AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2014 - 22

SAFETY PILOT

My retrospective

BRUCE LANDSBERG
President, AOPA Foundation

How we stay on the centerline

BRUCE LANDSBERG

joined AOPA in
1992 and was
named president
of the AOPA
Foundation in 2010.

22 | AOPA PILOT May 2014

STAYING ON THE CENTERLINE is important for both
pilots and organizations. On this seventy-fifth anniversary of AOPA's founding, the organization's objectives
remain the same. Others will address advocacy and fun
while my focus will be on safety.
In response to an increasing accident rate that plagued
a growing industry in 1950, the AOPA Foundation came
to be. The United States was riding a post-World War II
high and everything seemed possible. The greatest generation had returned from war and the mindset that was
so successful in combat actually proved to be detrimental sometimes in civilian aviation. Mission mentality
that is essential in war can be extremely dangerous in
pushing civilian pilots to take risks that are completely
unjustified by the reward-getting to the destination on
schedule, for example.
The AOPA Foundation evolved into the AOPA Air
Safety Foundation in 1968. That became the Air Safety
Institute in 2010, a part of the AOPA Foundation formed
in 2007. Corporate reorganizations are sometimes confusing, but the objective of helping pilots fly more safely
hasn't changed in 64 years. The AOPA Foundation's
mission has broadened, but the goal remains on the centerline that was set so many years ago.
The safety record is much better than in the 1950s
and '60s. Despite periodic handwringing that our safety
culture is not up to airline standards-and it isn't-it has
improved appreciably in the past half century. The aircraft technology is better. We're still saddled with some
archaic designs (and certification restraints) in areas
such as engines and basic airframe design/construction
methods. But there have been huge improvements in
instrumentation, warning systems, redundancy, airbags,
collision and terrain advisories, weather forecasting,
weather in the cockpit, and navigational ability.
Many pilots, exposed to societal cultural shifts, have
a much improved safety mindset compared to earlier
aviators. Expanded safety emphasis is seen everywhere:
automobiles, toys, helmets for all kinds of sports, much
magnified electrical and fire codes, food safety standards, et cetera. Litigation encourages companies to
warn and design safely, which both encourages and stifles innovation. After accidents, regulations have closed
real or perceived loopholes. Ultra-detailed rules often
create complexity to resolve bureaucratic and legal
issues rather than solve operational ones. I'm not convinced we've reached a good balance on either.

Invariably, the nature of some humans, outside of
the heavily prescriptive and restrictive oversight in the
airline and corporate world, is to experiment and push
any limit that lets them get one more shot at the cookie
jar. However, the steady drip of safety education from
industry magazines, publications, DVDs, and websites
cannot help but influence those horses that will drink
the water that's put in front of them. The Air Safety
Institute took an early lead in this area and has been
offering free live seminars nationally for more than 30
years. It conducted weekend ground schools and flight
training clinics in the past. Communications technology has helped to disseminate high-quality programs
faster and more cost effectively than ever. Last year ASI
had more than 30 online courses, averaging in excess
of 25,000 completions every single month. There were
more than 1.3 million contacts with pilots-and yet the
same types of mishaps occur. System failure or individual? I lean toward individual, but not in every case.
A good CFI can imprint the right safety culture and
the odds improve that the student will absorb much of
that. ASI's course material to supplement instructor
guidance and self-study is the best it's ever been, and
grows every year. The live Flight Instructor Refresher
Clinic started in the early 1970s and, modestly, remains
the best and the industry's largest. Newly revamped,
the online version delivers better content than ever. A
digital newsletter is free to all registered CFIs, so there
is no reason not to stay current, informed, and engaged.
So much for self-congratulation, but can we drive
the current accident rate lower? Probably, but not as
quickly as we all would like. Rip Van Winkle types
and the occasional bonehead steadfastly refuse to
learn or teach differently. Sadly, aviation is no different than other human enterprises. We agonize over
how to reach the unreachable. The challenge over the
past 75 years has been to identify fools by some mark
on the forehead and warn everyone to stay away. It
hasn't happened yet. Maybe in the next 75 years biomarkers will address that. In the meantime, all the old
saws about the pilot being the first one to the scene of
the accident and only one fatality to a customer still
hold true. Flying can be easier and safer than it's ever
been, but you have to choose that path-it has always
been so.
AOPA
WEB www.airsafetyinstitute.org

http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org

AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2014

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