen to innocent pilots again.

Chief Sanchez Apologized

I should note that the Chief of Police at Santa Barbara has called to apologize for our “short detainment”. I explained that we neither asked for nor expected an apology, but I was very appreciative. On the other hand, I explained, it wasn’t the detainment that I objected to. It was that so many guns were trained on us. In fact what bothered me most was not the treatment I had received, but seeing Martha have guns being pointed at her and seeing her being handcuffed.

Chief Sanchez explained that police are not trained to do anything else when they detain an airplane but to treat it as a high-risk traffic stop. The problem is that a high-risk traffic stop involves aiming guns. I said that I understood that the officers followed the procedure for a high-risk traffic stop to the letter. My question is whether that procedure should have been used.

Treating It As a High-Risk Traffic Stop Was Not Necessary

In my view it will be very rare when high-risk traffic stop procedures are appropriate for aircraft.

The aircraft are being intercepted because they are in the IFR/flight-following system. The behavior of these aircraft is very predictable. They have announced to the world who they are, how to reach them, and when and where they are going.

Once on the ground at an airport, they will announce on the radio their destination on the airport. They will taxi to the FBO, and if it is a 172, like we were flying, they will usually be directed to a remote parking spot. The pilot then will tie the airplane down, lock the doors, and walk away from the airplane. The police can then simply walk up to the occupants and talk to them without fear of their attempting to flee. Once the airplane is parked, there is no way to go anywhere. They don’t even have access to a car yet. The suspects will have immobilized themselves.

If, on the other hand, the police set up an interception in a remote area instead of at the FBO, any truly guilty suspect would most likely spot the police cars, as we did, before they pulled into the parking area, realize what is happening, and simply take off from the taxiway before the interception took place. This remote interception procedure only results in abusing the compliant innocent while giving the guilty the opportunity to flee.

For an aircraft flying to a remote airport in the middle of the night, it is possible more extreme measures would be required, but it is unlikely that aircraft would have been using the IFR/flight-following system and be reported. So this situation is unlikely to come up.

Making Sure Procedures Are Changed In The Future

Since this incident happened we have learned that it is not uncommon. And we have been given the details of two other recent cases where innocent pilots have been intercepted as a result of the registration number of a stolen aircraft being re-assigned by the FAA. However, in neither one of those cases were guns drawn and aimed at the pilots.

There are several failure points that result in these mistaken aircraft interceptions happening. Each failure point can and should be corrected.

1. The FAA should not re-assign numbers of stolen aircraft unless the system is changed to protect the users of the aircraft the number is re-assigned to. The registration number on our aircraft, N50545, had been previously assigned to a 1968 C150 that was stolen. According to the owner, the C150 was never found, but the FAA re-assigned the number to our C172 anyway.
2. El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) should check the FAA database before notifying agencies that a stolen aircraft in the IFR system is inbound. Plus, the notifications should distinguish between suspected drug smugglers, terrorists and aircraft thieves. It would have taken only about a minute on www.FAA.gov for them to search the registration number in question to learn that number had been re-assigned to a different aircraft.
3. There needs to be a system for correcting the stolen aircraft database and better coordination between agencies. The aircraft we were flying had been intercepted 18 months ago for the same reason, on a trip by a Cessna employee between the Cessna factory and Wichita, KS. Yet nobody bothered to remove the aircraft from the stolen aircraft list.
4. Police departments should be given Standard Operating Procedures and training regarding meeting suspicious aircraft. Aircraft are different from cars. Plus, police departments should take the 60 seconds or so required to determine that the suspect aircraft has not had the registration number re-assigned and is the correct make and model.

One thing that still bothers me about this case is that the Santa Barbara Police Department is still treating this case as if it were no big deal. I guess it isn’t a big deal if you are on the aiming end of the gun. And I have to admit that nobody was hurt and we and the police returned to our homes that night. Their reports to the press characterize us as” laughing afterwards” and “completely understanding”. The truth is that we were completely cooperative, and what we understood is that it is never wise to argue with a law enforcement officer. There will always be plenty of time for argument later on if you survive the incident.

We were not insulted or offended personally. We just feel that drawing guns on people is dangerous business—not to be done unless it is absolutely necessary. And it will continue to happen to other pilots unless the system is changed.

See the cruise quick links at the bottom of this post

Share the Fun with Pilots and Aviation Enthusiasts

By the third week in January, 2011 when this cruise will take place, you will appreciate SUN ‘n FUN’s goal—to bring together people who share a passion for aviation in a tropical, relaxing, stress-free environment. Join us for this mid-winter “de-icer” and we’ll tour beautiful Grand Cayman Island and Cozumel, soaking up the sun along the way. We’ll also enjoy wonderful food, entertainment and the company of aviation friends.

