by
Darryl Phillips
Remember when anyone riding a motorcycle was assumed to be a member
of Hell's Angels? When motorcycles were loud and dangerous?
A couple of decades ago the motorcycle manufacturers realized they had a problem. If the bikes were noisy, they were dangerous. And by extension, the riders were dangerous too. The answer: good mufflers. Of course that didn't make motorcycles safer, they are just as hard to see as ever. And I doubt the morals of the riders were raised or lowered by running the engine exhaust thru a silencer. But society THOUGHT they were safer because they were quieter, and today it's perfectly acceptable to park your Yamaha in the drive next to your Oldsmobile.
There is a lesson here, if we can but learn it. Airplanes are noisy, so they are dangerous. Society knows this. Facts don't matter much. Airplanes should be tightly regulated. Pilots shouldn't be eligible for life insurance. Airports should be closed as public nuisances. And so on.
What should we, the flying community, do about this? Well, before we come to that question, lets look at what we ARE doing about it. We have airshows, where the general public (society) has it's only opportunity to get close to little airplanes. At these airshows, we fly the noisiest planes we can find. We perform the most dangerous looking maneuvers we can. Nevermind that the FAA has approved each performer and set strict guidelines on what and where and when and how. Society hears none of this, they only hear the roar of the engines and the announcer that impresses them with the daring-do of the men in their flying machines.
And what do they see? Airplanes that almost collide with each other, airplanes that fly upside down, airplanes with people riding on the wing or hanging from ropes. Mostly, they see airplanes trailing lots of smoke. Obviously dangerous.
Would the Medical Association hold public exhibitions of doctors throwing scalpels? Would the Bar Association show lawyers flipping coins to see who goes to prison? Maybe it happens that way, maybe not, but they have enough understanding of Public Relations to never put it on exhibition.
A 727 captain for a major carrier told me some years ago, with a knowing grin, that his aircraft would loop and roll very nicely. I never got a ride, but I believe he knew from experience. His skill in this regard is a benefit, I'd rather my family was riding with him than with a pilot who would be terrified if the airliner went over on it's back. But knowing how to do it is one thing, showing off to the public is another. You wouldn't expect the airline to feature barrel rolls in it's TV spots.
Aerobatic flying isn't the problem. Aerobatic competition is a wonderful sport, and has produced both highly skilled pilots and advances in our understanding of aerodynamics. Besides, aerobatics is fun, and that's reason enough. Out of sight of the general public, we should have all the fun the pocketbook (and the stomach) allows!
In public, however, it certainly makes sense to put our best foot forward. And the noisiest planes, trailing smoke and almost colliding in front of the crowd, isn't our best foot. Can we blame the news media when they report, as they almost always do, that the plane exploded in midair? Even when it's a Bonanza skillfully put down on a golf course, where all occupants walk away unscratched, the news people know how it looked because they saw something similar at the air show. Our PR stinks, and in part it's the aroma of corvus oil.
We are trying to have it all, and in the process we are losing it all. Almost every pilot flying today has been flying long enough to remember when restrictions were less severe. Restrictions on the aircraft, the airspace, and the pilot. We must face the fact that a tiny minority cannot exist in a society ruled by majority unless we manage to adapt, to fight where we can, and yield where we must. If we continue as we have for the last 40 years, griping about the FAA and doing little else, we most assuredly don't have another 40.
So, let us begin a dialog to determine what is most important to us in the flying community. If we can categorize what is worth fighting for, what is desirable but not absolutely essential, and what we can do without, then we can begin to establish priorities. We, the pilots and lovers of flying, must do this. If we leave it to society, we'll find ourselves continuing to lose this war of attrition.
Which brings us back to the subject of noise. Not just airshows, but everyday flying. If we make a list of the things we love about aviation, where does noise fall in the list? Essential? Desirable? Willing to give up? I'm not just willing to give it up, I yearn for the day when it's gone. It makes no more sense to wear a headset in a plane than it does in a car. Why is an intercom needed in a Beech, not in a Buick? To me, the best airshow act is when Bob Hoover shuts down both engines on the Aero Commander and continues to loop, roll, land, and taxi back to his parking spot silently. I'll bet I've seen that act 30 times thru the years, and each time I thought "someday we're all going to have planes that sound like that".
Later in this series, I'll go into specifics on how we can move toward silent powerplants. There is an engine that burns most any fuel, is more fuel efficient than anything we're flying today, actually gains power at higher altitudes, and is quiet and vibration free. It would permit aviation and society to co-exist rather than clash.
Now it's your turn. Make a list of what is worth fighting for in aviation. What do we need, what do we merely want, what can we do without. Send me a copy. We'll have a tabulation of your views. Fly this plane, don't let it fly you.