FAA Action Against YouTube Aviator

[Orlaam]

Wonder why the FAA is targeting Steveo1Kinevo? He posted on FB that they want to take his YT channel down. I haven't heard of any other YT aviators that fly non-121 being targeted. At least not an entire channel.

Speculations?

[crippy]

Not sure why the FAA would care....as his flying is superb.

Not sure what to think. Makes me question if someone pretending to be the FAA is behind it (Scammers and hate people can make things look very legitimate).

Unless the FAA goes through Youtube and makes Google shut down his account, they really can't do anything but pull his license to fly.

[Orlaam]

Not sure why the FAA would care....as his flying is superb.

Not sure what to think. Makes me question if someone pretending to be the FAA is behind it (Scammers and hate people can make things look very legitimate).

Unless the FAA goes through Youtube and makes Google shut down his account, they really can't do anything but pull his license to fly.

Yeah it's odd. I would think they'd send him a letter though. Some sort of official document that notified him.

[chadryan]

He said he will talk about it when he can


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CAPFlyer]

At this point, all we know is the FAA has contacted him. My guess isn't that this is a new FAA thing, but someone (probably a troll) contacted the FAA and filed a complaint about something so the FAA has to investigate. If anything, there may be something with the amount of distraction in the cockpit and the fact he directly narrates the videos while flying an aircraft on a 14 CFR 135 flight (when he's flying the 208 explicitly) and making sure he's not filming flights with paid passengers onboard on any of the aircraft, which could be a violation of the sterile cockpit requirements.

[Hobart Escin]

At this point, all we know is the FAA has contacted him. My guess isn't that this is a new FAA thing, but someone (probably a troll) contacted the FAA and filed a complaint about something so the FAA has to investigate. If anything, there may be something with the amount of distraction in the cockpit and the fact he directly narrates the videos while flying an aircraft on a 14 CFR 135 flight (when he's flying the 208 explicitly) and making sure he's not filming flights with paid passengers onboard on any of the aircraft, which could be a violation of the sterile cockpit requirements.

Cap, you nailed it here. Private pilots can Go Pro/narrate to their hearts content, but part 135 sterile cockpit rules are a different story. Flyer beware.

[Orlaam]

At this point, all we know is the FAA has contacted him. My guess isn't that this is a new FAA thing, but someone (probably a troll) contacted the FAA and filed a complaint about something so the FAA has to investigate. If anything, there may be something with the amount of distraction in the cockpit and the fact he directly narrates the videos while flying an aircraft on a 14 CFR 135 flight (when he's flying the 208 explicitly) and making sure he's not filming flights with paid passengers onboard on any of the aircraft, which could be a violation of the sterile cockpit requirements.

That makes more sense, but I didn't think he flew (filmed rather) with Pax in the Caravan. Usually his Caravan flights appear solo to or from the Bahamas. And his TBM material seems to be a private job he gets paid for. IDK. Hope it all works out. His videos and Premier 1 Driver are the two I watch most.

[CAPFlyer]

"Doesn't appear" are the worst words one can use in a situation like this sadly. Even if he didn't have pax, he's flying for a Part 135 Air Carrier who has an Airline Operating Manual and may not have a distinction between positioning flights and actual "revenue legs". As such, he may still be in violation even without passengers onboard. But that's what the investigation is out there to find out.

To be 100% truthful here - as much as I make fun of the FAA as a pilot, I also know that 95%+ of their inspectors and personnel are not "out to get" pilots. More often than not, when the FAA investigates something like this, it's to prove the negative (i.e. he's doing everything right) and not to have a "gotcha" moment. Most in the FAA understand how social media is a great tool for aviation as a whole and they understand how going out and shutting down one of the highest subscribed and supported channels can hurt them much more than it hurts the person in question, especially when that person has corporate support from the likes of ForeFlight, Garmin, and Bose. Unlike with sports sponsorships, when an aviation company supports an individual it's much more than just a contract and some products. Most of these companies (more expressly the aviation divisions of these companies) are small, just like the aviation community, and they will often go out of their way to help out an aviator in trouble, especially when it's the FAA that's causing it. If there's any level of "poor acting" on the FAA's part, I'm pretty confident it'll get dumped rapidly once the facts are available because there will be a lot of weight brought against the FAA to rectify the situation quickly.

[Orlaam]

"Doesn't appear" are the worst words one can use in a situation like this sadly. Even if he didn't have pax, he's flying for a Part 135 Air Carrier who has an Airline Operating Manual and may not have a distinction between positioning flights and actual "revenue legs". As such, he may still be in violation even without passengers onboard. But that's what the investigation is out there to find out.

To be 100% truthful here - as much as I make fun of the FAA as a pilot, I also know that 95%+ of their inspectors and personnel are not "out to get" pilots. More often than not, when the FAA investigates something like this, it's to prove the negative (i.e. he's doing everything right) and not to have a "gotcha" moment. Most in the FAA understand how social media is a great tool for aviation as a whole and they understand how going out and shutting down one of the highest subscribed and supported channels can hurt them much more than it hurts the person in question, especially when that person has corporate support from the likes of ForeFlight, Garmin, and Bose. Unlike with sports sponsorships, when an aviation company supports an individual it's much more than just a contract and some products. Most of these companies (more expressly the aviation divisions of these companies) are small, just like the aviation community, and they will often go out of their way to help out an aviator in trouble, especially when it's the FAA that's causing it. If there's any level of "poor acting" on the FAA's part, I'm pretty confident it'll get dumped rapidly once the facts are available because there will be a lot of weight brought against the FAA to rectify the situation quickly.

Good post and insight! Thanks

[Paughco]

We need a "Thank you" button on this board. I'd click it for CAPFlyer's post. I really enjoy Steveo1Kenivo's YouTube posts.

Seeya
ATB

[Dogsbody55]

I've only seen a couple of these video's, and they're very good. So it's great that CAPFlyer has thrown some reasonable light on the FAA's investigation. Thanks for that, and let's hope that it all resolves itself without rancour.


Cheers,
Mike

[stephan.cote.1]

From his FB page... "As many of you know I have been under formal investigation by the FAA over the last few months. I was able to put a lot of the issues they had to rest and today I received a letter stating that the investigation is complete, with no violations. I want to thank everyone for the support, you guys Rock!"

Tought some of you might be interested to know...
Cheers

[Orlaam]

Yes, I've been very busy, but he was cleared. So good deal on that. Kinda surprised at their reason for investigating, but all it well.

[Lewis - A2A]

Glad to hear the conclusion, outcome to this

thanks,
Lewis