The FAA Made A Decision On My Case
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2024
- The FAA made a decision on my case. Here is how the process.
For my new pilot friends,
Pilot deviation refers to any action or behavior by a pilot that violates the rules and regulations set forth by aviation authorities. These violations can range from minor infractions, such as failing to follow an assigned altitude or heading, to more serious violations, such as flying into restricted airspace or ignoring air traffic control instructions.
Pilot deviation can result in significant safety risks to both the pilot and other aircraft in the vicinity, and can also lead to disciplinary action and potential legal consequences. As such, it is important for pilots to receive proper training and to always adhere to established procedures and regulations in order to ensure the safety of all those involved in aviation operations.
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My background is 20 yr AF fighters, 19 years Delta Airlines.
I was a CFII for a lot of years. This is what I do -
Flight plan around the Bravo.
Look up & write down the primary & backup freq's for CLT approach.
Use the moving map to know FOR CERTAIN you remain clear the Class B.
You call CLT approach… do not rely on Flight Following to do it.
Before entering make certain you hear those magic words -
“661 Mike Bravo, cleared into the Bravo.” You MUST hear those exact words.
And of course, don’t wait until the last moment to call them.
But you know all that now. : ) Fly safe. Appreciate your videos.
Excellent advice, have a “plan B” in case you do not receive a Class B clearance!
Here would be my advice: If your flight plan absolutely must take you through a class bravo, just file IFR. Otherwise, just plan to go around (or over or under) it if you're VFR. In mojo's case if you look at his flight path he could have easily gone around the bravo to the east. You can still try to get cleared through if you want to, but don't plan on it. Looks like the common route around the bravo is 247 nm (via chesterfield VOR) instead of 245 nm for direct. No excuse to bust a bravo IMO in this case. edit: its not worth the trouble he went through to potentially save 2 nm
He didnt hear those words and pulled up in consequence, the plan B was executed, which is what is being discussed.
Ok....sure.
Of course, another option is to be on an IFR flight plan. In that case, you don't need to hear the magic words as you're always flying a route cleared by ATC.
I enjoy that you turned a stressful personal event into a teachable moment and made sure to acknowledge that both the pilot and the FAA officials are human.
The FAA is most certainly not human. Lol
The FAA is staffed with lizard people, nobody else could've come up with the current process for medical evaluations, especially pertaining to mental health and medications.
@@acewings221 FAA oficials are
@@rubenjanssen1672 keep telling yourself that lmao
@@acewings221 I sure hope you don't work for any airline I work for
Mike, you are the kind of pilot that evaluates their experiences and looks for improvement opportunities. You are doing it right. THANK YOU for sharing.
To the question, "Why would you tell on yourself?" ...because you are a Leader! And Leaders selflessly use their own experience to educate others. Thank you for 'Manning Up' to help everyone else. My hat's off to you, Sir!
With anything in life, if you mess up, it's better to tell whomever is in charge before they find out on their own or are told a version of the story by someone else. Any time I screw up, I immediately go to my boss and lay out what I did, how I fixed/am going to fix it, and what I'm going to do in the future to avoid the same mistake.
More importantly, this would have been a terrible situation to try to lie or hide in. He had flight following, and he was flying through a Bravo. Absolutely everything they needed was on record, so he couldn't hide anything from them. Alternatively, he could have lied and tried to pass the blame onto equipment, but since he was flying VFR, he would have been responsible anyway. Even if he could manage to convince them that his equipment malfunctioned and showed him outside the Bravo, the books say that you should not be flying close enough to controlled airspace that inaccuracies in your equipment or theirs may call into question whether you were in our out of the airspace. If their equipment says you are in the airspace, it doesn't matter what your equipment says.
Given that there was no way out of this by keeping quiet or by lying, the best outcome comes from telling the truth.
@@SunsparcSolaris If you mess up, 'fess up! Especially in the aviation industry.
FAA Operations Inspectors (ASI'a) (like me) are pilots, too and we are part of the aviation community. Many of us fly regularly and are part of flying clubs, war-bird demonstrations, flight schools outside our districts, or fly small jets part 91. The Compliance Action Program which your Inspector offered you is for those individuals who cooperate in the investigation process as we try to determine what went wrong to create this deviation. Our goal is to bring pilots back into compliance, but as you noted, you willingly and honestly evaluated your performance and you sincerely wanted to correct/re-learn what you needed for safety. We love dealing with pilots like yourself! It makes it so easy for us. I would much rather assign a couple of WINGS courses to you than open an EIR (enforcement investigation) to take action against your certificate. Good job! I hope a lot of pilots see this and determine for themselves that we just want you all to be safe and smart pilots. So long, and may every landing be a happy one!!
