Addressing the (US) AOPA Flight Training Summit Long Beach, California this week, Mark Benson, chairman of market research firm APCO Insight, revealed lack of educational quality, customer focus, community, and information sharing are the four key reasons student pilots drop out of flight training. Benson’s research was based on a survey of more than 1000 pilots (current and lapsed) and flight instructors in the US, a country where apparently student pilots drop out of training at an alarming rate of nearly 80 per cent. Interestingly, the survey made the important distinction that cost was not a statistically significant reason why people drop out of pilot training. Instead, Benson found that value, and a student’s perception of a flying school’s ability to be fair and honest, were more important. Food for thought indeed.
The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) in the US reports that a rare Birdcage Corsair World War II fighter was recovered from Lake Michigan’s Waukegan Harbor, north of Chicago this week, after spending the last 67 years submerged following a carrier training crash. Earlier model Corsairs such as this (see image above) are known as birdcage versions because of their canopy framework, as opposed to the more familiar bubble canopy used on later models. Here’s the reaction from EAA member David Staffeldt upon witnessing the recovery firsthand: “Words cannot express the feeling I had when I saw it lifting out of the water. I was right there on the pier, close enough that I could have touched the prop. When the airplane was about six inches beneath the surface, you could instantly tell it was a Corsair. As more and more of it was exposed, all I could think was how massive it was”. Staffeldt added that damage to the aircraft appeared typical of those occurring during carrier operations training. Incredibly, the propeller appeared undamaged.
US company Sensenich Propellers has introduced an adjustable, pin-indexed composite prop for many Lycoming-engine RV builders and owners. The 72-inch, two-blade prop incorporates patent-pending design features in the lightweight hollow-blade “I-beam” construction, according to company officials. Props are available with Sensenich’s co-cured metal erosion shield and available with pre-fitted, pre-drilled, well-balanced spinners. Sensenich pin-indexing allows precisely-matched, simple, repeatable blade positioning, with alignment of both blades assured, company officials note. For more info click; Sensenich props are available locally through Moorabbin-based Aircraft Props & Spares.
Airservices Australia has appointed David Byers as its new General Manager, Corporate and International Affairs. Byers is the former CEO of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, where he promoted policy responses to the key economic reform challenges facing Australia. Based in Canberra, in his new role Byers will work to address a range of issues facing our national air navigation services provider, including supporting the development of air traffic management expertise through regional capacity-building programs, formulating Airservices’ response to the imperatives of the National Aviation White Paper, and contributing to the policy debate on the future of Australian aviation.
For those readers who are into such things, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) has been bitten by the social media bug and now has its own Facebook page. The 105-year-old world air sports federation says that by connecting with it and the air sports fans community via Facebook you will have the opportunity not only to get updates on all FAI activities, browse videos and pictures, but also share your own pictures, open discussions, and more. To check out the FAI on Facebook click here. And if you’re really hip to the social media groove you can also follow the FAI on Twitter by clicking here.
Image courtesy of David Staffeldt/EAA.
