"Aliens, remember that February is the month to register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service ..."
This was the tag line for a short TV spot I used to see regularly when I was a kid. The announcement had that odd, governmental feel - cheesy, hand-drawn illustrations and an announcer with a subdued, Don Pardoe-like voice. A high school chum of mine came up with this parody:
"Aliens, remember that February is the month to register with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. If you have difficulty materializing, suitable forms are available at your local post office ..."
Speaking of NASA, I just finished participating in a study of pilots funded by NASA. I'm not entirely sure what it was all about, but I was paid to fly a bunch of instrument approaches and holds. All in all, a fun project.
There's something foreign in the photo above - actually two things. One is the aircraft - a beautifully maintained Yak-9, I believe. The other is the fuel price. The cost of fuel at my home airport has been rising steadily, increasing nearly $0.50 in the last two months. Yikes!
Every two years, September and October are a busy time from me because I need to renew my flight instructor certificate and my airport SIDA badge. I also need to renew my medical by the end of October. This time around, I did an on-line Flight Instructor Refresher Clinic rather than renewing based on my activity. Part of that decision was that I've never taken a FIRC before, renewing instead on the basis of my instructor activity with an 80% first time pass rate for candidates I recommended. The FIRC was a generally good experience, reminding me of stuff I'd forgotten. I learned some new things and it was relatively painless, though a bit time-consuming. There were some silly, if not incorrectly worded questions, but it's behind me now.
Renewing my SIDA badge has always been a hassle in the past, but this year it was not quite as onerous. My badge confers driving privileges on the airport's non-movement areas, so I am required to take a driving class each and every time I renew my badge. The class is a good review and probably a good way to keep people from doing bonehead things on the ramp, but it's 15 minutes of information spread out over 2-plus hours. There are dozens of others who show up to renew at the same time, only so many staff to handle them, and waiting is inevitable.
This time, the 3 hour process was made easier because I found the staff to be in a surprisingly good mood: They were polite, friendly, and as accommodating as the situation would allow. Being treated in a friendly manner goes a long way toward making a difficult process seem tolerable. So to the folks at the badging office, thank you!
My belief is that the quality of service provided by an organization is a direct reflection of the management of that organization. If the managers are heavy-handed control freaks, you can pretty much be assured that you'll get surly, indifferent, or hostile treatment from the people they manage. I heard there was a changing of the guard at NorCal management recently and perhaps that explains why I experience the controllers as generally more friendly and agreeable.
If only there was something that could be done about these avgas prices ...