Thank you for sharing. Gives some comfort for those of us starting out. We're a bit terrified to make mistakes.
You are a man of integrity. It is often not the easy to live your life that lifestyle and maybe even uncomfortable. Thank you for striving to live out your life worthy of being a student of the smartest person who ever breathed a breath of air, and needed to learn from others. Fly high, and soar like an eagle.
Glad you took the time to step up and share this. There are those that would have just reset the cameras and moved ahead and miss a great opportunity to teach and learn. We are all human and to share our mistakes can be a big deal.
"Why would you tell on yourself?" "Why would you put yourself in the hot seat?" Really? People asked those questions? Okay. It's called PERSONAL INTEGRITY. You take responsibility for your actions.
Absolutely not. This is why you talk to aopa and an attorney before anything.
The FAA breaks their own rules but will enforce on you with no mercy. The FAA is not anyone’s friend.
@@michaeldautry So, then lying is the answer. Got it. I hope you don't mind when people lie to you.
@@nicholassinanan7374 Fine get an attorney. I never said not to be smart with your interactions with the FAA - but, denying you did anything and lying about it isn't the answer.
@@buckhorncortez you are correct, I hate when the Faa lies to me.
Love the transparency man. 👍🏼👍🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 It probably looks good to the FAA too. It couldn't be any clearer that you're taking this seriously, probably more than many would. That's actually the stuff that matters most. Glad everything worked out for you. Stay safe.
Thanks for sharing, Mike. Class B is not something you want to mess with. If you are instrument rated, I highly recommend being on an IFR plan even during the VFR days to avoid airspace complications.
I personally think IFR is easier than even dealing with flight following. You’re making a call to either request flight following and hope you get it or you file IFR and know you’re at least getting cleared 90% chance direct these days or maybe slight vectors around the dead center of the bravo unless you’re going east west over the top at 5000ft…that’s usually a clearance they will give you. Vfr flight following you still have to get handed off just the same to different frequencies same as IFR so IFR is just safer and worst case if you don’t like the clearance then cancel and go VFR around but at least you tried.
With ForeFlight filing IFR takes less than 3 minutes so it’s just too easy these days.
@@BaxterretxaB Couldn’t agree more! I always file an IfR plan when going to a new place, makes life so much easier! Of course if the weather is VFR and don’t like the routing, cancel and be on FF
BINGO!! This holds true for complicated military airspace as well, like the coastal area of SC near Cherry Point or Pensacola FL by Navy flight school.
All you need to know about Class B “cleared through the Bravo”.
That’s it nothing else!
As a non-pilot, I still appreciate the time you take to explain important points in every video. I live a couple hours from your Winston location and would like to stop in some day to see your business if that is permitted. Happy flying
I really want car drivers to also have to go through this kind of form filling and investigation and education if they ran a red light
I broke a rule when landing my Cessna 150 into DSM once. I was flying from a small grass strip I usually fly from and wanted to practice going into a larger airport. I was cleared to land, I got to the runway and immediately exited the runway to a taxiway and the controller 'yelled' at me saying "I didn't give you permission to exit the active runway!" I slammed on the toebrake and did a hard 180 turn and pulled back on the runway and he yelled at me again saying, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?!" I was so flustered, I just punched the throttle, took off, TURNED OFF THE RADIO and master switch to kill the transponder and flew out of there at low altitude (thinking I would stay off his radar, lol) and flew the hour or so back to my grass strip and parked the plane in the hangar and went and grabbed some beer and went fishing, LOL. I never heard anything more about it! This was 1985. I imagine if one would do that today, it would be an entirely different ending!!!!
*EDIT* I was a student pilot, practicing solo flight and after that, I stopped my flying 'career.' It definitely left me shaken and I think back and wish I had done things differently and kept learning and kept flying, but that was it for me after that! Now I'm a GREAT PILOT on Microsoft Flight Simulator!! 🤣
The last thing my FAA Examiner said to me when he signed me off for my Private Certificate was, “Remember, you’re always learning.” I’ve always appreciated and remembered that statement. The way your incident turned out is the way that it should have. You proactively treated it as a learning experience and I think that was what the FAA took into consideration. Great video.
I retired from 25 years of airline flying (European short haul Embraer 190/175, Fokker 27/50/70/100) and even on my last fight I learnt. So you are absolutely correct, you are always learning.
