 Welcome back everyone to Sun and Fun 2008. It's a great pleasure for me to be here and introduce the moderator for this afternoon's Meet the FAA. Would you please welcome Doug Murphy, regional administrator for the southern region. Well good afternoon. This is a very special event for us this year. And in keeping with that we have a very special guest to introduce to you at this point. This gentleman is a member of Congress from the third district in Michigan. He has a distinguished political career that began in 1974 with the Kent County Board of Commissioners. He served with the Board of Commissioners, spent 10 years in the Michigan State Legislature, two in the State House and eight in the Senate. He's a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Subcommittee on Aviation, a big advocate for general aviation and all the great things that are going on. Let me introduce to you today a very special guest, Congressman Vern Ehlers. Thank you. I will take very little of your time because I'm sure you came here to talk to the important people. But I just have a question. How many of you love aviation? Anyone who doesn't is in the wrong place. I love aviation. I have since I was four years old and it's just great. And it's just so much fun to come down here and associate with people who love aviation. When I was put on the aviation committee, you know, I'd heard all these bad stories about the FAA, what they did to you and all that sort of thing. And I was delighted to get acquainted with FAA employees at all levels and discover they love aviation as much as I do and as much as you do. They've got a tough job. None of us ever likes the cop who stops us for speeding, right? Regulators are never very well liked. But they're good people. They're essential. And also the FAA is absolutely essential to aviation and to all of us. And I really come to admire the employees of the FAA. Very dedicated, very eager to help people in every situation. And I know there are sometimes bad apples. We have some recent incidents of that. But when you have that many employees, you're going to have that problem once in a while. I'm just pleased that it happened. So seldom in the FAA and that it is so well run. I know this, you're going to hear a lot of different comments here today about the FAA pro and con. They're brave people. They're ready. They can deal with it. They're happy to listen to your complaints and try to improve them. And I am, too, and I think you'll find your own members of Congress will be happy to listen to you, too. But just never lose sight of the big picture. Aviation is absolutely wonderful. It's a great thing. I think it's in danger, particularly general aviation. I'm really worried about the number of airports we're losing across the country, which really limits our ability to fly around. I'm worried about the expense, particularly the new gas price problem, which is really making it very expensive to do the thing we love the most. So we face a lot of problems. And I think it's important that we keep that in a perspective. We have to attack those problems together. We have to deal with all these issues. Make sure the airports remain. Make sure the gas prices don't go out of sight. And particularly as we design the next generation air traffic control system, it has to be designed so that it's useful and good and not too expensive for general aviation. And that's going to be another hurl we have to overcome. So I'm just pleased here to say a few minutes. I don't think I have any constituents here. I'd be surprised if I did. I'm not here to give a political speech, but I did want to say hi. Tell you I love it as much as you do. Let's all work together at it and be grateful that we have a good FAA that helps it run smoothly and keeps it on track. So thank you very, very much for being here. Thank you, Congressman Ehlers. And I don't think I mentioned that one of the goals of Congressman Ehlers as a member of VAA is to one day build his own airplane. We were talking about that earlier. So we've got a very strong advocate and friend there. Let me introduce the rest of our panelists for today if they would join me on stage. We have a couple of individuals that have not been with us before. And I think that's great news. We've got some interesting activities going. But as we focus on what's happening in aviation today, in many ways it's kind of the best of times and the worst of times. When you look at our record in aviation today for fatalities, only one fatality for every 15 million operations in the last five years commercial aviation. And even better news for general aviation, which is certainly near and dear to everybody here. We have, for the third year in a row, established the lowest number of fatal accidents in general aviation in our history with less than 300 in 2007. That's the phenomenal record. We're still working for that ultimate record of zero. But it speaks very well for what's going on in aviation today. The format for today's session, we're going to have an opportunity to hear from the individuals on stage. Some of them have a very unique perspective as we move forward. And we will also entertain questions at the conclusion of that time frame. There may be a little bit of noise overhead, not unlike what you just heard. It's our understanding that the Thunderbirds are scheduled to fly beginning about one o'clock, 1.15. So they have several overhead passes of this building. But we have done one thing since