Helicopter Flight Information

Commentary on Public Use Aircraft, and Summary of the NTSB special report on  Public Use Aircraft accidents

The entire report can be downloaded from this link. There is such a high number of accidents with Public Use Aircraft that the NTSB conducted an investigation into the matter.  As with most of their special investigations, nothing ever came of it especially since it involved a lot of Police agencies.  It was a token investigation at best, and completely ignored by the FAA.  This lack of oversight by the FAA is one of their most negligent issues. 

There are strict regulations regarding the use of military donated aircraft (those without airworthiness certificates) for training and commercial use. When it comes to maintenance and some other uses, public use aircraft are exempted from many regulations. Since the core of the problem with regard to the FAA is training and certification oversight, I will talk mostly about that for the moment.

It is illegal to conduct training in aircraft which do not have an airworthiness certificate, and those that have not been maintained in accordance with the standards required to maintain that certificate. In other words, most aircraft that have been donated by the military to government agencies. It is illegal to bill for the use of these aircraft as well (commercial use), but this occurs within some agencies in an under-the-table sort of way, and the FAA ignores and denies that they have knowledge of this.

Even though this illegal training and under-the-table commercial billing occurs, it continues, is widespread, and the FAA simply ignores it. Further, government training should be to the same standard as all civil aviation, but this simply does not occur, and the FAA ignores this. Recently, I was talking to a police pilot in a county with a large aviation unit (this county does not even make the list of the top 100 counties in size, but has a large aviation unit). I was talking to the pilot about an OH-58A that they were flying, as I was working on a project of aiding another police agency with establishing a police aviation unit, and their donated aircraft was an OH-58A. My interest was in tail rotor authority, how they delt with the potential of LTE, and what their policies were with high risk maneuvering. This pilot asked what LTE was, and after I explained it to him, he further stated that he had no training with regard to it. He also stated that he had obtained all of his training within the police aviation unit in the OH-58A; ALL ILLEGAL, but he didn't know that.

I was talking to a state police pilot in the same state just a couple of months later. In this conversation, he mentioned that he was preparing to take a check ride for an advanced rating. When he mentioned the examiners name, it was someone I knew, not surprising as aviation is a small world, and when it comes to helicopters, it is smaller still. When I inquired a little deeper, he stated that he had obtained all of his training within the state police aviation unit in the OH-58, but that the FAA would not conduct his check ride in that aircraft, so he had to travel to a location where he could rent a Bell 206B (Jet Ranger). 100 percent of his training was illegal; the local FSDO was well aware, and ignored it.

In the NTSB special report, the NTSB states in part that public use pilots commonly possessed advance certificates, yet the accident rate among these pilots is higher than their civil counterparts. This should not be surprising since public use pilots get token training at taxpayer expense, and they get token check-rides which consist largely of an oral of pilot hanger talk if there is any talk at all. The majority of the flight portion of their check-ride consists of a sightseeing joy ride. That of course is why the pilot mentioned above had no knowledge of LTE in an aircraft where LTE is a primary concern. It wasn't taught in his training and it wasn't asked about during his practical test.

The ALEA (Airborne Law Enforcement Association) is in an ongoing fight to obtain full exemption from all FAA control just as the military has. There is significant reason that this should never occur!!! First and foremost, no government agency should EVER be permitted to compete with the private sector, and police aviation does just that. There is enough abuse of power within police agencies as it is; the lack of oversight in any segment should NEVER occur. The illegal activity which goes on continually along with the abuses of power within police aviation units is reason enough that the reigns need to be yanked. The military has very strict and rigorous training requirements, the likes of which no police agency would ever achieve because of their token mentality and expectations.

Public Use aviation bilks the American people out of billions of dollars each year through abuse, lies and deceit. There are simply no words strong enough to describe the magnitude of the abuse of the system which occurs. The American people are kept in the dark and scammed by nearly all government agencies beginning with the federal government right on down to their local fish and game, fire, and police departments which are in many cases, the worst of the worst. Understand that Public Use Aviation does not include military aviation. Despite the abuse of Public Use Aviation, this article will be in regard to Public Use Helicopters since this is a helicopter web site.

The abuse of the system which angers me the most begins with the fact that absolutely NO government agency should compete with the private sector, and with regard to aviation, public aviation competes with the private sector in a major way. Anytime a government agency operates any thing, it becomes an area of extreme waste and inefficiency since to cover costs, all they need to do is increase taxes; they have absolutely no responsibility to be cost effective whatsoever. This occurs at the federal, state and local levels. To compound this, anytime the government operates something that could be operated in the private sector, it takes a source of tax income out which causes a need for higher taxes by the remaining sources. It is a domino effect that can not be overstressed.

Agencies operating helicopters commonly deceive the public with regard to the cost of operation of their helicopter fleet claiming that the aircraft and parts are free from the military. While this is a partial truth in some cases, it has a lot of bullshit buried in it to maintain financial support; the public would have a come apart if they knew the real truth. Fuel and oil is never free; labor is never free especially if it is government employees (two to watch, one to work); there are countless expensive parts and materials that do not come from the government. The cost of insurance is very expensive. The cost of operations of a typical light helicopter in the private sector is about $290 per flight hour. Although the cost of acquisition of an initial aircraft for a government agency may be free or nearly free, when you consider the actual DOC plus abuse of privilege by the agency operating the aircraft, the end cost per operational hour to the public will most likely far exceed the cost per hour in the private sector. Then compound these costs by the high accident rate keeping in mind that the cost of the accident does not end with the damage to the aircraft which is the least of all costs. The highest cost is medical and compensatory costs to families of injured or killed persons.

The FAA in large, simply turns a blind eye to the abuses of the system which occur with the use of public use helicopters; they are after all, a public agency themselves and they are looking after their own kind. Now, I will agree that there are a couple of FSDO's where this may not occur, but I am aware of only two.

One of the problems with regard to the FAA and helicopter aviation oversight is the fact that they don't have enough inspectors with a helicopter background. In fact, there are some FSDO's that have a total lack of inspectors with in-depth helicopter knowledge. You might be surprised to learn that the FAA will even send an inspector who has no knowledge of helicopter operations, out to investigate a helicopter accident. Now that is going to have a good outcome isn't it.

At the end of the day, it is no wonder that the accident rate is so high in public use aircraft. The FAA needs to become a responsible agency more supportive of general aviation in the United States. They need to do what is necessary to aid general aviation pilots; grow some backbone and do what is right. But when will any government agency ever to that?

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Last modified: 12/31/2011