FAA suspends Bruno Vassel's Pilot Certificate

On Saturday, June 27, 2020 at 9:16:34 AM UTC-4, wrote:
Definitely unfortunate, but a teaching moment compliments of Bruno.

In getting a private, there is FAR 91.303. Section e appears to cover the low pass. Sections a and b seem hard to avoid for the loops. Is there another FAR specifically related to the video?

Not sure about the SAC. It appears to be a carefully controlled path to exempt 91.103 to allow an airshow?


§ 91.303 Aerobatic flight.
No person may operate an aircraft in aerobatic flight -

(a) Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement;

(b) Over an open air assembly of persons;

(c) Within the lateral boundaries of the surface areas of Class B, Class C, Class D, or Class E airspace designated for an airport;

(d) Within 4 nautical miles of the center line of any Federal airway;

(e) Below an altitude of 1,500 feet above the surface; or

(f) When flight visibility is less than 3 statute miles.

For the purposes of this section, aerobatic flight means an intentional maneuver involving an abrupt change in an aircraft's attitude, an abnormal attitude, or abnormal acceleration, not necessary for normal flight.
[Doc. No. 18834, 54 FR 34308, Aug. 18, 1989, as amended by Amdt. 91-227, 56 FR 65661, Dec. 17, 1991]

Here's a few questions I have regarding this issue.
Was Bruno cleared or signed off by the airshow administration to conduct his routine or did he just decide to enter the controlled airspace and "do his thing?"
Airshow flying here in the U.S. is a highly regulated affair. I would say that 100% of airshow performers are members of ICAS - International Council of Airshows. To fly airshows, one must have his personal pilot certificates as well as aircraft documents to show the FAA upon inspection prior to the airshow. They will go over EVERYTHING including checking the currency of repack for the chute. All possible documentation will be scrupulously gone over.
Each airshow pilot must have a certificate of demonstrated ability or a "low level card". One is retested annually. It takes years to work your way down from the first level of 1,500 agl to a surface level card.
There are no restrictions with regard to what a pilot can and cannot do in an airshow aerobatic box - within limitations: no energy toward the crowd is one.
I personally cannot believe Bruno was cleared to fly his routine at a U.S. airshow by the organizers nor the FAA. The strictest guidelines are in place to protect both the performer and the crowds. An innocent mistake by Bruno, perhaps but unless he was sanctioned to fly the airshow by the organizers and the FAA, he should have know better.
Steve Coan
5 Time U.S. National Glider Aerobatic Champion
Airshow pilot for decades (retired)

7 months on the bench, bummer, I'd think you could surrender your license and earn a new one in a couple of weeks. Bonus it is cheaper than throwing lawyers at the gov't.

On Saturday, June 27, 2020 at 7:29:12 AM UTC-5, wrote:
To Shaun's statement,
Yes there is plenty wrong with your comments.
For one, many areas of litigation concerning the Max events are no where near over so to say they got away free is grossly inaccurate.

My bad, JJD.

I was specifically speaking to regulatory oversight, not tort litigation.

Hope this helps.

Bruno was never in a position to go to jail! There was no crime In either case just violations. And if you think Boeing has gotten off easy then you must not have owned any of their stock.

DC

Sorry Bruno. This really stinks.

So is the issue simply doing any flying at all in an "airshow" or specifically some aerobatics being performed? I assume the later.

I would think that at least some responsibility falls upon the airshow staff for them to check for required credentials. What would happen if someone without the proper ratings/endorsements, or even having a pilot's license, were to fly in a show and cause some mayhem?

The FAA found that he performed aerobatics without holding an SAC (Statement of Aerobatic Competency). https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/...N_8900.427.pdf

Sad, but interesting.Â* All military pilots are competent at aerobatics.Â*
Do they still need a SAC to perform at an air show?Â* Is this for any
aerobatics or just for low level aerobatics?Â* Inquiring minds and all
that...

Hey Bruno - I'm so sorry for your trouble and dumbfounded, too.

Dan

On 6/27/2020 7:36 AM, son_of_flubber wrote:
The FAA found that he performed aerobatics without holding an SAC (Statement of Aerobatic Competency). https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/...N_8900.427.pdf

--
Dan, 5J

On Saturday, June 27, 2020 at 10:45:20 PM UTC-4, Dan Marotta wrote:
Sad, but interesting.Â* All military pilots are competent at aerobatics.Â*
Do they still need a SAC to perform at an air show?Â* Is this for any
aerobatics or just for low level aerobatics?Â* Inquiring minds and all
that...

Hey Bruno - I'm so sorry for your trouble and dumbfounded, too.

Dan

On 6/27/2020 7:36 AM, son_of_flubber wrote:
The FAA found that he performed aerobatics without holding an SAC (Statement of Aerobatic Competency). https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/...N_8900.427.pdf

--
Dan, 5J

Military pilots are competent at some level of aerobatics and are not bound by the FAA the way civilian pilots are - ie SAC. At an airshow sanctioned by the FAA, a Statement of Aerobatic Competency card must be presented to the FAA Safety inspectors. A civilian pilot is not permitted to fly aerobatics at any altitude at an airshow without the card.
Sorry Bruno. An innocent mistake.
Steve C.

On Friday, June 26, 2020 at 8:46:20 PM UTC-5, son_of_flubber wrote:
I searched and did not find that this topic was already posted on RAS.

Here's the video that documents the infraction https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ure=emb_lo go

Here's Bruno's recent comment:

2 weeks ago
Update 10 months later: I uploaded this video and 4 days later had over 200k views. The video got reported and the FAA had serious concerns with this performance/flight. Lesson learned: Don't fly any kind of performance for any group or crowd (even if asked by the airshow management and cleared through the airboss) if you are NOT an approved airshow performer (have something called a SAC card)!!! The FAA will surely come after you with violations. The end result for me: $$ thousands spent on legal fees and I will soon be taking a 7 month break from flying. I was told I was very luck to not lose my license over this. Yikes! Why am I sharing all this? I only had good intentions of showing what a glider is capable of doing, but I am not a trained airshow performer and I didn't know the rules for airshow performances. If in doubt - don't do it! I hope this will help other pilots to not have to go through what I have over the last 10 months. Cheers and stay safe! Bruno - B4

Thanks for sharing this information. Our Club has participated in airshows with static displays and provided aerotows to glider performers. I can honestly say that if an airshow boss had asked us for a demo flight, we might have been eager to show off a glider.
I wonder if the airboss was totally unaware of sailplane performance and expected a sedate, boring sledride from release to landing.
cheers,
Scott

Thanks for the report Bruno. I'd bet my (so far unnoticed) "infractions" exceed yours by a factor of 10.

Also thanks for the countless hours and hassle you contribute to the sport.

One observation that may have a safety implication was noted at 6:15 on the video. The left tip was probably closer to the ground than I would like.

Hoping you find a buddy with nice two-seater to slip some surly bonds in the immediate future.

KS