last year. Those of you that were with us at that point in time, we've got new air conditioning systems. So hopefully you'll enjoy that. This is the coolest place at Sun and Fun. And the temperature is pretty good, too. Let me introduce to you our first presenter today, also representing the acting FAA Administrator, Bobby Sturgell. This gentleman is the Associate Administrator for Airports. He's got an incredible background in aviation, a deep passion for it. The Assistant Administrator for Airports, Kirk Schaefer. Thank you, Doug. When the Administrator called and asked if I could stand in for him at this meeting, I jumped at the chance because general aviation, in my mind, really is the heart and soul of aviation. I'm prejudice in that regard because I grew up in general aviation on a small airport with grass runways. And but notwithstanding that prejudice, I think I'm absolutely correct that GA is the heart of aviation. And of course, nothing is more important than what happens here at Sun and Fun where the aviation year starts each year. We've got together here in the room for you this afternoon a large number of subject matter experts that are willing to give you some late breaking information and to take your questions on topics that are very important to you, such as our brand new sport pilot proposed rule that was just rolled out earlier today. Also, things that are going on with regard to amateur built aircraft, which are very much on people's minds and in the in the trade papers these days. But of course, the thing that almost everybody's going to touch on at one point or another is safety because that's our first line of business and that that is something that will never change. I'm here to thank you each and every one for what you do to help us maintain the very safest aviation system on the face of the earth and in the midst of the safest period of that system in our in our history. As Doug mentioned a moment ago, last year we had 284 general aviation fatalities. Now that's 284 too many, but that's the lowest number since World War two. And the credit for that in largest part goes to the general aviation folks who are in the cockpit. And I salute the fact that day after day after day, you're bringing more professionalism, a more serious attitude, and a more focused safety culture to what you do in the cockpit. We recognize that there are only certain things that we can do. But once the pilot gets into the cockpit, that's where the focus has got to be. And you all are doing a great job in helping us to continue to improve the safety of our of our system. Let me talk to you for just a second about what we're doing in the airport's organization that I run in order to to assist you in that safety effort. I know you've read some about the call to action that former administrator Blakey held late last summer. I assure you that each and every day since then we have been focused on carrying out the objectives that the industry identified in responding to that call to action on airports. You hopefully have already seen the results of some of those actions such as enhanced taxiway centerline markings and more driver training for the folks that have clearance to operate on the airfield where you are based or the airfields where you visit from time to time. Now you may say well what what does that got to do with me as a general aviation pilot? I think it's got everything to do with you. For example, if you're if you're based at a small airport where enhanced taxiway centerline markings are not currently mandated, I beg you to go to the airport manager, to your city council, to your county commission, whoever has the final say and encourage them in the strongest fashion to adopt that additional visual cue for installation on your airport. It's cheap, it's already tested and it works. It helps people avoid runway incursions and vehicle pedestrian deviations on airports. Also you can do some things that the air carriers are doing and they're things that maybe you were taught like like I was taught but you know unless you get a little reminder from time to time you might you might forget about them. Things like heads up taxing. In my judgment when you are ready to taxi out your checklist should be complete and from the moment that you taxi out your eyes your brain your head your complete attention needs to be up and outside the cockpit. That's what a lot of the air carriers have been doing for some time and those that have not been are now moving in that direction as a result of the call to action. These are simple things that keep your focus where it ought to be and that's on the safe operation of your aircraft whether it's on the ground or in the air. Now on the subject of VPDs here's where we are today. We have had 30 VPDs thus far this year. Of those 30 VPDs 22 of them are attributable to general aviation aircraft. So I call your attention to that fact for this reason. We keep track of those things very very closely even though we have moved this year to the IKO definition of VPDs which counts a lot more incidents than we have previously counted we have decided to hold the line on our not to exceed level at 56. Last year we just did hit 56. We would have busted that number with one more. This year we need to increase our focus because you can look at your calendar and see that we are six months and 11 days into the calendar year and yet 30 against the not to exceed number of 56 is too many. If we continue at that rate we