Local News Article - Just Plane Stupid: The Wrong Stuff

Wow... "ditto" to everyone's comments.

Kudos to those who have already written an e-mail or letter, including letters to the editor. I added an e-mail to what will probably be an overflowing inbox at the flight school. Maybe that was useless but it made me feel better...

If I saw something like that in a newspaper around here, I'd throw a serious fit. I can't imagine what it would do to my already difficult task of finding new students in the area. :hairraise:

What a stupid, stupid thing for a flight instructor / FBO to do.

:mad:
 
He didn't waste much time!!!!

I have already received a reply to my letter to John Giles, President / Owner of West Air Aviation. This is the complete text of that letter.

_______________________________________________________________
Mr. Reiter,

Thanks for the heads up on the article being passed around on the net. I would like to know which site you read the article and discussions.

This writer does different jobs each week then writes about them. He tries to be "tongue and cheek" in is column. His regular readers thought the article was humorous, however most of us pilots did not see it the same way. Corey is receiving all kinds of email due to this misunderstanding. He has replied to several of them.

I spoke with Corey today, he is to speak with his editor on a possible reply to all the confusion. I am to hear from him on Monday after his meeting.

We have trained USAF IFT students since the beginning of the program and have a very good standing with Nellis AFB. Any pilot who has flown here knows that the Chief Pilot and myself will not allow any unsafe flying or unprofessional attitude to exist here.

As a Part 141 and 135 operator, the FAA is in our school throughout the years and know we provide good quality training to all our students.

Sincerely,

John
John P Giles III

West Air Aviation
North Las Vegas Airport, NV
702-639-6800 Office
702-636-0671 Fax
________________________________________________________________________

It seems as if the FBO is making an attempt to rectify this embarrassment. I would think that it is in everybody's interest to recognize that.
 
Re: He didn't waste much time!!!!

colomtnflyer said:
It seems as if the FBO is making an attempt to rectify this embarrassment. I would think that it is in everybody's interest to recognize that.
Click to expand...

I did notice, however, that he did not mention anything about why on earth they agreed to be part of this charade in the beginning. :dunno:
 
On Friday I e-mailed Chris Dancy, the Media Relations Director at AOPA. I received a response today.

He said AOPA had already heard of this article but thanked me very much for making sure. (In my e-mail, I told him I just wanted to double-triple-check!)

He also said that AOPA spoke with the head of the FBO. He said the FBO didn't see any harm at first because the columnist was well-known in the area. However, AOPA shared some comments from its members, and the FBO has since realized the kind of damage that was done.

I imagine it would be a wake-up call to have a major aviation organization show you the error of your ways. My $39 at work.
 
FBO may not be responsible, but the CFI sure is - watch the video, he's in on it the whole time.

That said - if someone asked me to take them up and scare them, I don't know that I'd turn them down....afterall, most of the maneuvers that scared him were probably normal, standard maneuvers like steep turns, steep descents, and maybe a stall or two.

Hard to say. Unfortunately, it was with the media, and that is where the CFI screwed up.
 
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