Hornet's Nest?
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2022 11:25 am
Hello all.
I'm a new LAA member, albeit I have forty years of flying experience, mostly as an airline pilot, punctuated with light aircraft flying.
I have just returned from Oshkosh 2022 where I observed that the EAA appears to be willing to consider anything from a steam engine to a nuclear reactor for propulsion, and anything from a wheelbarrow to the space shuttle as an airframe.
I talked to several exhibitors at OSH. Many expressed frustration with what they perceived to be the UK LAA's restrictive, and some said 'outdated', view to aviation development.
Our British forefathers developed, inter alia, radar, TV, the world wide web, cats eyes, the jet engine. Even the industrial revolution was born here. Should we not be driving aviation development?
Are we doing something wrong? Are we missing opportunities? Are we focusing on the wrong safety threats? Are we, perhaps, specifying requirements because 'we've always done it that way' ?
Is, for example, a 61kt maximum stall speed keeping us safe? What would change if it were 65kts or 70kts? Conversely, why are we not continually training pilots? As airline pilots we have eight hours in the simulator every six months. How would light aircraft flying look in a world where you could register/fly almost any aircraft you wish but you had to attend, say, a one day training course each year to maintain rights to fly?
I'm not proposing any particular policy. I am asking is it time to have a complete review of what we do and require so that aviation in the UK can develop more freely and possibly even more safely?
Lead planes in concrete hangars will never be dangerous. How do we embrace change, foster innovation and improve safety?
I'm a new LAA member, albeit I have forty years of flying experience, mostly as an airline pilot, punctuated with light aircraft flying.
I have just returned from Oshkosh 2022 where I observed that the EAA appears to be willing to consider anything from a steam engine to a nuclear reactor for propulsion, and anything from a wheelbarrow to the space shuttle as an airframe.
I talked to several exhibitors at OSH. Many expressed frustration with what they perceived to be the UK LAA's restrictive, and some said 'outdated', view to aviation development.
Our British forefathers developed, inter alia, radar, TV, the world wide web, cats eyes, the jet engine. Even the industrial revolution was born here. Should we not be driving aviation development?
Are we doing something wrong? Are we missing opportunities? Are we focusing on the wrong safety threats? Are we, perhaps, specifying requirements because 'we've always done it that way' ?
Is, for example, a 61kt maximum stall speed keeping us safe? What would change if it were 65kts or 70kts? Conversely, why are we not continually training pilots? As airline pilots we have eight hours in the simulator every six months. How would light aircraft flying look in a world where you could register/fly almost any aircraft you wish but you had to attend, say, a one day training course each year to maintain rights to fly?
I'm not proposing any particular policy. I am asking is it time to have a complete review of what we do and require so that aviation in the UK can develop more freely and possibly even more safely?
Lead planes in concrete hangars will never be dangerous. How do we embrace change, foster innovation and improve safety?