CAA: GA News, "FAA Recommends Student Pilot Standards After Crash"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wednesday, January 9, 2002

FAA Recommends Student Pilot Standards After Crash


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After a teen-ager crashed a plane into a Florida
skyscraper in an apparent suicide last weekend, federal aviation regulators
suggested on Wednesday that flight schools make student pilots meet mental
and physical health standards before enrolling them.

The Federal Aviation Administration, in an advisory to aviation inspectors
nationwide, recommended that student fliers obtain medical certificates and
complete questionnaires on mental health.

Currently, a medical certificate is only needed when a student pilot is
ready to solo. It is also a requirement for all licensed pilots.

In addition, the FAA suggested that flight instructors supervise student
pilots at all times, regardless of the student's age.

Also, the agency said the general aviation industry should consider steps to
better secure aircraft when not in use as well as require separate keys for
plane doors and ignition systems.

The action stopped well short of an emergency order or a proposed rule on
aviation security. The agency only said flight schools should consider steps
that best fit their business operations.

The suggestions came in response to Saturday's plane crash in Tampa in which
a 15-year-old student pilot, Charles Bishop, flew a stolen single-engine
Cessna into a skyscraper, killing himself.

Bishop was the lone casualty. Authorities said he left a suicide note
expressing sympathy for Osama bin Laden and was taking an acne treatment
that could cause depression.

An instructor at the National Aviation flight school at St.
Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport gave Bishop the key to the plane
and told him to make a pre-flight check, authorities said. But Bishop
allegedly took off without permission.

The FAA said flight instructors should consider keeping the keys to the
aircraft during preflight checks.

The general aviation industry said it worked with the government to
formulate the advisory.

"We think they are reasonable and practical suggestions that can be
implemented immediately and enhance security," said Warren Morningstar,
spokesman for a major general aviation interest group, the Aircraft Owners
and Pilots Association.

However, Morningstar expressed reservations about the health
recommendations, saying he saw no correlation between the suggestion and
preventing another incident like the one in Tampa.

"You have to have a medical certificate to solo, but up until that point
it's the flight instructor who is in command of the aircraft."

Morningstar and other industry executives have said this week that the Tampa
incident was an isolated case and unique.

"This really wasn't even a security incident. This was a case of a troubled
young man bent on committing suicide and doing it in a public way,"
Morningstar said. "He happened to chose an airplane."

Security planners are concerned about the size of the U.S. general aviation
community with some 200,000 general aviation aircraft operating from more
than 18,000 airports.

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