Before we delve into the motivations of the people who are trying overtly or covertly to ensure that any revision of Part 61 of the FARs includes an LTA Instructor Rating it is important to accept one basic fact of ballooning life. That fact is that to date, no ballooning accident has been investigated where the cause was shown to be inadequate training or training by inadequately qualified instructors. When the BFA (Balloon Federation of America) championed the cause of an instructor rating in 1980 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rejected that petition on the basis that their investigations failed to relate accidents (ergo, safety) with inadequate training. That was the position in 1980 and that is the position today. I challenge and ask all other LTA pilots to challenge the advocates of an instructor rating. Why change a system that appears to be working well and to the overall advantage of the LTA community?
Of the current commercially rated pilots for whom ballooning is principally an avocation but who sell a ride or two and train a crew member once in a while how many will consider the three day refresher course every two years to be worthwhile? I and many others to whom I have spoken over the years feel that the answer would be "very few". People in aviation related industries, balloon dealers and balloon school operators may be the only ones who would find it worth their trouble to comply.
Where will that leave the remainder of the LTA community at biennial flight review time? You've guessed it, trying desperately to line up an appointment with one of the few remaining rated instructors who will hopefully let you into their busy training, instructing and selling schedule!
And all to fix a non-existent problem. The reason we do not need an instructor rating has nothing to do with how easy or difficult it is to get such a rating. It is because the present system is working, and has worked for over 20 years. Accidents are not happening because pilots were badly trained. Powerline contacts continue to be the major killer but is there one pilot out there that was not instructed from flight one on the hazards of powerlines and the correct procedures to follow when contact was unavoidable? Incidents cannot be blamed on bad training. No one is suggesting that there are not bad instructors out there which is why we have designated examiners. Most designated examiners I know will tell you that they can spot an inadequately trained applicant within 15 minutes. And that is what pink slips are for!
Those LTA pilots who feel as I do that the present system is working well and that an instructor rating would (a) have no impact on LTA safety and (b) would adversely affect the sport economically and logistically should lose no time in making their voices heard.
An instructor rating for LTA will have no impact on safety and that is the only criterion that should govern this issue. The system is working—it ain't broke. Leave it alone!
Geoffrey Woodhouse is a former member of the Board of Directors, Balloon Federation of America and Chairman of the Government Liaison Committee of the BFA.