Logbook Pro Newsletter

November 2004

 

1.9.7 Touches Down


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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 Safety

It'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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Buying Logbook Pro is easy and 100% automated.  No delay in getting your software product beyond the entry limits of the Evaluation version.  Visit our Secure Online Store and purchase Logbook Pro, an upgrade, PDA Companion, and a Leather Binder for the perfect logbook solution.  Check out our suites allowing significant savings.  View our Third Party add-on products such as the FlightCentral Route Browser and Auman Software's PDA logbooks for 121 operators.