Mike - Congrats on surviving FAA!! In '90s G.R. Mich, on approach, Pilot took lead from State Highway Pickup he was stationary. Full gas/flaps, gear up, nose slight down & plummeted in downdraft. He pulled it out as entered woods, gently rose, but had no COM as you mentioned as antennas removed. He flew around in & out of TSA, gave himself clearance to land, pulled up to Gate wingtips draggin', and while pulling oak limbs from belly, he was arrested by GRPD for evidence tampering, leaving scene of accident, & joyriding plane! FAA immediately jerked all of Capt's tickets, airline indefinitely suspended him, & GRPD jerked his drivers license making Capt officially a Pedestrian. He didn't even have the ID for use of his credit cards for car rental or even food. Despite above, Capt told me he felt lucky. His actions had saved 156 soles and one of those was his!! Old guys...always lookin' at the sunny side!! I guess you had better experience!!
That's quite confusing. Re "On approach": On approach to what? (A local airport?) Re "Pilot": Pilot of what? (Car? Truck? Boat? GA aircraft? Fire Dept aircraft? Police aircraft? Airliner?) Re "State Highway [Patrol?]": What does State Highway Patrol have to do with aviation? Unless you're saying the "Pilot" was flying a Highway Patrol helicopter? Re "He was stationary": I thought you said he was "on approach"? Unless you mean he was flying a State Highway Patrol helicopter and was hovering? Re "full gas": On approach? Most aircraft, "on approach", are "half out of gas" rather than "full gas". And besides, most aircraft burn kerosene, not "gas[oline?]". Re "had no com[m]", I imagine so, if he scraped the belly of his [helicopter|airplane] against tree tops. Re "wingtips draggin'": Wait, I thought you said he'd been "stationary"? In a fixed-wing plane, that's usually not possible, unless one is flying a Piper Cub into a gale. (I saw a Piper Cub land _backwards_ once at SNA here in OC, CA, USA; 65kt airspeed into a 70kt gale, groundspeed = -5kt.) Re "saved 156 soles": How did he save the feet of 78 people? Or do you mean the fish? But what does fillet of sole have to do with aviation incidents? Or did you mean "souls"? He had 156 [soles (feet) | soles (fish) | souls (people)] on board a Highway Patrol helicopter? _How??_ I'm so confused. 😕
@@RobbieHatley - Oh, it's much worse than that. Capt was watching State Highway Pickup with all lights on going 80MPH just emerging from downdraft w/driver swerving 40' edge to edge standing up thru side-window pointing finger at him in NWA plane for notice they was all gonna die. Capt, the kind they hire to fly airliners, understanding pickup lingo gave full throttles, full flaps, and gear pulled up was landing type. Don't know what State Highway Patrol has to do with anything, but in Mich we had State Police if ya have a murder or something serious, but I doubt they'd bring their helicopter. Liner was the thing that was hovering even though ILS approach with needles in middles due to vicious headwind from approaching storm. When turned into tailwind was just after Capt made his adjustments giving flat plummet at about 400MPH gravity + downdraft. NTSB investigated but determined old Capt liar, with explanation impossible, got statement from NWS windshear impossible at time of incident, & MDOT added no Dept Equipment near airport at that time. Royally screwed (the kind that's raw & cold w/o lube), NW made it permanent suspension with reinstatement if training w/new Certs for every type NW Orient flew, which really would have been impossible. NOV '96 "SURPRISE", same Capt just reinstated & do dropped in to TPA's Pilots Lounge. With same Capt were his FO & SW Pilots as well, for direct knowledge of windshear to be relayed. They got table opposite bum with tattered old brown jacket, Capt smiled at 'em but other three intentionally ignored. Capt began his tail of woe with approach to Grand Rapids samo, samo....but all of sudden all turned to sht. He said to FO, "Ya should see how this crazy ahole is drivin' a State Highway...truck, HOLY SHT!" That was his moment of awakening. Capt wanted to give emergency actions, but couldn't recall order or what they were. Old bum sitting across from them added, "Capt, you went full gas, flaps, picked up gear, fell straight down in flat plummet into woods, but pulled liner carefully up out of woods heading North." Bad Ju-Ju to say that as Capt 2X size of bum, so leapt from table glowering over him sayin', "And just exactly how in the hell would you know that?" Bum said, "I'm the ahole you mentioned in your story, you can check my MDOT ID here", handing it to Capt. Capt invited bum/pickup driver to join them, but he refused as had already ordered burger. 