SonexBuilders.net

"Use it or lose it"
"Garbage in - Garbage Out"
"Big Brother is Watching You"

All responses I have heard from pilots about the FAA Annual Aviation Survey. You might have got the postcard and you might have got an email to participate. If you did - it is specific to an N--Number you are associated with. Many set it aside with "Not ME!" or "I'm not helping Big Brother".

Let me offer a different viewpoint: Decisions are only as good as the quality of the information you make them on. We WANT airports to be supported with AIP grants and Approaches and Services, we want to be heard in the ATC system. (And frankly - Big Iron and the airlines would like to sideline us when it comes to ATC services.) We need to be heard and we need to show we are out there flying. Hence my argument that if you got a request to participate in the survey - you should.

Example - I am researching accident statistics for a certain model of aircraft (I can say it here - Sonex!!). To a degree the aircraft has been "noticed" by the FSDO. The NTSB accident reports are absolute at 100% "reporting" (if you like). The GA response to the FAA Aviation survey is barely 2%. So this tends to skew the accident rate because the FAA have so little information to work with. Statistical modelling on small data sets is fraught with danger.

I was able to run a similar poll in the type club for the plane. I got a 22% response rate - no doubt helped by me not being the FAA! This is helping me develop numbers that I think show the plane is not the problem child the FSDO might think it is. So if you want airports supported, ATC services to remain type neutral and the FAA to have better data to work with - please consider completing the survey if you get a card or email.

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Some of you may know Stephen Brown at the Boston FSDO. He is the Safety Manager there and an ardent supporter of small GA. He is one of the good guys. You can pick the phone up and chat with him about things and he strongly supports the Safety Seminar series in RI - which I believe Paul Carroll is trying to resurrect post COVID. Here is what Stephen Brown has to say about the survey:

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AIRCRAFT OWNERS – I Did It and You Should Too!Notice Number: NOTC2262
If you own an aircraft and have been asked to participate in the 2021 FAA’s General Aviation Survey, disseminated through Tetra Tech, please take the time to complete the survey to help improve the General Aviation (GA) community. It has now been sent out, so be sure to check your mailbox and email for the FAA 2021 GA Survey.
https://www.aviationsurvey.org
And if you like data, you can see the prior years here:
https://www.faa.gov/data_research/aviat ... _aviation/
The data is very important to the industry, maybe even more so than the Federal Aviation Administration. We all need to look out the future of the GA industry and community, and this data is used by so many aviation associations and companies to understand the direction, focus and statistics of all different parts of GA flying. The more owners that participate, the better the data and much more so for those portions of aviation that have smaller presence in the GA community. So if you operate those aircraft that the “typical” pilot may not know how fun they are; such as experimental, lighter than air, gliders, weight shift and powered parachute and more, please take the time to participate. These and some other types are not surveyed at 100% (see below), so it is so important that everyone invited to participate does so. It is essential to helping us all develop accurate safety statistics, and in turn to help you understand how to be a safer pilot.
Our participation here in the United States is very good, probably making other parts of the world envious, but it also can be better. If you are like me, you belong to various aviation organizations and want to support them the best that you can. Make sure they know and understand the amount and type of flying that their members are doing. The survey is one of the best ways.
Details you might need to gather for the survey that may require a little research (for the particular N#):
# hours flown in 2021
Airframe total time
Number of landings in 2021
Percentage of hours flown in various activities (Pleasure/Recreational, Business, Proficiency etc)
Types of communication, navigation equipment, ELT, transponders and ADS-B systems
Percentage of hours on Flight Plans, IFR/VFR and none.
The following aircraft were sampled (not response rate) at 100 percent in CY 2020:
100 percent sample of turbine aircraft (turboprops and turbojets)
100 percent sample of rotorcraft
100 percent sample of special light-sport aircraft
100 percent sample of aircraft operating on-demand Part 135
100 percent sample of aircraft registered in Alaska
100 percent sample of aircraft manufactured within the past five years (since 2016 inclusive).
FMI: Stephen K. Brown Boston FSDO FPM Stephen.K.Brown@FAA.gov781-238-7536

GraemeSmith wrote:"Use it or lose it"
"Garbage in - Garbage Out"
"Big Brother is Watching You"

All responses I have heard from pilots about the FAA Annual Aviation Survey. You might have got the postcard and you might have got an email to participate. If you did - it is specific to an N--Number you are associated with. Many set it aside with "Not ME!" or "I'm not helping Big Brother".

Graeme, I used to participate in this survey until I stopped receiving the request from the FAA. I had always responded via snail mail (rather than email) and assumed because of that they weren't interested in hearing from me.............maybe too much effort on their part needed to include my data...........or whatever.

Art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonex taildragger #95,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Jabiru 3300 #261

It's a random lottery as to whether or not you are asked to participate. Unless there is a special focus on an operation requiring 100% "ask" - they poll about 20% of the fleet randomly.

Not they didn't value you. Just you didn't come up. Bit like Powerball.....