will go over that number. Just so you understand how I look at those numbers it's not about meeting the numbers. That's simply a way to measure and determine whether our actions to eliminate VPDs are being effective or not. But the goal is not to make the number the only goal is to save people's lives and to protect their airframes. That's what this is all about because as I said a moment ago and as I will always tell you the first thing that we do every day and the last thing that we do every day has to do with safety and again I thank you for everything that you do to help us in that regard. After all it's your system and we want to do everything that we can to support you and enhance your efforts to make the system safer than it already is. Thanks very much. Thanks Kirk. Of course you can tell there's no passion with Kirk about what we're doing here in the system. We're very fortunate to have that kind of expertise. In addition to Congressman Aylers we've got some really good news for you today from our aviation standards organization aviation safety. The news is so good that we actually had to have two people bring it although I think we'll probably just have one speak to you but let me introduce first on my immediate left Ms. Dawn Veach. Dawn is the manager of the Southern Region Flight Standards Division. Dawn thanks for being with us today and also with us the manager of the small airplane directorate representing the aircraft certification service Kim Smith and she has some good news for you Kim. Good afternoon. I hope I can only be as passionate as I've heard from the last few previous speakers and Dawn and I are here to talk to you about a few things and it takes not only two people to talk about the good news but two people to represent Peggy Gilligan. Peggy Gilligan is the deputy associate administrator for aviation safety and we have the honor of being here on her behalf. So it's going to be good to talk to you with some of the great things happening in general aviation here in Lakeland where the aviation year starts. So I'm going to highlight some of the strong safety record in general aviation that you've already heard about. What we are doing to improve GA safety and I'm also going to touch on a couple of timely issues including the new proposed light sport aircraft rule you've heard about and our oversight of amateur built aircraft. Let me restate the best news. Last year general aviation had the fewest fatal accidents and fewest fatalities since World War II. There were 284 fatal GA accidents in 2007. Nearly half the number of the fatal accidents there were only 20 years ago. There are several reasons the trends are heading in the right direction. For one technology is making a difference. Today's GA aircraft are better designed as well as better built with more reliable engines and this is important. They provide greater and enhanced information in the cockpit. Two in addition to the advanced equipment and capabilities we are seeing greater evidence of a safety culture across the GA spectrum and that's meaning all of you here. As pilots you understand the importance of continuing education and are taking more advantage of training opportunities. Furthermore many manufacturers of high performance aircraft offer some even require training before you can fly that nifty piece of equipment that you brought here. Three you are more serious about flying whether as profession or pastime. You understand that flying demands respect. You are making it a habit to assess risk understand your personal minimums and practice risk management. You know these practices are important whether you are flying a Piper warrior or a Cessna Mustang. So let me tell you a little bit about the light sport pilot proposed rule which was issued today. You'll be able to see it in the federal register next week. As background I'm sure many of you know four years ago we issued a rule that created a safe and not overly burdensome regulatory environment for light sport operations. That rule has been effected for nearly four years and we and the flying community are gaining experience with its implementation. What works and what doesn't work. Our inspectors have gained it experience in the field listening and observing. As a result we think we need to tweak a few of the provisions to enhance safety but we also realize that some provisions may be redundant or unnecessary. Because we remain committed to our goal of making the sport pilot regulations at least burdensome as possible we are proposing to provide the community relief from these redundant and unnecessary programs. One significant action in the proposal is to remove all requirements applicable to sets of aircraft to include all requirements for specific endorsements to operate an aircraft within a particular set of aircraft. Another proposal that those of you from the mountain states might be interested in is that we're proposing to allow sport pilots to operate in mountainous areas and altitudes higher than 10,000 MSL. In addition in this proposal we are asking for your comments on a proposal to address an apparent lack of standardization in the administrative administration of practical tests leading to the issuance of category and class privileges for sport pilot applications. This is leading to our having difficulties in obtaining documentation for those practical tests that were successfully completed. The result is that it may be difficult for a pilot to show that these privileges