Chris Dancy
AOPA Media Relations Director
Mr. Dancy,
I writing to you regarding my immense disappointment with an
article published in today’s AOPA Aviation eBrief, March 26, 2010, titled
FAA issues safety warning on some home-built aircraft. The text of the
story in the email included just enough information to get me to click the title
to read more. I expected to see a page on AOPA’s website open with the
text of the FAA’s letter, or perhaps AOPA’s analysis. Instead, I
was outraged when the link connected me to this
Associated Press piece written by Joan Lowy.
Ms. Lowy opens her ‘article’ with the following
statement:
“High-performance homemade planes like the one that
killed a beach jogger last week in South Carolina are prone to stall,
especially when going slower while waiting to land, and have been involved in a
disproportionately large number of fatal accidents, federal officials warned
Thursday.”
The NTSB has yet to determine the cause that resulted in the
tragic death of a person on the ground during an emergency landing last week of
a Lancair IV, but despite Ms. Lowy’s artless implication, I think we can
be fairly certain it had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that the
aircraft was experimental, or that the FAA thoughtlessly released an InFO
letter discussing the safety of experimental aircraft such as the Lancair just
days after such a tragedy.
This is precisely the kind of sensationalistic drivel in the
non-aviation media AOPA is constantly complaining about. It seems to me instead
of the de facto stamp of approval given when it provided a link to this story, AOPA
might better have commented on the FAA’s head-slappingly poor timing and
Ms. Lowy’s obvious intent to sell copy by including a pointless reference
to a man’s horrific death in a story full of breathless ignorance.
AOPA has done the Lancair and experimental aircraft communities,
as well as its membership, a tremendous disservice today.
Regards,
Mark Sletten
AOPA Member 01317619
&
Member, Lancair Owners and Builders Organization