The Future...
In the future, there will be no training in spin recovery. Spins and spin recovery techniques will be discussed while safely on the ground, and we'll just hope that when a pilot inadvertently spins, he won't spend the rest of his life figuring out how a recovery really works. And we'll just hope he doesn't keep holding full stick back and opposite aileron while crying Help." Besides, modern airplanes are very spin-resistant.

In the future, we will not fly on the edge of stall. Slow flight will be done with a comfortable 20% margin over stall, and intentional stalls will be recovered at the first indication - like when the stall horn goes off. There's no need to explore the buffet anyway - that's what the stall horn is for. In the future, we will not practice soft and short field operations from actual short grass obstructed strips, lest the flight instructor decide to retract the flaps over the obstacle, stall, and total the plane or something equally silly. There are lots of long paved runways all over the place, no sense taking unnecessary chances.

In the future, we will not bank steeply. It scares the passengers, and if it scares the passengers it must be bad. 60 degrees is too steep. Maybe 45 is to steep too. Really, what reason does anyone have for using more than 30 degrees of bank? Turns of more than 30 degrees of bank will be considered aerobatic maneuvers, and will require parachutes be worn if passengers are carried. And banking over 30 degrees in the pattern will be considered aerobatic maneuvering below 1500 AGL, and will be forbidden.

In the future, we will not fly the pattern so as to be able to land on the runway should the engine fail. It's too close, happens too fast, does not allow sufficient time to ensure a stabilized approach, the power reduction to idle scares the passengers, and it can require that you bank steeply, so see above. And flying the pattern wider gives you more time to announce your position on CTAF on downwind, base, and final. Good radio technique is important. Modern engines are very reliable anyway.

In the future, we will phase out visual navigation except as a supplemental method. If a few old fossils want to fly that way, I guess we won't stop them, but we need to nip this dangerous habit of flying without the guidance of navaids in the bud. We will equip all training aircraft with electronic navigation equipment, and we will make sure no student pilot ever has to find his way on a cross country by swooping down to read the name on a water tower ever again. That's clearly unsafe.

In the future we will be more careful about the way we train student pilots. It's foolhardy to send student pilots solo to uncontrolled fields, where there is neither an instructor nor a tower to tell them what to do. And it's equally foolish to let them fly solo to airports where they have never been, or to fly solo when there are gusting crosswinds, or restricted visibilities, or ice on the runway. Such training only leads some to fly foolishly, and scares off their more careful and astute peers.

Aviation has a bright future. By eliminating all these dangerous, unnecessary, and often downright scary practices from the training environment, flying will become safer and more accessible than ever before. And that's what's really important. Isn't it?

Future FARs
FAR 121 Subpart B
121.17a No air carrier or air carriers or person or persons acting on the direction or suggestion or supervision of the air carrier or air carriers, may try, or attempt to try to comprehend or understand any or all, in whole or in part of the herein mentioned Federal Aviation's Regulations, except as authorized by the Administrator, or an agent appointed by or inspected by the Administrator.

121.27b If the air carrier, or group of associate air carriers become aware of, or realizes, or detects, or discovers, or finds that he or she or they are, or have been, beginning to understand the Federal Aviation Regulations, he/she/they must immediately, within three (3) days or thirty-six (36) hours, whichever comes first, submit, in writing to the Administrator a notice of impending comprehension.

121.27c Upon receipt of the above mentioned notice of impending comprehension, the administrator will immediately rewrite the regulations in such a manner as to eliminate any further comprehension hazards.

121.27d The Administrator may, at her discretion, require the offending air carrier or air carriers or person or persons to attend remedial instructions in the Federal Aviation Regulations, until such time as the air carrier or air carriers or person or persons are too confused to be capable of understanding anything.

Sixteen Things That it Took Me 50 Years to Learn ~ by Dave Barry
1. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight-savings time.
3. The most powerful force in the universe is gossip.
6. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
7. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.
9. The main accomplishment of almost all organized protests is to annoy people who are not in them.
11. You should not confuse your career with your life.
12. A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.
13. No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.
15. Your friends love you, anyway.

1. The things that come to those that wait may be the things left by those who got there first.
2. As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in public schools.
3. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
4. It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats.
5. Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter since nobody listens.
6. When you go into court you are putting yourself in the hands of 12 people that weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty.

Quips stolen from bugzilla.mozilla.com
1. Facts are meaningless. You can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true.
2. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate. - Steven Wright
3. Enjoy your job, make lots of money, work within the law: choose any two.
4. Failure is not an option - it comes bundled with every Microsoft product
5. Every American has the right to free speech... Unless they're one of those Commie Gun-hating Sissy-boys who like to burn flags!
6. Socialism is when man exploits man. Capitalism is the reverse.
7. As a development process, chaos does not scale well.
8. Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness -- T. Pratchett
9. Now and then an innocent man is sent to the legislature.
10. If one standard is good, then two standards are better!
11. Most people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
12. Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Things everyone should know.....

1. A Saudi Arabian woman can get a divorce if her husband doesn't give her coffee.
2. The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.
3. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continually from the bottom of the glass to the top.

Found this on the bulletin board at Buttonville.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas 

Twas the night before Christmas, and out on the ramp,
Not an airplane was stirring, not even a Champ.
The aircraft were fastened to tiedowns with care,
In hopes that come morning, they all would be there.

The fuel trucks were nestled, all snug in their spots,
While peak gusts from two-zero reached 39 knots.
And I at the fuel desk, now finally caught up,
Had just settled comfortably down on my butt.

When over the radio, there arose such a clatter,
I turned up the scanner to see what was the matter.
A voice clearly heard over static and snow,
Asked for clearance to land at the airport below.

He barked out his transmission so lively and quick,
I could have sworn that the call sign he used was "St.Nick".
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Sure that it was only Horizon's late Dash.

Then he called his position, and there could be no denial,
"This is St Nicholas One and I'm turning on final."
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
A Rutan sleigh, and eight Rotax reindeer.

He flew the approach on glideslopes he came,
As he passed all fixes, he called them by name:
"Now Ringo! Now Tolga! Now Trini and Bacun!
On Comet! On cupid! 'What pills was he takin'?

Those last couple of fixes left controller's confused,
They called down to the office to give me the news,
The message they left was both urgent and dour:
"When Santa lands, could he please call the tower?"

He landed like silk, with the sled runner's sparking,
Then I heard "Exit at Charlie," and "Taxi to parking."
So up to the offices the coursers they flew,
With loud airplane noise, and St. Nicholas, too.

He stepped out of the sleigh, but before he could talk,
I had run out to him with my best set of chocks.
He was dressed all in fur, which was covered with frost

And his beard was all blackened from reindeer exhaust.

His breath smelled like peppermint, gone slightly stale
And he smoked on a pipe, but he didn't inhale.
He had a broad face and his armpits were smelly,
And his boots were as black as a cropduster's belly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old fool,
And he kindly informed me that he needed some fuel.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his toes,
Led me to know he was desperate to powder his nose.

I spoke not a word, but went straight to my work,
And I filled up the sleigh, but I spilled like a jerk.
He came out of the restroom with a sigh of relief,
And then picked up a phone for a flight service brief.

And I thought, as he silently scribed in his log,
That with Rudolph, he could land in eighth-mile fog.
Next, he completed his preflight, from front to rear,
Then he put on his headset, and I heard him yell, "Clear!"

And laying a finger on his push-talk,
He called up the tower for his clearance and squawk.
"Straight out on two-zero," the tower called forth,

"And watch for a Cessna straight in from the North."

But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he climbed in the night,
"Happy Christmas to all, I have traffic in sight."

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