have been awarded especially if your if your logbook has been lost destroyed or is otherwise unavailable. We are therefore proposing to replace the sport pilot and flight instructor privileges with ratings on all certificates. We believe that having these privileges to operate a category and class of aircraft as a rating on a person's sport pilot certificate would provide sports pilots with enhanced recognition of their skills which may even lead to broader international recognition of sport pilot and sport pilot flight instructor certificates. Let me also address what we're doing with the amateur built community. Two months ago our aircraft certification service released the final report of the amateur built aviation rulemaking committee the ARC. The committee included kit manufacturers, commercial assistance companies and EAA representation. We formed the committee in July 2006 to make recommendations on the use of builder or commercial assistance when fabricating and assembling amateur built aircraft. The ARC findings were that the FAA's procedures were inadequate and there was often too much commercial assistance. As you know kit built aircraft have grown more and more sophisticated over the years. They now include high performance all composite six place aircraft. They are so sophisticated that we agree with the ARC committee that it is time to update our procedures for evaluating these aircraft to regulation requirement known as 51% rule. Based on the ARC findings we elected to suspend the courtesy kit evaluations that our inspectors have been conducting. During the suspension which we expect to continue through the summer we are rewriting our procedures to implement the ARC recommendations. But after we issued that guidance we became aware of concerns from both kit manufacturers and builders who either sold or purchased an FAA evaluated kit before the February 15 suspension date. The manufacturers are concerned that the current kit evaluated kits will be reevaluated after the new procedures are published. Likewise you who are considering purchasing kits are concerned that the aircraft will be inspected will have to have the new kit requirements upon awarding a certificate. Neither of these concerns are true. So we are going to publish this information very soon and I hope it will be early next week that will tell you that those are not the cases we will not reevaluate kits that have already been evaluated. Just one last thing I wanted to talk to you about and I think you may have seen these as you came in talking a little bit about the FAA aviation news. I don't know if you have looked at the recent copy but this magazine is designed to make you aware of FAA resources help you understand something that you might not have understood before and encourage you to seek training for the kind of flying that you do. I hope you notice the improvements in the look and most importantly in the content of the FAA aviation news. You will see recurring departments such as Susan Parsons checklist column and a regular aeromedical advisory column by the federal air surgeon Fred Tilton. So I hope you enjoy it and I'm glad to be here. Thanks Kim and those of you who want to get an autographed article Susan Parsons is with us today and I'm sure she'll be ready she'll be available to sign after we're done. It's a great publication I think we have enough that we distribute them throughout the audience so certainly take advantage of that. There's articles on Sun and Fun and the activities going here. The next subject we want to cover is something that's really very very important to us. This thing called the aviation system of the U.S. the best in the world works very well because we're all in it together and most of the time we act like it. We're working for our collective success. One facet of that that gives us many great challenges in the part of this system where the greatest potential for something bad for something bad to happen exist is on or near the runway. So we've spent a lot of time focusing on runway safety the prevention of runway incursions and continuing to improve enhance the safety of this great system. We've got a new leader of our office of runway safety. He brings a diverse background as a pilot safety analyst and as the rest of the FAs you're seeing a great passion for what he does. Let me introduce to you the national director of runway safety Wes Timmons. So I'm going to uh I think I am. I'm going to show you a movie. That'll make me the most popular speaker up here. Okay and while some of the pauses there I'm going to talk a couple points. Can we get a little more volume? So first off knows that there's an eight-echo Sierra five-echo Sierra. So the number of runway incursions are increasing. Runway incursions increased by 12% last year. We've had over 420 runway incursions so far this year. Historically pilot deviation is accounted for about 60% of all runway incursions. This year they account for 65% so far. So this week alone this week alone we've had an aircraft that clipped the top of a vehicle crossing the runway at an uncontrolled airport. We had an aircraft that missed a tug that penetrated the runway by 25 feet. Yes sir, number one, uh fully short. 