2nd Dumb thing he did as Capt grabbed him setting him at his own table sayin, "You look like a T-Bone man to me...I've been looking for you for years!" They discussed entire G.R. windshear incident w/bum/PU driver writing all details on hard stock dinner napkin. He signed it, the four Pilots witnessed signature, and Capt took it to NTSB. APR '97 bum/MDOT/PU driver called back to work, was only one in office after rain-day lunch, so answered phone call from MDOT Deputy Director. He asked to speak with bum/PU Driver sayin' had NTSB Investigator that needed word with him. He replied, "Speaking". Investigator said NTSB had re-opened G.R. Windshear Investigation...and he was head of it. He said had just checked his travel logs and workday sheets confirming was at scene of windshear at perfect time, but needed personal conformation from employee everything recorded on dinner napkin at TPA in NOV '96 was absolute fact. Once he had his confirmation, Investigator most friendly with employee. He said NTSB Director had told him everything on napkin was so, as it crossed all the "T"s and dotted all the "I"s regarding incident, while their own investigation had shut down at, "physically impossible". Director specified Capt to be made whole, NWS at airport to get 1st available Doppler Weather Radar, and "procedure" of writing statements out telling witnesses to sign is prohibited immediately. Bum/PU Driver had Project Engineer for Boss that believed MDOT trucks were his own trucks as singed them out himself each year. If he found how bum/pickup driver had been driving "HIS" truck, being retired USAF, he would kill 'em, so original and re-opened Investigations Classified and unavailable to Public. Director's contribution to next complete Training for Investigators was between morning & afternoon sessions, he had "The Napkin" mounted in 1st display case at D.C. Headquarters. For afternoon session, Trainers couldn't pry Investigators from napkin, and if got one away, it ran right back! Auditorium empty and Director all smiles. When finally assembled, he gave group his thoughts on "Physically Imposible", and procedure of writing out statements for Witnesses to sign! Oh yeah, you were right I misspelled soul brother!! I'm just learnin', thanks for the help.
Class and Humility. You and your channel are an asset to the aviation community. Thank you sir.
It takes a real man to confess, admit and own his mistakes. Instead of just sweeping it under the rug, as most people would do, you put it right out front and used it to teach others how to hopefully NOT get into your situation. For that I congratulate and thank you. You are a real man, we need more like you.
Well it seems like you were busy talking to the GoPro while making this mistake and that could have been a contributing factor? Either way seems it worked out in the end.
Exactly…. Hope he didn’t tell the FAA guy that he was busy narrating his video while flying thru complex airspace 😮
The old saying is,” Aviate, Navigate, Communicate…….😅
NOT, “Narrate, Aviate, Navigate, Communicate “!
I am not qualified to fly a plane or do I want to, especially at my age now, but listening and watching these two videos, shows to me your humility in taking responsibility for your actions. You are now better for it and those watching these videos are educated, who do fly airplanes, in never taking for granted the procedures in that must be adhered to. Excellent!
Mistakes happen every day in the air. Understanding and having the chance to re-learn or apply the basics is important to operating an aircraft and for your future flights. Your openness is a plus. You've done good Mike!
My huge recommendation MOJO is that you check and triple check your equipment before you get to close to Bravo or Charlie airspace and you are required to "stay out of" the airspace until full contact and two way communication has taken place and then proceed once advised. Circle 360° left, circle 360° right or just go around the airspace. If you can go to 15,000 which is 3-5k above Bravo, then that is an option button recommended.
I used to go to every Wings program in my area. It was a great time to talk with the FAA guys, get some updates on rule changes, meet fellow pilots, get safety lectures (VERY useful!),... absolutely worth it from a learning standpoint and for just plain old socializing.
Well done Mike. You took the high road and accountability, which is what I expect every fellow pilot to do. Also, the wings program is great. I regularly take courses and attend live regional trainings. I would recommend highly.
You randomly fell into my feed, really interesting review of the situation and really love the honest introspection and admission of responsibility and need for additional education. These are qualities of outstanding pilots.
"if you don't think you've done something wrong"
I'd never ever advise this. In my opinion, never talk to the cops or a federal agency without a lawyer present. You don't know what you don't know.
So very true!
Good job, sir!
Part of being a pilot is that you owe it to the flying community to not only "learn your lesson" but to pass along that learning so others will be safer as well.
My pilot husband and I appreciate your vulnerability and honesty. It will help educate, keep violations from happening and save lives. Great job!!
