AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2024 - 18

PROFICIENT PILOT
Reflections
A senator who helped aviation
BY BARRY SCHIFF / AOPA Foundation Legacy Society chairman
WHEN I FIRST began to write for AOPA Pilot in 1963-yes, I am
that old-I had no sense of how far flung was our audience. It was
not until 24 years later that I began to appreciate the extensive
range of our readership.
This was before the advent of moving map displays and when
terminal control areas (TCAs) and airport radar service areas
(now called Class B and Class C airspace) ruled our flights and
transformed the skies around many U.S. cities into tangled thickets
of operational complexity. On August 31, 1986, a Piper Archer and
an Aeromexico DC-9 collided at 6,400 feet
over Cerritos, California. Both aircraft were
in the Los Angeles Terminal Control Area,
which had been created to prevent such a
disaster. Clearly there was a problem with
TCAs that begged for solution.
A few months following " Cerritos, " I
was filing revised instrument charts in my
Jeppesen manuals. As I glanced at one of the
standard instrument departure (SID) charts,
an idea began to germinate. Moments later,
it mushroomed into an exciting concept that
might be useful to those of us who tiptoe
through the minefields of airspace restrictions
surrounding so many large cities.
SIDs provide charted IFR routes and
altitudes that are used when departing certain
busy airports. Standard terminal arrival
routes, or STARs, provide similar guidance
for arriving pilots. Following a SID or a STAR
keeps a pilot in compliance with airspace restrictions by following
the lines on the chart and complying with published altitudes.
Sectional and TAC charts, of course, outline airspace where
the December 1986 edition of this magazine, but it dedicated the
cover to the beginning paragraphs of the text, which was a first.
A few months later I received a telephone call from thenOklahoma
Congressman James Inhofe. He asked if I had heard
from the FAA about possible implementation of my idea. When I
told him that I had not, he said, " Let's see what we can do about
that. Would you help me draft a legislative bill that would compel
the FAA to adopt your concept? " I was honored.
" How did you hear about my idea, " I asked without thinking. " I'm
a pilot and an AOPA member, " he replied. I
felt foolish but felt better when I found
myself testifying before Congress in defense
of Inhofe's bill, H.R.3243. Prior to the bill's
passage, however, the FAA volunteered to test
the concept and, if successful, mandate the
publication of VFR routes through complex
airspace. Jeppesen had already begun to
publish and distribute trial charts.
Unfortunately, or I should say,
Barry Schiff (left) and James Inhofe (right).
fortunately, moving map displays with GPS
positioning soon became available. These
made it so easy to avoid trespassing into
airspace where one does not belong that
published routes were no longer needed. My
concept became less important, although it
did lay the groundwork for special flight
rules areas.
Retired Sen. James Inhofe recently and
sadly passed away. He was one of those rare
pilots may not fly. It is up to them to determine how best to avoid
such airspace. Would it not be helpful, I thought, to have charts that
show VFR routes similar to SIDs and STARs, which could lead pilots
through complex airspace? Such routes would provide pilots with
safe guidance to and from airports in proximity to TCAs (without
requiring an ATC clearance). Rather than having to plan their way
through an airspace labyrinth, pilots would need only to follow
published routes. AOPA was so enthused about this idea that it not
only published " Leading the Way, " my article about the concept, in
18
AOPA PILOT / October 2024
individuals who succeeded in leaving behind a world better than he
had found. Much of his effort benefited GA-including such landmark
legislation as the Pilot's Bill of Rights.
Now that I have discovered how much clout I have with the
Washington establishment, perhaps
I can convince the powers
on the Potomac to rethink their
striking " cockpit " from our lexicon
in favor of " flight deck. " I
mean, really. A flight deck on a
Piper Cub?
www.BarrySchiff.com
BARRY SCHIFF has been
instructing since 1956
and has all CFI ratings
except for powered-lift
aircraft. He has written 13
books, the latest being his
critically acclaimed, An
Illustrated Guide to Flying.
http://www.BarrySchiff.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2024

Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2024 - Cover4
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2024 - Cover1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2024 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2024 - Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2024 - 2
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2024 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2024 - Cover4
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