Editor’s Log: 08/05

Let It Rain
For all of the grief pilots like to heap upon the FAA, some of its programs and activities are really quite good for an agency of the federal government. Certainly, across-the-board improvements can be made throughout the agency, but some of the things it does to “reach out” and provide continuing education and training to pilots are admirable. The Internal Revenue Service—another federal agency that regularly comes in for its share of criticism—could learn a few things from the FAA.

An excellent example of the FAA’s outreach to pilots is the ongoing “Operation Raincheck” program, which the agency describes as one “designed to familiarize pilots with the ATC syst...