I'm glad to hear that it turned out ok. You obviously handed it exactly like you should have since there wasn't any further action. Very few times have I ever heard of the FAA not taking the time to use it as a learning experience than for punishment unless someone does something plain reckless. Thanks for sharing this with us all Mike and blue skies brother.
Thanks for the transparency. As a student pilot this is a great lesson and helps me think about what types of unexpected things can happen.
I'm still a student pilot, but I've done so many of those Wings courses. I didn't know they mattered for anything other than personal education. My first flight school was in a cutout for a Charlie, with some limits on that, and my current school is so close to a delta that we have to fly a very tight pattern to not encroach in it. We've got a scant half mile between the runway and the delta (parallel). So watching airspace obsessively is something I've had to do right out the gate.
Been following your channel for awhile. Major respect for how you conduct yourself as a pilot and human. Thousands of hours does not make a pilot, character does.
My experience with a potential deviation was very similar. Since there was no immediate danger in the event they seemed far more interested in preventing the situation from happening again by insuring that I understood how the situation occurred, the proper process, and what I could do to control the situation even if I was not in the wrong. Demonstrating accountability, taking ownership, and showing that I had learned from the experience and could proactively prevent a similar situation in the future was key
Thank you for being so humble and transparent.
I've been flying practically my entire life, professionally since I was 20 years old. What I just heard at 6:43 is probably the single worst piece of advice I've ever heard. That's like saying you shouldn't hesitate to talk to the police without a lawyer if you haven't done anything wrong. If the FAA is opening an investigation into something you've done, you should immediately seek counsel from a reputable aviation attorney. Your certificate, your wallet, and for pro pilots your career, are on the line. Even if the whole thing seems totally mundane and straightforward, I would never recommend not retaining legal counsel if you become the target of an FAA investigation, ESPECIALLY one subsequent to a suspected deviation from the FARs, which DO carry the weight of law, the violation of which DOES subject you to possible civil penalties.
Agreed
Still the most fucking unnecessary way to comment the way you did. He said one thing wrong, how many times have you been on camera in front of thousands? Probably never so I’d keep the tone down bud just like you would if you were being talked to by the feds right? Exactly.
You are also NEVER obligated to call the number they give you.
@@idekav. Have a great day!
@@jvtaylor3 Never a bad idea to consult with counsel before making that phone call, but most of the time they'll tell you to go ahead and call. I've only gotten a phone number once, and it was in reference to a bird strike, not a pilot deviation, but my attorney said "go ahead and make the call, let me know what the tracon has to say."
Nice video Mike. An instrument rating makes airspace rules much easier, you don’t have to worry about them. Great video, thanks for sharing.
Appreciate the honesty of the videos. We all make mistakes and glad to see you've learned from this. Also happy to hear the FAA is taking a gentler approach these days to enforcement. Blue skies and tailwinds!
Mike, I'm not a pilot yet, and I'm glad to be following you for a few years now. Your excellent conduct here is a great example, although it must have been stressful. Thanks for your channel
Glad to hear that the case is closed. But it's a great teaching moment, so thanks for using that opportunity.
It's absolutely vital that all pilots be honest about violations and mistaken actions, as it's all safety critical. It's just like a clinical governance process in medicine.
If you haven't already, you should get involved with using the FAA wings program. I encouraged the people that came to me for BFRs when I was instructing to do this. It satisfies the ground portion of the BFR, and then flight tasks are good too. The courses are actually pretty good, and it could also serve to help out in the event of something like your case happening. Cheers, and thanks for the content.
Still watching the video, so maybe you corrected this later. but around 2:30 you said that ATC couldn't hear you but you could hear them. I think that's a bad assumption. Your radio's worked with other ATC. Class B approach nor Class C approach is required to respond to your calls. You shouldn't take that as loss of "physical" communication. It would have been nice if they told you to stay clear, but I they don't need too.
Thanks for all the content. Hopefully by the end of the video I find out it works out for you with some remedial training :)
This certainly shows that the flight community is well organised and understands that humans make mistakes that can be learned from.
I suppose it’s important that we pay more attention when we make journeys regularly, and don’t fall into bad habits or being complacent.
Glad it all went well for you, safe flights.
I would add one more thing to what I would do. If you haven't been cleared into Bravo then I would do a circle or climb to avoid it. I had something similar flying into Houston. I was usually cleared into Bravo but one particular time he didn't answer when I asked multiple times if I was clear. Perhaps if they are busy they are more likely to not answer than to say "no you're not." So I made some altitude changes to avoid the bravo. Flight following alone does not guarantee you clearance.
