One of the first things you learn as a pilot in training is that aviation is built on rules and regulations. Learners are often admonished with hearing the “Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) are written in blood,” meaning take them seriously, because some were written after an event that resulted in injury or death.
After the accident the investigating authorities and the FAA or its predecessor, the Civil Aeronautics Authority, determined it could have been prevented if only the pilot hadn’t done this or that, or had taken certain steps that would have resulted in a different outcome. Thus, the FARs were born.
But as we all know, just because it is written doesn’t necessarily mean the rule is followed. For example, cFAR 91.3 dictates the authority and responsibility of the PIC includes getting all available information before a flight. However, we all know there are pilots who eschew weather briefings just to do a “few laps in the pattern” or skip checking the NOTAMs because it’s a flight to a destination they have been “so many times before.”
You probably know a pilot who became evasive, perhaps even defensive, when asked if they had performed these tasks prior to the flight. This is especially true when there is an unfavorable outcome, like having to call “a number” after they landed on a closed runway and argue “no one told them” about the closure, and they didn’t see the X’s until after they landed.
In addition to following FARs, there are internal rules at flight schools that should be followed if you want to keep your rental privileges. For example, “do not leave a tow bar attached to an aircraft” or “please arrive at least 15 minutes early for your flight lesson.”
When internal rules at a flight school are broken, it can result in changes that punish all the learners and renters. For instance, when there is a no-show for a dual instruction lesson, both the CFI and the school lose revenue. If you are going to miss an appointment, let the school know so it can release the reservation and make the aircraft and instructor available to someone else.
Some schools have “standby” lists with people who would really like to fly. Many schools have a no-show/no-call fee as part of their rental agreement.
The other side of this challenge are renter pilots who intentionally—and not in response to a divert or weather—overfly their reservation and return the airplane late, throwing the rest of the schedule into disarray. Double-check the schedule to see if someone has the aircraft after you so you don’t become the bad guy. Also, the dispatcher at the flight school should keep tabs on when the airplanes are due back to make sure refueling is done expeditiously.
Everyone makes mistakes, but if there is a pattern of tardiness on both the part of the renter/learner and/or the CFI, you can expect some internal changes at the flight school or FBO.
The business might adopt a policy that any late return not caused by weather or safety issues will be met with a surcharge equal to the cost of aircraft rental and instructor time. It can be a lot of money. Before you sputter that you wouldn’t pay that, it’s easy to avoid having to pay—be responsible and respect the schedule.
External Events
Sometimes an external event outside the flight school triggers changes or a review of procedures.
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In 2012 the after-hours operations at flight schools in the Seattle area were scrutinized after an unscheduled after-midnight flight ended in a crash involving a 30-year-old CFI and two friends.
It was 1:54 a.m. PST on February 15 when the trio arrived at the flight school located at Renton Municipal Airport (KRNT) south of Seattle. They had just come from a night out on the town. One version of events was that they were on their way home and stopped to use the restrooms at the school as the CFI had keys to the building. The CFI also had access to the keys to the airplane, however, according to the business owner, the flight was unscheduled, meaning the instructor did not have permission to take the aircraft. But he did so anyway, with his friends as passengers.
According to the accident report created by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), it was a moonless night, but still VFR conditions prevailed. The aircraft took off and headed toward rising terrain, specifically toward Snoqualmie Falls, approximately 30 miles to the east. The pilot had grown up in the area and knew it well, and was aware that foothills and mountains lay to the east. Witnesses on the ground reported seeing the aircraft flying approximately 1,000-1,500 feet above terrain. The mountains in the area are undeveloped and therefore dark at night. The aircraft flew into the western face of Mount Si. All three were killed.
The accident was a shock to the aviation community. Why would a CFI, who, according to the NTSB, had just under 1,000 hours total time, grab an airplane and head into the mountains at night? The father of the CFI who was also a pilot and retired from the FAA allegedly suggested the flight school was partially responsible, because his son had access to the aircraft. The school owner pointed out that the flight was unauthorized, and therefore, essentially the Cessna had been stolen.
At many schools after-hours dispatch is done with advanced notice. Most of the time the keys to the aircraft are secured in a lockable drawer or cabinet. If there is an after-hours flight on the schedule, the keys and other dispatch essentials are made available. If a flight is done after hours without advanced permission—especially if the aircraft is not dispatched properly—you can expect some changes will follow.
Within days of the accident, the FAA sent inspectors to the Seattle-area flight schools to ask how they controlled after-hours access to aircraft. The accident pilot had trained at the flight school I was working at. I knew him from a CFII class I helped teach.
When the inspector interviewed the owner of the flight school, he asked her if she thought allowing CFIs access to airplane keys after hours was a smart idea after what happened in Renton? The owner stood up tall and got a look on her face that would have made a mother Grizzly bear back down as she replied, “I don’t hire anyone I don’t trust implicitly.”
The gravity of her statement struck me. When a school hands over the keys and the airplanes, it is trusting those who have access to them to be responsible and make good decisions. When someone does something they know is against the FARs or the rental agreement they have with the flight school, that trust is violated on multiple levels. One person’s behavior can create problems for so many people.
Several weeks after that 2012 accident, the NTSB investigation revealed the pilot’s blood-alcohol content (BAC) at the time of the crash was 0.15 percent. Per cFAR 91.17: “No person may act or attempt to act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft within eight hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage or attempt to act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft within eight hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage, while under the influence of alcohol while using any drug that affects the person’s faculties in any way contrary to safety, or while having an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or great in a blood.”
The pilot’s BAC was significantly above the legal limit, so the NTSB blamed the crash squarely on the intoxicated pilot.
