I had an interesting experience this week. I accompanied a pilot to Lincoln for him to do a check ride with the FAA. Now a check ride with the Feds is about as attractive as contemplating a re-do on a tooth root canal procedure so neither of us were eager for the trip! How did I get involved? Well last year, I gave him the instruction that helped earn his private pilot's license. Then I taught him how to fly a conventional gear airplane, popularly called a "tail dragger." Then last fall an errant wind gust blew him off the runway on landing.

His luck continued bad that day and the right landing gear folded when it dropped into a small ditch off the side of the runway. Minor damage to the airplane; major damage to his pride. Although the damage to the airplane would have been repairable, the insurance company elected to rate it as "totaled" and HELLO, the FAA got interested.

Possibly my young pilot and the FAA didn't understand the old adage that says: "There are two kinds of conventional gear pilots, those that have ground looped and those who will!"

Yep I've been there, too, but was just lucky enough to do it in a flat area that caused no damage to the airplane.

Actually, the high skill requirement for directional control on the ground is the reason that the more modern tricycle landing gear evolved and tail draggers have been relegated to the past. Tail draggers were eminently successful, note the B-17, the DC-3 and about every trainer or personal aircraft built prior to about 1955, but there are relatively few pilots now-a-days qualified to fly them.

The FAA office responsible for our area is located in Lincoln so I accompanied the young man to his date with Big Brother.

Then there was the little detail about the letter he'd received that he should get additional instruction in operating a tail wheel (the FAA doesn't like the term "tail dragger") airplane, plus the fact that he and his brother had purchased a "new" 1948 model Cessna 170 and I recently taught him to fly that beautiful aircraft.

Walking into the District FAA office we were presented to the official that had been assigned our case. As usual when dealing with bureaucrats, one finds that one-on-one they turn out to be ordinary good people. Bill Peterson and I quickly found common ground. We had flown similar airplanes in the past, a DC-3 among others.

He had been a pilot for Trans World Airways and fell on hard times when TWA failed and was bought by American. We even found a friend, a crusty old airline captain named Ed Lankenau, that we knew in common. I discovered that Bill was a native Nebraskan and had grown up in DeWitt. Peterson/Dewitt, hummm, any mechanic/handyman can tell you there is a connection to Vice Grip, one of the handiest tools in the world and invented by Bill's great grandfather. The Peterson family has always had an affinity with neat old airplanes, I found them first flying a T-6 and the current interest is wonderful old Waco's of which Bill owns two.

Then Bill put his FAA hat on and got down to business. A part of the FAA's charter from Congress deals with the requirement for them to encourage aviation. Among other things this also means that they are to encourage safety in aviation.

"Encourage" in this case means "enforce" and this was the reason for my guy's check ride, which he then passed with flying colors.

With Dan's check ride, and maybe a little encouraging instruction too, along with the retraining that I had accomplished before throwing him to the wolves, we again have a new pilot who is safe in every respect.

Now if we could do the same thing for automobile drivers who stub their toe, quite possibly our roads could be made safer.

It is only a pipe dream, but our streets could hopefully be made safe enough to equal the accident rate of our airlines, which are by far the safest mode of transportation in the world.

Do you know that the trip to the airport in your own personal vehicle is the most dangerous part of an airline trip anywhere in the United States or the world for that matter?

Now if we could get general aviation, only a little less safe than our roads, to improve to the airline standard we would all be happier. In retrospect that is what Bill, our FAA professional is trying to accomplish and in my opinion he does it well.

That's the way I see it.