497 going to the wings ramp. 497 Roger, turn that is left on alpha and then bottom to ground to the wings ramp. 7 left on alpha, bottom to ground to the wings ramp. Artigan Dallas, Skyhawk 405, Echo Sierra. Skyhawk 405, Echo Sierra, what do you get? Echo Sierra, that's five ready for departure. Are you second in line? Get up first. So recently an aircraft overflew a vehicle on the runway and missed by 40 feet. An aircraft overflew another aircraft on the runway, missed them by 20 feet. An aircraft crossed the runway hold line and missed an aircraft on takeoff by 35 feet. And another aircraft crossed the hold line and missed a takeoff aircraft by 20 feet. I'm going to do a little ad-lib here because situational awareness is key. There are two aircraft almost identical call signs. Even the tower controller now has lost some situational awareness. Yeah, ready for departure in five. Landing traffic, go short. Two aircrafts off at 1 feet, Mike Alpha, you're going around to say left traffic. Left traffic, 8 Mike Alpha. 632, are you number one? 632, position hold. So notice that both aircraft now are doing position and hold. 433, first at 1. 8 Mike Alpha, continue on the downwind, I'll look for your base. You'll come on base, graduate, Mike Alpha. Six, five, I can see you on the north side of the group. Traffic, go up the park, check in the west coast. Ready for takeoff in five? Steak and tower, one, six, one. Okay, departing off five, you can see, I look up to SPR, left traffic, departing off one, four. Six, five, I can see you on the left side of the group. So, as I said, too many close calls and some are very, very close. And eventually some of these by design, but some by luck. And we're going to run out of luck one day, just like Doug said. So what can you do? Be an advocate. Education, training, situational awareness. Do exactly what you're doing here. Get the training material when you're back in your airport and people are talking and the weather's bad and you're doing the hangar flying. Advocate for runway safety. Advocate for knowing what's on the ground, what the markings are. Plan your surface operations just like you plan your flight. Approach them the same way. Remember that as soon as you start moving, you're flying, and you should have that same focus, that same attention, that same game plan. Know your taxi procedures. Know your airport markings and signs. Communicate with ATC. If you're ever in doubt about whether or not you're cleared to cross or what you're doing, if you're not on an active runway or otherwise creating a safety hazard, stop and ask the controllers. They will help you. It's a serious problem that we really need to get a handle on as quickly as possible. Thank you. As you've seen, there's a lot of exciting things going on. A lot of positive things happening in aviation today. Those of you that live and fly in the state of Florida have probably heard a lot about the next generation of our aviation system referred to affectionately as next gen. Mary Peters, the secretary of the Department of Transportation on March the 10th, designated the state of Florida as a national test bed for next gen. So all the innovations, all the new technology, you'll have an opportunity to try it and use it first in the state of Florida. And we also already have activity underway from Daytona Beach all the way down to Miami. And you'll be hearing more about that as the time comes forward. The administration recognizing the importance of the next generation and how we're going to accommodate a growth from approximately 50,000 flights a day to 100,000 to 150,000 in the next 10 to 15 years has seen fit to adequately fund this challenge and the infusion of technology and what we do. So that's another positive thing. We're going to move into the question and answer session now, and we will conclude that at about five minutes until two to do one other thing that's very unique for us and something we haven't done before in a Meet the FAA Forum. And that is we're going to take an opportunity to recognize some very important performance and contributions to the FAA, the Meet the FAA Forum and the things that happened at Lakeland for Sun and Fun. Also, I think if you should have on your seat or close by a little brochure like this, it says Southern Region at a glance. We may not have time for all your questions today, but on the backside is a telephone number for customer service. The Southern Region, encompassing eight states, the Caribbean, 7,000 employees. We're here to provide service to you as our customers. If you have any questions, if you have any comments, any issues, you can call that number and we'll get you routed to the right offer as a person to do that. As we start into the question aspect, I would ask you to do a couple of things. One, when we recognize you for your question, identify yourself, provide your question. I know there's a tendency to want to provide a lot of additional remarks, but we're a little bit tight on time. We want to open it up for as many questions as possible. We have the experts here not only on the stage, but other FAA experts in the audience. If among this group, if we don't have the answer, we will get you an answer. But at this point in time, let's open it up and see what questions you have for FAA. Please stand and let us know who you are and we'll filter your question as appropriate. Well, good afternoon. My name is John Kang and I do want to celebrate the fact that we are having fewer fatalities in general aviation than we haven't had in the past. But I'm a little bit concerned by the way we're looking at it because we ticked off the reasons why we have fewer fatalities and didn't mention the fact that fuel sales for AvGas at an all-time low