Take in a Presentation, or Two

During our 5-day journey, Martha and I have been given the honor of hosting two sessions with you while out at sea:

Our first session we call “What We Learned from Flying Around the World”—They always said the world was round, but we never knew it personally until we took off from San Diego heading east and wound up back in San Diego—still heading east. It was a life-changing trip and we’d like to share what we learned about flying in really strange places and the fascinating ways we are all the same, yet different.

Our second session is “How to Avoid Unwanted Adventure and Still Have Fun”—Soon after our own aircraft accident and the discovery of our own sense of vulnerability, we became self-proclaimed “born again pilots.” In this presentation, you will hear about some of our flight adventures and we’ll use these often humorous stories to illustrate how we combine our enthusiasm for flying with principles of safe cross-country travel. You will learn practical and insightful tools for your own risk management.

Of course, Martha and I look forward to enjoying meals and hangar flying with you every chance we get.

Bring the Family … and Enjoy the Ship

In between our presentations (which we hope you’ll attend!), the ship offers an amazing variety of ways to unwind, including:

• Spectacular three-story dining room
• Optional high-end restaurants
• Themed bars and lounges
• Day Spa and Fitness Center
• Expansive Casino
• Five-story theater
• Golf simulators and nine-hole miniature golf course
• Ice-skating rink
• Full-size basketball court
• Rock-climbing wall
• In-line skating track
• Royal Promenade
• Youth and teen facilities

And the Sun isn’t the Only Warm Feeling You’ll Get

Just by taking this vacation, you’ll be helping to promote general aviation. Maybe the best part of SUN ‘n FUN’s first annual cruise is that the net proceeds from it will be used to benefit year ’round educational programs at SUN ‘n FUN and its Florida Air Museum (FAM).

Plan to Join us January 15 through 20, 2011

The SUN ‘n FUN “Wings at Sea” Western Caribbean Cruise boards in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, leaving on January 15th and returning on January 20th. Cabins start at about $688 per person, which includes all meals, recreation, entertainment, taxes and fees—AND Sun ‘n Fun special events and receptions. Your reservation form and more cruise information can be found below.

“Sea” you there!

When it came time to go to video we and our students benefited from these years of refinement and our customer’s results were fantastic. To this day we provide a method for our customers to give us feedback in every course they take. We think that despite all the changes in the technology of how our customers learn (we have gone from chalkboards to overheads, to video tape, to DVD’s for TV, to computer discs, and now the Internet and mobile devices), the key for our customers is that we are constantly striving to make learning clear, simple and fun. We believe you benefit from this whether your next goal is a Sport Pilot Certificate or you are qualifying for high-altitude transatlantic flying. We think this is a large part of the reason we have had a hand in training over half the pilots flying today.

Part of the fun of the last 35 years has been our sweepstakes. (The call to the winner is always great fun!) We have given away over 2 million dollars worth of prizes to lucky winners. The odds of winning are pretty good (about 100,000 to 1) and for our winners, the prizes have fulfilled many dreams. For King Schools’ 35th Anniversary, we put together a very special package of 3 prizes that we believe will continue this tradition in great style.

During our traveling ground school years, Alaska gained a special place in our hearts. We have made over 50 round-trips there from San Diego in our own airplane. We also flew around Alaska a lot in our own airplane and in various other airplanes including a Cessna 185 Skywagon, on both wheels and floats. As part of our 35th Anniversary Sweepstakes, we think it is very fitting that we are giving away an Alaskan seaplane rating and bush flying vacation to a lucky pilot that will put them in touch with that amazing experience. Equally exciting, the winner will also receive a state-of-the-art Redbird TD simulator, plus a KING Get It All Kit of their choice. See pages 36-37 in our Summer/Fall 2010 catalog for all the details!  Don’t have a catalog?  Let us know you want one and we’ll be happy to send one to you, free of charge.

Keep on having fun flying—and learning,

Having just completed our oceanic flight, we also became aware of a safety warning regarding the use of Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC).  The alert warned of the erroneous presentation of Air Traffic Control (ATC) LOG data to a flight crew while in Oceanic FANS CPDLC operation.  The alert was issued by EUROCONTROL for CPDLC problems encountered in the North Atlantic, but it could be a problem anywhere CPDLC is used in oceanic airspace. Though most folks won’t be affected by this, if you do use CPDLC, we wanted to make you aware.

The Safety Warning Message begins: “A recent incident occurred where a (data link) message to climb may have been sent to an aircraft without the ANSP Oceanic Ground System initiating it.”

You can read the entire Red Alert Safety Warning Message on www.skybrary.com.

EAA and AirVenture are all about engagement. Do you have a particular area of aviation that really turns you on? It’s there. Interested in space? You got to see the White Knight 2 fly. Fascinated by the advances in airliners? You saw the huge Airbus 380 do multiple passes, then land and taxi up to the ramp to be available for tours. Interested in antique airplanes? Which one? It’s there. Same with warbirds, aerobatic airplanes … you get the idea.

