New Year, New Beginning
by Rick Domingo, FAA Flight Standards Service Executive Director
Happy New Year! I suspect that many of us — maybe all of us — were quite happy to bid farewell to 2020. To say the least, it was a challenging year, one that served up a seemingly endless parade of unfortunate events. Among those, the COVID-19 public health emergency and the string of diverse natural disasters upended almost every aspect of normal life. COVID-19, which continues as I write, has had a particularly egregious impact on the industry we all love so dearly. Regulators like the FAA and aviators like you have all had to find innovative ways to respond to the many unprecedented challenges we have encountered over the past year.
A Clean Slate?
The magazine team had long planned “challenge and response” as the thematic center of gravity for this issue of FAA Safety Briefing, but the events of 2020 and their impact make it especially appropriate. However much we might want to imagine that the advent of a new year on the calendar wipes the slate clean, we must continue to respond to the numerous challenges that persist from 2020. In addition to meeting the challenges of maintaining physical and mental health, many in the aviation community have found drastically reduced opportunities to maintain not just regulatory currency, but also appropriate levels of skill and proficiency.
As you probably know from following the progression of Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) 118, the FAA has responded to some of the regulatory challenges by offering a modicum of regulatory relief from certain requirements. It is on you to step up to the challenges of regaining and retaining proficiency in critical knowledge and skills, but we can help. The magazine team is devoting this issue to providing ideas and resources that can help you get back into the game. Even if circumstances continue to limit actual flying for a few more months, you can use these resources over the winter to firm up your aeronautical knowledge and make a plan for scraping the barnacles off your physical flying skills.
Happy Anniversary!
Another rationale for the “challenge and response” theme arises from celebrating the 60th anniversary of this publication. It started back in 1961 as FAA Aviation News, a name we updated to the current title beginning with the March/April 2010 issue. That change was primarily about responding to the challenge of matching the publication’s name to its continuing mission — to be the “FAA Safety Policy Voice of Non-commercial General Aviation.”
If you’re looking for an interesting and even awe-inspiring way to spend some of your winter hibernation time, try making a list of how aviation has changed in the six decades of our existence as an aviation publication. Just the last couple of decades have produced game-changing technologies for airframes, avionics, and powerplants for manned aircraft. The fast-growing UAS sector of our vibrant aviation community presents a whole new set of opportunities and, as you probably recognize, those opportunities come with new challenges to maintaining the highest levels of aviation safety.
I don’t know what 2021 will specifically bring in terms of challenges, but I do know that the aviation community will respond with enthusiasm. That’s who we are.
Challenge and Response Feature Articles
Challenge and Response Departments
