The FAA is here to help
The FAA actually IS here to help. But then, the road to hell is often paved with good intentions (such as helping others, hehe). Mike sometimes complains about how he spends more time in the office on paperwork than actually flying. I think we already did a strip on that at some point… If you fly, I am sure you have at least one FAA story you could share in our forum!
Plug of the day: Todays shout out goes to the guys at Delta Bravo Sierra, an Army related comic strip. They just did a tribute strip to Charles Schultz. Those of us who read our books will know that we like to do that too! 😉
As seen on a t-shirt once…”FAA – We’re not happy until you’re not happy”. 🙂 Seriously, though, I’d hope they’re like CASA in Australia, who have been making an effort to communicate and work with both GA and industry, to make it a better and safer flying environment for everyone, even if it rarely seems like it. They’re trying…VERY.
Dick Lemon’s book “You want to build and fly a what?” has a great bit about him turning up o the ramp wearing an FAA baseball cap and shades and the scattering of Hangar Rats and other ne’er-do-wells, the slamming of hangar doors and cars screeching off into the distance. I believe there may have been tumbleweed too
The FAA comes to the Museum of the United States Air Force biennial Dawn Patrol rendezvous to check our airplanes, paperwork and medicals to ensure everything is up-to-date. It is really more for the Air Force’s requirements than a federal 1, however, we got a kick out of it when they came 1 year with hats and T-shirts that said “FAA–were not happy till you are not happy”. In fact the opposite was true. These guys went out of their way to make sure we had things right. There was 1 young builder who transported his airplane there, he had not finished flying at 40 hours but had it on display. The FAA guys wrote a special addendum to his flight testing area which allowed him to fly at the air show. It was really awesome to work with those guys!
By the way Dick Starks (Dick Lemons was one of the guys that built the airplanes that Starks wrote about) wrote a sequel called “Fokker at 6:00!”. He tells the story about the time that the flower bomb hit the judges red umbrella instead of the red target. That could make a good comic strip!
For those who dislike the FAA, imagine life without them. It would be somewhat like driving cars without traffic laws.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! I had you all there for a second, huh? 😀