I’m glad it turned out so well and you truly benefited by the whole experience as well as helped other aviators. Fly High!
I like the way you stood up and explained yourself to the FAA. Your honesty and recollection of your attempts to connect and when you could not, took corrective action to go over BRAVO. This helped your case.
Your transparency and humility is refreshing. Keep bringing the great content.
I love how you always take responsibility. Your desire to strive to learn and better your skills is inspiring.
Hi Mojogrip, you mentioned that some were questioning why you'd put yourself out there in this situation. I'm very impressed that you did. I've seen other situations where someone made a mistake and put the entire story out there as a learning experience for everyone else. If someone can learn from your mistake and maybe not make that mistake themselves, there's nothing better than that. Kudo's Mike, and thanks for sharing the story!
Thank you sir. Humility is rare today. You put your buisness in the street. To your honor.... you owned it..took it..shared it for us. Keep up the great content sir.
I've seen lots of videos about pilots deviation but never what happens on the other side. Thank You, Mojo, for making this video.
Dont forget to make an ASRS report in such circumstances
Thanks for sharing your experience and being transparent about the process. We can all learn from each other as a part of this small community of pilots.
Glad to hear you are all good now. Respect and honesty.
Thanks, Mike for sharing your experience. It is good to remind others that there obligations that require alternative measures to be taken when the obligations cannot be fulfilled, such as encountering Class B airspace. Calling, course deviation, and circle to gain altitude to get above the Class B. It is also good to know that there are people who want safety above all. Thanks again.
I keep hearing these rationalizations and externalizations of the problem: Lost contact, finding the correct frequency to call up, over-reliance on new gadgets... It's none of that. You simply weren't prepared to not get your clearance and wound up busting the airspace when it didn't come. It's okay, we're humans just like you said and all of us make mistakes from time to time.
Contact or not contact, you should have situational awareness not to break into airspace. Also, his story makes no sense. Flight following would have contacted the class B and relayed the authorization to him prior to the entry. If he lost comms while having been already cleared, there would be no issue, just contact the class B airspace directly, no violation. He claims he lost comms, knew there was a bravo airspace coming up, busted into it anyway, then climbed up to avoid busting it. My guess is he had absolutely no clue where he was, lost comms, busted the class B airspace, realized it too late, and climbed out. Luckily everybody else was paying attention cause otherwise this could’ve been messy.
Thank you for sharing your experience in both videos. I'm a current rock climber and future pilot. Making mistakes and being able to learn from them and share them is a great gift. I'm happy with the outcome, sounds like they made the right call and had the correct process. Godspeed.
I appreciate your content. Thanks for taking the time to share videos like this.
Thanks for this Mike. People bring their own baggage to every situation. In my experience this is particularly obvious when people either commence flying or are non-pilots who become aware of certain aviation safety matters. Blame, punishment, guilt, secrecy etc are all real things of course. We grow up with that stuff all around us and indeed we're pre-wired to think in those terms. But aviation safety has become so amazingly good precisely by getting people to think and feel differently. Those negative concepts lead to less safety, for real. An honest yet positive approach to human frailty has changed things radically.
Thank you for sharing. I'm not a pilot, but my dad was a pilot instructor so i kinda get some taste of that world. I appreciate that there is people like you out there willing to share and learn from their experiences. So, thats it, thank you, flight safe.
Appreciate you adding this video. Most pilots will eventually come into contact with the FAA for one reason or another and it is a learning process to understand if you have made a mistake or why they have to be involved. I've heard of some extremely trivial reasons why the FAA investigates some situations and it can be for something as simple as making a communication that you have left the runway when you are not yet quite off it but in the process of leaving, or an even weirder one where someone was reported for dropping a toilet roll (pre-pandemic) at altitude.
Neither case required the FAA to invoke a punishment as there'd been no transgression as such. The FAA are there to help all of us and sometimes they get reports from Karens who just want to spoil a pilot's day. Thank you for your honesty. Wishing you safe flights and following winds.
Glad you worked it all out with FAA...Did you ever find out what was going on with your communications equipment?
New Sub here. Great content and glad you took accountability for an honest mistake. I think they saw that and that's why you are off the hook. It's all a learning experience, flying is no joke there is so much to learn every time you step into the cockpit. I haven't flown in years due to finances... never got to finish my PPL (I was SO close and had the check ride booked) but I had to leave for school. Everyone that flies should see this video and learn from it! Great job.