and general aviation activity has decreased and that has to be a factor. So I wonder if we're doing a good job of looking into this from a managerial standpoint, if we're not taking into account that the exposure in terms of flying hours is reduced. And if we compared it to the exposure, I wonder if we're really doing all that well. Okay, thanks. I'm not sure I heard a question there, but let me respond to that for you. Those of you that were with us last year, you know that this was a pretty lively session on this thing called reauthorization. How are we going to pay for this system? The world's best, the world's safest. Was it user fees? Is it fuel on aviation gas? Are we segments on flights and things of that nature? Here we are a year later. We still don't have the answer to that. The Congress is working this. I think the House has been very effective in moving HR 2881 forward to the Senate side for the consideration. The Senate has two bills pending and we are still at a point where we're in, for all intent and purposes, a short-term funding posture that is scheduled to expire June 30th of this year. Your point's well taken and I think as we look at the cost of fuel, regardless of any additional cost, we've got to factor that into the amount of flying. The question is and intended to be, I'm sorry I didn't make it clear, wouldn't it be more intellectually rigorous to measure accident rates against the exposure in terms of hours flown? Okay, good question. You've got a mic right there if you want to use it. Does that work? I agree with you. I think that we need to understand the exposure and is the increase... Why don't we come to the podium? So this is the one that's working? I agree with you. I mean we have to know what the exposure is. I think that we know that getting data for general aviation fleet is much more difficult than the commercial hours. The agency is working on a rate. We're trying very hard to figure out how to do that. We will do that. We have looked at whether or not are we seeing a decrease in operations because of the fuel cost leading to the accident and we don't believe that's true. We know it's impacting some but the GA market is growing so much that overall I think we believe we have at least as many operations going on. We are working very hard to identify a rate and measure our accidents that way. Did we hit the mark for you that time? Okay. Yes, sir? I'm David Lowe with the Cessna 140 Association. Most of them up there know me or have heard of me or have a picture of me on their wall with a circle and a red x-ray. But first I'd like to commend the lady that's in charge of the southern region. I deal with the southern region ever since I've been in business. It's probably the best in the country. I've had nothing but great praise for the southern region. Last year at this time our organization was still pending outcome on an application for exemption to the word since its original certification and the definition of light sport aircraft which would allow our members to use an STC and operate the 120s and 140s if they lost their medical or they let their medical expire decided to get in the game and just didn't want to get one. And that's recently been denied and the appeal to the denial been denied. So I guess that's a dead issue. But in the process of all this going on I ask Ms. Miranda Baker at what point does an aircraft get outside the limit? I had an air coop belonging to one of my customers that had had an engine installed incorrectly in 1976. But it was a 415C air coop. It had always been a 415C air coop. There was never a registration or airworthiness issued any other way. And I sent the paperwork to Ms. Baker and asked her to make a determination if that airplane with that engine on it if we took the engine off put the other one back on it. Could it be operated as a light sport aircraft? Haven't got an answer yet. Yeah I don't know about that specific situation. I'll be happy to and Mr. Lowe and I do know each other. I will be happy to take the specifics and check when I go back. But I have not heard of that specific situation. One more thing about the census original certification thing at what point does an aircraft become uneligible for sport pilot operation? If you take two fat people crawl out of one of these light sport airplanes setting out here and they get cited for being over gross. Now that aircraft according to your rules has been operated outside the limit and it's been documented because of the citation. Does that particular aircraft now not eligible to be flown by a sport pilot anymore? Yeah I think if we want to talk that specific I'll be happy. We have experts here we can talk about it afterwards. Certainly it's the pilot's responsibility to make sure that when you fly an airplane you fly it within the limitations of gross weight. So hopefully it's been fun that way but we can talk afterwards. So does that mean that if I joined you to fly on one of those we'd be over gross? Okay all right thanks for your question anybody else? Hi I'm David Hipsman I'm with the EAA and Kim do you have copies of the what's going to be published in the federal register this coming week as you said that we could take a look at as you might be aware there's I'm personally aware of at least 170,000 EAA members that are going to be reading it very closely and very interested I mean I think it's great news thank you and I know you've worked all of you very very very very hard on it and thanks