[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
And I would agree with you wholeheartedly.
[/ QUOTE ]
Cool, man! Now let's hope that the boys at the FAA agree -- cause they're the ones who really count.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm sure they would.
You know, in a way they get a bad rap. It's like cops. One bad one and it's easy to get pissed at them all. Of course I wasn't too happy with the last one that gave me a ticket either. But hey, I WAS speeding.
Anyway, when I first started flying, I was a bit intimidated by the mention of the Feds and believed a lot of the negative stuff.
But, in my experience, they are really nice guys and gals. They have a job to do and you have to respect their position. And they have always been more than fair with me. It's not a totally uncommon thing for me to hear from them on complaints. As a matter of fact I dread when they call, I can't help it, it's like getting called to the Principal's Office. My mind starts whirling, oh man, what have I done, oh man, oh man. But they explain what the problem is, I tell them why the complaint is bull and that's the end of it.
Think of it this way: if you don't do anything wrong you've got nothing to worry about. If you screw up and get caught, don't blame it on the Feds. They didn't make you screw up. You did that on your own. So don't blame them.
And when you talk to them, treat them with respect. Always.
Like my dear old mama tells me, "boy, always make sure you got clean underware on." Which is good advice but not relevant.
"You catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar," she says too. And, in all seriousness, that is one of the most important things I've ever learned in my life.
When I tore up my green Thrush up I got the dreaded letter for a 609 (I think that's right anyway) reride.
Something to the effect of "the administrator has determined that your qualifications to act as a commercial pilot are in question".
Who, ME?
How humiliating.
But I called the FSDO and scheduled the reride. The inspector showed up at my place and I went out to meet him. Turns out it was the same guy that gave me my initial CFI helicopter ride.
"What the hell did you do Stephen?" he asked.
"Uh, crashed," I said.
"Do you know what you did wrong?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah," I said.
"You gonna do it again?"he asked.
"Uh, no," I said.
"Okay then," he said. "Lets go over to the plane."
So we went over to my leased aircraft. He said "well, you know you gotta be retested."
"Uh, yeah," I said.
"Okay, well get in, fire it up, make a low pass for me over your strip and come back in," he said.
"Uh, okay," I said.
And so I did.
I shut down and climbed out.
"You made it!" he said.
"Uh, yeah," I said.
"You gonna do something stupid again?" he asked.
"Uh, no," I said.
"Okay then," he said.
He signed the paperwork.
"Uh, Tim?" I said.
"Yeah Stephen?" he said.
"Uh, thanks," I said.
He just looked at me and laughed. "Stephen, don't be a knucklehead, okay?"
"Uh, okay," I said. And I figured that I probably oughta say more. So I added, "uh, I won't."
And I didn't. Or at least not for another five years. But I haven't mentioned that here.