EAA Sport Aviation - August 2011

‘win/lose’ paradigm.” And we pilots are the losers.

In the past, FAA controllers had a lot of discretion as to whether they reported a PD. I recall a controller saying he avoided filing PDs simply because of the paperwork. Thus under the kinder and gentler FAA, unless a pilot was grossly negligent or had an uncooperative attitude, many potential PDs were never filed.

But the game has shifted. Another aviation attorney told me that controllers now have to look at job security. He e-mailed me saying an FAA tower chief told him, “If the controller doesn’t pass the blame to the pilot, the controller gets in trouble … The union also recommends filing the deviation reports, and he says they really have no discretion not to do so.”

In the past five months, I’ve had four clients and friends tell me that they’ve received pilot deviations (PDs) from the FAA.

Here’s a quick summary of PDs that have been filed against my clients and friends in the past five months.

A pilot departing on an IFR flight plan was given a clearance to fly the runway heading upon departure. He somehow became distracted during the departure and was flying 50 degrees from the runway heading. Compounding it, prior to takeoff, while in an area not visible from the tower, he was instructed to “continue taxiing west in the direction you’re pointed.” He continued taxiing in the direction he was pointed, which was east not west, but didn’t point out the discrepancy to the controller. He engaged an attorney and was required to take remedial training from a flight instructor.

A pilot of a single-engine piston aircraft was cleared into Class B airspace and assigned an altitude of 3,500 feet. He was

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