Douglas Fortnam of the New Hampshire Flying Association, who received a survey from the FAA, asked on the AOPA Flying Club Network Facebook Page, “Anybody know what this is about and what it has to do with safety?”
Many people said ignore it, while others pointed out it is basic information and there is no harm in providing it.
AOPA reached out to the Portland FSDO and was assured the information is not going to negatively affect any of the clubs. It is informational only. They were supposed to gather this information before, but it slipped through the cracks...can you imagine! [The FSDO] is required to request it from 25 different types of groups including flying clubs [and] may request updates once a year. This is for a National Work Program database.
Here is Douglas’s post and some of the responses his question generated:
Our Flying club recently received this from the FAA. Anybody know what this is about and what it has to do with safety?
Thanks,
Douglas Fortnam NH Flying Association
Hi Mr. Sutton,
Our office is required to capture the aviation activities that conduct business within our region of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. I am reaching out to all of our active flying clubs within our region and need the following information regarding the flying club. If you are not an active flying club, please let me know that also.
Activity Contact Name:
Address:
Business Phone:
Email Address:
Organization Website:
Number of Aircraft:
Make/Model/Series:
Registration Number:
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me …[info edited]
Aviation Safety Technician,
Portland, ME FSDO
Jan Squillace: We at Wings of Carolina Flying Club get those same type of queries periodically, too. I think the FAA uses them to gather stats on flying clubs. Flying clubs tend to have good safety records in my experience.
Joshua Jones: Quite frankly, I wouldn't be volunteering any information to the FAA unless required by law. Until it comes certified mail, I'd ignore it.
John Olsen: Based on that form, It looks fairly harmless to me. It's not like you're volunteering any information that they don't already have.
Jose Antonio Tuya Jr.: I would reply. This sounds like nothing more than the FSDO reaching out to you for contact info. Course it can all be found here. http://www.nhflying.com
Douglas Fortnam: Thanks for the comments. Basically, I just referred her to our web site. I was concerned with the "conduct business" in her request.
Brad Gardner: The FSDO inspector may be "required" to collect, but you're not required to provide. I sure wouldn't.
M Jeffrey Holley: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" Ronald Reagan...
M Jeffrey Holley: Answer with a hundred questions of your own... "Why do you need this info?", What will it be used for? How will it be stored? Under what authority do you do this? How did you get my information? ... etc.
Nowell Outlaw-Mccullough: From experience of working directly with them (135) do not irritate the FAA- they are asking for basic information about your club- I would simply comply and move on. Unless they are investigating for part 91-k which they probably are not. Unless you specifically had a violation it's probably simply a request for info. If you look at the title "aviation safety technician" it sounds like admin to me- if it was something serious you'd have a inspector asking questions.