 And it’s not just the aircraft, it’s the people. Want to meet Jack Pelton, Chairman and CEO of Cessna? You can walk right up to him in the Cessna exhibit. Want to see Sully Sullenberger and Jeff Skiles, the two pilots who landed the Airbus A320 in the Hudson? They roamed the grounds and were interviewed by David Hartman, formerly of ABC, in the Theater in the Woods.

Interested in how women have fared through the years in aviation? Martha King and Peggy Chabrian (President of Women in Aviation International) conducted interviews of Dawn Seymour (a World-War II WASP), Lt. Colonel Jill Long (who flew 50-plus combat missions in Afghanistan in A-10s and is also an airshow pilot), Julie Clark (a former airline captain and an airshow pilot), and the most unbelievable of all, the inspiring Jessica Cox (who was born without arms and became a Sport Pilot flying an Ercourpe with no mechanical accommodations whatsoever). Among the questions Martha and Peggy asked these remarkable women was, “Who helped you along the way?” The stories were moving.

Panel Discussion with Miles O'Brien, Patty Wagstaff, Rich Sugden, and John and Martha King

For those interested in how airplanes can be a tool to help the environment, Martha and I, along with Miles O’Brien, Patty Wagstaff and Rich Sugden, participated in a panel discussion after the showing of “Over Africa”—a movie about the Lindbergh Foundation’s  project to support the training of the pilots of the Kenya Wildlife Service. Patty started this outstanding program, and the rest of us were delighted to participate this year.

Meeting some of the great folks at Oshkosh

And talk about people—Martha and I must have talked with thousands. We wanted to get the message out about the new Cessna Sport/Private Pilot course that we’ve been working on for over a year. AirVenture is the place to do it. The editor or writer you want to talk with is right there. You might check out my my interview on AVWeb. I tell Russ Niles in that interview that I think the course’s emphasis on scenario-based training and preflight risk management analysis just may change the way people learn to fly forever.

Now that we are back from AirVenture, Martha and I are just exhausted—and how could anyone not be? It is an aviation smorgasbord without end. It is the event of a lifetime—until next year.

As a little boy I watched him on our black and white TV as he told me “The Way It Was” about World War II.  Then when I was a young man, I listened as Walter told the nation we would have to negotiate our way out of the Vietnam War.  He was a factor in all of our lives during those years.

So when a flying buddy who also happened to be a reporter at CNN asked if we could fly Walter Cronkite from New York to Merritt Island, Florida in our Citation, the answer was an unhesitating yes.  John Glenn was going into space for the second time and Walter and another flying buddy of ours, Miles O’Brien, were to co-anchor the coverage for CNN.  The problem was that Walter was to receive an award from the United Nations the night before.  And the only way to get to Cape Kennedy in time was by private airplane.  Walter would be comfortable in our relatively small airplane, our old Citation—his wife, Betsy, had learned to fly and Walter himself had taken flying lessons.  So it was John and Martha to the rescue. 

Martha was to be the captain and I was to be elevated to my obvious level of incompetence as co-pilot.  The route that ATC gave us between La Guardia airport and Merritt Island airport was incredibly complicated.  We put the first few legs into the GPS and planned to fill the rest in after we got airborne.

Martha and I had a habit of putting our charts on the floor between the two pilot seats, but they did have the occasional tendency to slide backwards when we pitched up for a steep climb.  This time when we rotated for take-off, every chart we had slid clear to the back of the airplane and landed between Walter’s two feet.  As the lowly co-pilot it was my job to unbuckle and go back and retrieve the charts.  As I embarrassedly reached down between Walter’s feet to retrieve the charts, he gave me one of the basic truths of navigation, “Aw, just fly south.”  Walter had it perfectly right, but I was pretty sure that was not the way New York Center would feel about it.

As an old sailor, Walter had the essence.  Just hold your heading.  If only I could have had him tell New York Center, “That’s the Way It Was.”

Providing ground instruction to Kenya Wildlife Service pilots

Martha takes a break to feed an orphan elephant

Many of the concepts and ground reference and performance maneuvers the Kenya Wildlife Service pilots found helpful are required for the U.S. Commercial Pilot Certificate.  Many pilots have wondered why our Commercial Pilot Certificate requires them.  Our work with the Kenya pilots made it clear.  The knowledge and the skills learned from the maneuvers help you smoothly and safely put the airplane where you need to.  You gain finesse, and become the obvious master of the airplane. 

If you don’t yet have your Commercial Pilot Certificate you might consider getting one.  It will actually make your flying easier and a lot smoother.  And besides, it’s a lot of fun!  But most important of all—your passengers will appreciate it.