AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2014 - 20

LICENSE TO LEARN

Media mania

BY ROD MACHADO

'I'll get back to you'
MY APPROVAL/DISAPPROVAL relationship (mostly disapproval) with the news-entertainment industry began
in 1978, when a TV news anchor described how a collision occurred between a Boeing 727 and a Cessna
172 over San Diego. She picked up a classic instrument
hood with a plastic headband sporting several small
holes for manual size adjustment and placed the device
backward on her head, with the headband covering her
eyes. Then she suggested that the pilot of the Cessna
172 collided with the Boeing 727 because he couldn't
see very well through the headband's tiny holes. Oy vey!
Excuse me, Ms. Headband Lady, the fellow wearing
the hood wasn't the only pilot on board, and he wasn't
peeping through holes, either. There was a flight
instructor in the right seat who wasn't wearing a hood
(especially the way you're wearing it). Furthermore,
the Boeing 727 hit the Cessna 172, not vice versa.

It's a fact of human nature that we often innocently
claim knowledge where very little exists because
we overextrapolate our own experience.

ROD MACHADO'S

newest book is the
How to Fly an Airplane Handbook.

Of course, no one would know who hit whom had
they read a Los Angeles Times piece about the collision.
The Times actually published a graphic showing the
Cessna 172 overtaking and slamming into the Boeing
727's right wing. Hmmm, I don't believe I've ever found
a power setting in a 172 that would allow that to happen.
More recently, what about Malaysia Airlines Flight
370? If you happened to tune in to CNN, you might
have heard a prominent news anchor ask former DOT
Inspector General Mary Schiavo, "Is it preposterous
to think that a black hole caused 370 to go missing?"
Really? Doesn't this anchor know that the TV show
Lost was science fiction and not a PBS documentary?
After running out of every conceivable guest
expert-including anyone who had ever peeped at
an airplane through small plastic holes-a prominent
news channel called me. They wanted commentary on
the flight simulator that the captain of Malaysia 370
kept at home. What they really wanted was commentary on how this supposedly nefarious device could be
used to practice hijacking an airliner. I stated my strict
terms for the interview and heard the caller say, "I'll
get back to you." Click! Never heard a peep from him
again. Perhaps he stepped into a black hole?

20 | AOPA PILOT September 2014

It's human nature that we often innocently claim
knowledge where little exists by overextrapolating our
own experience. Reporters, journalists, and TV anchors
might honestly believe they know a lot about how airliners fly because they sit inside them while they're in
motion. When discussing last year's Asiana 214 crash
at San Francisco, one (nonpilot) TV anchor suggested
that he knows how dangerous it can be to land at San
Francisco without the use of a glideslope because he's
landed there many times-in an airliner.
Really? Sitting in first class while sipping the last
remnants of his prelanding appletini does not lead me
to believe that our newsman knows anything about flying an airliner. It turns out that the landing runway for
Asiana 214 had an operable visual approach slope indicator (VASI). Our anchor didn't mention that. Perhaps
he didn't know what type of flowers the VASI held.
Of course, there are many TV anchors and news
reporters who do an outstanding job, and AOPA has
honored a number of them over the years. Either they
are pilots and/or they're smart enough to ask good
questions while offering accurate and unbiased reporting. The late Hal Fishman of KTLA in Los Angeles was
one of these individuals. He was a pilot and he was
smart. We need more folks just like him in the media.
Make no mistake; I want the media to report accurately on aviation. That's why I will talk to reporters,
albeit reluctantly. When I do, I always feel as if I'm in
the African bush wearing fresh porterhouse-steak slippers. I feel the danger of misrepresentation lurking
behind every camera, every mic, and every notepad. Call me paranoid, but I always make a personal
recording of these interviews just in case the truth gets
twisted or the facts end up on the cutting-room floor.
Skeptical of the media? Me? Well, my Kalahari slippers
come in three variations: prime, choice, and select.
Despite all that, the news media still surprise me.
A while back, I received a call asking if I wanted to
participate in an aviation reality show. I replied that
I was already involved in an aviation reality show. He
asked about the name of the show and when was it on.
I replied, "It's on now, and it's called the Rod Machado
Does Aviation Stuff Show and you're today's guest star."
The last thing I heard was, "I'll get back to you."
Click!
AOPA
WEB

www.rodmachado.com

http://www.rodmachado.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2014

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