for that but any opportunity to look that over and inform our members would be greatly appreciated. For the sport pilot rule it went on display the federal register this morning and what that means is if we were sitting near the federal register building we could all go in and look at it today it will be published in the federal register Tuesday morning. Is there an online version of any of this or is it physically back in Washington? It's physically back there I can check later and see if we have a version we can distribute otherwise I would I would encourage everybody on Tuesday to look at it. Now the clarification on the suspension for the kit builds I have seen the final version it clarifies we have no intent to go back and revisit any of the kits that we've already evaluated if the agency has evaluated a kit and it says it falls within the major portion rule it will remain on that list regardless how we go forward I expect that to be put in the federal register next week and I've seen the signed version so it may be later than Tuesday but next week and I can't tell you is it fair then to use the word grandfathered is that a good way to describe that I think that's a very good word for those that were already evaluated and they're on our website they have been grandfathered in and no matter what we do as we move forward in our evaluation and reassessing this those kits won't be impacted thank you other questions today it's nice when you can have a new rule come out so effectively that we tell you about it today and we don't even have it in hand to give to you that's efficiency from your federal government okay well we'd have one other thing we'd like to do again this has been a good session for us we certainly appreciate congressman ailer's visit he has a passion around this thing called aviation education an opportunity for us to get our young kids our young aviators involved in this he's been a great supporter of aviation he's not bashful about pointing out our warts and our shortcomings when we have them but he's also very proactive in working on the positives wonder if I could ask Ernie strains the president of the national aviation safety foundation to join me for just a moment the success of what we do with faa and this safety center and the production studios is due in large part to the leadership of a particular individual that for lack of a better term we refer to him as our resident monomaniac on a mission the individual that that pulls volunteers together to get this process moving in a productive way but also this individual has a very important background when you stop and think about aviation and you'll find this on the last page of your handout of the aviation news let me read you a little bit about this impressive record of this individual national award-winning flight instructor airline transport pilot 16 000 hours corporate pilot former air show performer air show producer former faa designated pilot examiner public speaker aviation safety columnist aviation safety inspector safety program manager and it goes on and on and on we have on any given day almost a hundred volunteers working to provide a great environment for you during sun and fun they work throughout the whole year we have an opportunity to work with this gentleman Ernie strange and then a slave aviation safety foundation but we'd like to take an opportunity today to recognize and this is the first time we've done this but it's very appropriate one very special individual mr obi young obi now those of you that know obi know that he's a man of few words not obi we do have a few minutes left so if you'd like to say a few things again with with the thanks from the the sun and fun the people involved in aviation throughout the state of florida throughout the country but the person who is responsible for keeping you on a level keel and from the faa great job mr administrator uh distinguished stage people um yeah steve i'm gonna get you uh he said go down there they got a problem and i didn't now i'm finding out i'm the problem you know um like i said this morning in the pre-brief uh i've never worked with a group of volunteers john and martha you own our team and and sandy and joanne and people through california and and washington and joe foresto up in the northeast and and jim over there walking through the land mines with the reek program with with west here uh it it's great to have people on both sides of the of that clear bright line that are working for aviation safety every day this week we've got like 40 to 50 people here and every day we have a pre-briefing at 7 30 and usually by 7 25 99 percent of them are there and every day at 2 o'clock when we get off they're there many hours after the fact i've never worked with the boy scouts with a church organization or any other organization that the commitment is so much for aviation safety and like the bill icoff with sun and fun who is the chairman of the board said last night they're no longer volunteers they're aviation advocates these people are really dedicated and i can't say enough thanks to them because it's not an obi show it truly is your show you're the ones that make it happen thank you very much that concludes this year's meet the fa forum thanks for joining us you want to stay a little longer and enjoy the cool air it's about 87 degrees out there please feel free to do so we'll be back next year and between now and then remember we're all in it together let's act like it thank you