Your attitude and professionalism makes you a better pilot. A trustworthy pilot.
Great Video!!!!!!!!!!!! Sir you have such a positive attitude throughout this video!!!!!!! I honestly don't know how you do it. In the back of my mind the entire time I am thinking to myself that you should have embraced the Air Force Motto........ which is Lie, Deny, Ask for proof. Your videos are quite inspiring I hope that one day our paths cross.
Admirer your honesty by tell us your story with the FAA. And it’s helps all of us that we are learning all the time.
The case is closed! Great news. Thank you for sharing your experiences…
For those of us who listen to YT VASAviation we hear the phrase: I have a number for you to copy” quite often. In the past several weeks there have been several runway incursions and in each a flight crew is given a number to copy. From the time of Reagan’s breaking the ATC union to today there has been a steady drain of corporate memory, history and training among controllers. It is a tough job to be either a controller or a single pilot.
I’m surprised the FAA has not gone after these TH-cam pilots. Single pilot operations, especially in congested , complex airspace is tough. No time for operating cameras and doing live narration, IMHO. They should require a qualified safety pilot to be there to assist the PIC.
Hard to imagine the FAA allowing ATC controllers to set up Go Pros at their workstation and produce videos for TH-cam while working!😱
I am a special agent in my day job.... I've proved many (I could even name names) people innocent, much faster than any legal process would, when they cooperate. In the end though, when you cooperate, you are literally betting on the integrity of a total stranger. I have integrity, so the people that have cooperated with me (that clearly didn't have malicious intent) found that I helped saved careers, reputations, etc., and I was actually their hero for the day, but of course, even the best investigative organization can have some hidden integrity problems. So glad it worked out for you!!! Your honesty and integrity are so outrageously obvious to anyone that watches your videos! Subscriber for life!
This channel rocks. What a intriguing story. More of this type of aviation please. Keep it all comeing
What about the triple seven that barely missed you by taking an extreme evasive manuever?
As a full blown space ship pilot you are a man of integrity and honesty great job!! All men should take responsibility for their actions and in todays world you do not see that! 👏👏👏👍
I admire your attitude. You could have gotten upset with the FAA, but enstead you calmed yourself and submitted to their process. Also, I love that you were transparent with everyone. I like you Mike. Your channel is excellent. Thanks for the videos.
I would have followed the same process, but adding in legal advice before talking or giving any information to the FAA each time.
Mike, thank you for being forthright and honest about your mistakes. This is an example of great aviation culture. Take notes, friends!
Sorry that happened to you, BUT unless you hear "Cleared to enter the Class Bravo" you can't enter. Your CFI should be admonished for not drilling that into your head.
There was a deal where Harrison Ford landed on a taxiway. He got the "Copy this number" which he did. In the end her got the same, "Bad boy, don't do that again." punishment and the internet went wild because they assumed it was because he is a well known actor.
But no, most of the time, unless mistakes happen a lot, you usually get off with just a warning.
Great out come for you.
Congratulations. Thank you for showing the proper way to take responsibility for your actions and acknowledging your mistakes. All of us make mistakes, it's how we handle them that makes the difference.
Just took my BFR...this subject was part of the ground refresher...great that you shared very helpful! Thanks Mike...
new student pilot here! thank you for this!! Integrity is everything to me! subscribed!!
I’m not a pilot; just interested in aviation. I watch you and Mentour often. I really enjoy your presentations and insight. ❤
From a professional pilot (civilian trained 27 year corporate pilot), this is a great video. The only thing you left out of “lessons learned” (and a GREAT lesson for all up and coming pilots watching your channel) is to make sure to avoid and stay well clear of the airspace in question, in this case the Class Bravo, until you have met all of the requirements for entry. To fly the route you intended, you needed the controller to say “N661MG, cleared into class B airspace”.
Thank you very much for being open and willing to share your lessons.
The biggest lesson learned here IMHO is you should focus your full attention on flying …. producing TH-cam videos while a PIC, is a serious distraction/ safety issue.
Safety pilot in the right seat?🤔
Happy to hear that ure alright man! Stay safe and thanks for sharing your experiences to make us all better pilots!!
