Announcing
Logbook Pro 1.9.7 for PC and PDA Companions (Palm / Pocket
PC)
Approaching seven years strong and Logbook
Pro comes out with yet another FREE significant update to
its award winning software. Thanks to outstanding
customer feedback including wonderful suggestions, bug
reports with exacting detail, we are able to continue
improving the quality of this already solid product.
We recommend everyone update Logbook Pro today for the most
complete feature set, the most reliable and accurate flight
logbook solution worldwide! If you are using 1.9.6.5
the update will be delivered to you automatically using the
high-tech background updater. You will be informed
when the update is ready to install. For those using
an older version of Logbook Pro, please visit our
download
page to download your FREE update. |
An exciting month - Sporty's and Private
Pilot Magazine...
This month has been an exciting month for NC
Software! As previously announced, Sporty's Pilot
Shop, the World's Aviation Superstore endorsed Logbook Pro
as their exclusive electronic logbook solution. This
month we received the winter issue of the Sporty's catalog
and were thrilled to see Logbook Pro a part of this elite
aviation market place on page 32 of their new catalog.
Shortly thereafter we were pleasantly surprised in reading
this months Private Pilot Magazine to find Logbook Pro was
selected as the editors pick for holiday gifts below $100.
Check out the December 2004 Issue of Private Pilot Magazine,
page 16 for the write-up. We are also happy to report
Logbook Pro sales continue to break records and we are now
selling to more corporations than ever as Logbook Pro is
clearly being adopted across the aviation community as the
logbook solution. Our MGOent partner binder sales are
on the rise which is a great indicator that interviewing and
hiring is on the rise with our economy on the rebound.
Good luck to all on your interviews and we hope Logbook Pro
can add to the impression contributing to your job success. |
Safety
Safety SafetyIt's time
to take a turn down the serious path for a moment. As
you may have noticed in the news lately or on some of the
popular aviation forums such as our favorite at
The Hangar at
Flightinfo.com, the aviation community has not had a good
string of luck lately with a series of aviation accidents.
I don't know the total in the past two weeks, but it's in
the neighborhood of 4-5 aviation accidents with causes still
under investigation. This month Paul brings us a great
article in the The PIREP Corner on safety and the
article could not be more timely. I'd like to add that
this is also a serious note to ensure your records are up to
speed from flight logbook to aircraft owner logs,
insurances, etc. Take this time of crisis in our
industry to ensure your records are in order as well. |
The
PIREP Corner by Paul Kinzelman
This month's Pirep Corner is about safety.
OK, I can see some of your eyes glazing over and dozing off
already, after all, who wants to have an accident? And they
always happen to somebody else, right? Well the folks who
*do* become involved in an accident probably used to say
that as well.
And let's have a show of hands of how many pilots have made
a flight which ended safely only because we had a bit of
extra luck when we got into a tight spot? [Note - my hand is
up too.]
How often have we made choices that in retrospect we say
"What was I thinking?" or "Wow, that was a close one," then
we resolved to be more careful in the future, and then
eventually we gravitated back to our attitude we had before
our "rude awakening"? Or how often have we done things for
which we would not be able to defend ourselves in an NTSB
hearing? Come on now, there should be more hands up than
that! I believe all pilots have skeletons in our closets.
In my case, I've had to rent several storage containers.
For a number of years, I was a member of a soaring club. In
my earlier years of membership and before my time, the club
averaged one glider lost per year due to an accident. One
year it was a low rope-break and an attempt to return to the
airport. Another loss was due to low thermaling. Another
loss was from a mid-air with an airplane. Another year the
loss was due to poor maintenance of tie down points combined
with insufficiently secured ropes and a major wind-storm.
All were different pilots, and there were no two losses for
the same reason. The bottom line was that the insurance
company's radar became squarely pointed in our direction.
So we tried something different. Every year in the spring,
we decided to hold a required safety seminar. Our local
CFI-G's put together a good program covering all aspects of
glider safety customized for our operation. You want to fly
with us? You come to our seminar.
The annual seminar started quite a few years ago, and since
then, to my knowledge, the club has not lost one glider.
Having been at the seminars, I can tell you nobody handed
out anti-accident pills and hypnotism was not used. There
was no direct logical connection between the seminar topics
and the previous accidents (other than discussion about
them). But the accidents stopped.
Another interesting statistic I heard from the local FSDO is
that in the Northern California region, no pilot involved in
the FAA Wings program has ever involved in a fatal accident.
Now that's quite an impressive statement, especially
considering that it's very easy to qualify for a Wings
Program level. You can even do some on-line courses and then
fly with an instructor for three hours.
So how to explain this interesting nexus between safety
seminars and accident rates? One possibility would be to say
that pilots who attend these seminars are inclined toward
safety more than the general pilot population; in other
words, self-selection. But our glider club accident rate
experience doesn't fit that explanation.
My theory involves borrowing from physics the concept of
'entropy' with respect to our aviating attitude. Unless we
apply energy otherwise, our flying skills are constantly
degenerating, and our decision-making attitude is constantly
getting riskier (i.e., stupider). As a result, we're
statistically more likely to have an accident because we'll
do more things that in retrospect we would say, "What was I
thinking?" We'll be more dependant on dumb luck to keep from
bending metal.
But then some of us experience something or do something to
"add energy" to our piloting skills and decision-making
skills. Perhaps we have a near-accident; or an incident or
even a full-blown accident to scare us into paying more
attention. Or perhaps we get another rating, or just go to a
safety seminar, and increase our piloting and
decision-making skills. Perhaps as a result we'll make
decisions that put us a little farther from the edge than we
would be than if we hadn't gone to the seminar. As a result,
an accident might require more "failed links" in the chain
to manifest.
There are so many ways to "add energy" to our skills and
decisions that it's almost difficult to avoid them all. But
seek them out. It's really worth it, especially in these
days since the 9/11 hysteria in which the spotlight is
focused more on us as pilots than it has ever been in the
past. Whenever we fly, we have the reputation of the entire
pilot community in our back seat. We screw up and it
reflects poorly on every pilot. So please avail yourself of
the myriad ways of adding energy to making good decisions.
The FAA and the ASF are great partners in this regard. And
choose to be safe.
Y'all be careful up there and down here!
Have a story to share? Please
e-mail your
suggestions to Paul for future articles in The PIREP
Corner |
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