Your transparency is the example for all to follow. Good Job 👍
this is what i hate about most people, lying is not a good option telling the truth is always the best way to go here is the proof im very proud of you for been honest
If you don’t have a clearance you don’t go in! Radio failure is an excuse used many times, that doesn’t come close to breaking the rule. Every pilot know about class B. But mistakes happen, and being honest is the best policy. As a controller I have dealt with this many times and if it appears your trying to get out or avoid and break it just a little, most people understand the situation. But I would just say, radio failure or lack of communication is not going to work every time. I would say the fact they observed your knowledge of trying to get out as fast as your did said more than anything. Good job.
The way I see it - when you learn, we learn. Thank you VERY MUCH for sharing your experiences and advice.
Glad everything worked out for you. You are right, we must take accountability for our actions as PIC. If a pilot begins to develop a trend of small errors, eventually it will catch up to them with devastating consequences. Especially when it comes to airspace and weather. I've read many accident reports where pilots with 5000+ hours just become complacent due to being overconfident.
Taking ownership of the smallest errors (not just violations), and training is a great way to ensure you combat over confidence and complacency.
Even better is adding what you did; in passing your experience to others! Well done sir!
All I can say is
Good for you
And great that your a responsible pilot
Thanks for sharing your whole process. This could happen to anyone. It’s great to have someone share their experience so if it were to happen to myself or others we have some insight.
Hope to see you at sun n fun.
I like how you didn’t just keep the blame on the radio like many would do. You were able to break it down and look at what YOU could have done differently in that situation and share that with us. Much appreciated 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Thanks for the update. But, the key learning that (I think) you should takeaway is: if you cannot contact ATC - for whatever reason - you need to turn around or climb or descend and not bust the airspace. Lack of comms not an excuse.
One of the good things about the FAA I've gathered watching experiences you and other aviators have shared; the focus is on teaching, not on getting a pound of flesh. They'd rather you learn and become a better pilot than be closed off and fearful. Though it definitely helps that you acknowledged your technological shortcuts put you on the spot when you needed to do things old school. Even I, an IT guy that herds packets, have had technological shortcuts put me in a bind.
One concerning item-it sounds as if you believe that being on VFR flight following gives you the OK to enter Class B. It doesn’t. You must have a specific clearance to enter Class B. Granted that many times controllers handling flight following will as a matter of courtesy clear you into Class B, but not always. Unless you hear “cleared into Class Bravo”, you’re not. So as a matter of practice, although I may be on flight following, I’ll always ask for the clearance.
It’s different when you’re on an IFR flight plan. That automatically clears you into Class B if your clearance route of flight takes you into Class B.
You're the man for teaching us about this. Thanks a lot for posting these videos.
Good on you for sharing your mishap with others. Shows a lot of character. Just remember, complacency kills more pilots than anything else and tech is really making us lazy-you’ve gotta fight to stay sharp! Happy flying.
I am glad the case closed. Thank You for making this a learning opportunity for yourself and us all.
Great Job Mike. Thanks for sharing. Outstanding advice!!!!
Your attitude is great and is why they let you off with some counseling. It still on your record, however.
Having watched a couple of your videos discussing this incident I haven't heard you state the real mistake you made. I heard you say you always get flight following but then blame bad radios, etc. The most important thing to remember when operating VFR around Class B is that you STAY OUT unless you hear "cleared to enter the Class B." Even if you have flight following and no radio problems you still have to hear this clearance. If you don't hear it you still have to stay out. You need a plan A for avoiding the Class B and a plan B for IF they clear you through it and let you transit.
I would plan that VFR flight around/over the Class B and then while enroute and approaching CLT see if you can get a shortcut through it by getting the clearance. Flight following does NOT protect you as it does with Class C & D airspace.
You have a very capable airplane and you can easily go around, under, or over the Class B. Maybe you have to make a spiral to get down or maybe you go a little out of your way. It's just what you have to do. I circumnavigated LAX class B with nothing more than a sectional and dual VORs back in the 90s. It was way more difficult then but still had to stay out.
This Pilot is a Man I would shake hands with. Respect for your decency.
Mike, Very nice presentation. I'm old and retired from the airlines. Every flight was a filed IFR flight plan. You should just file IFR on cross country flights, it makes it so easy. Your knowledge leads me to believe you have a instrument rating.
Always take the opportunity to learn and move forward as better pilots.
congrats on the great outcome. I carry a handheld Yaesu for backup coms. Already have the pigtail attached so all i have to do it pull the headset out of the dash and connect to the Yaesu. Just make sure you keep it charged up.
The FAA regulations say when using flight following the pilot remains ultimately responsible for clearance into any airspace. Flight Following is an "As controller work-load permits" service. Never assume the Flight Following controller has cleared you into any airspace.