AOPA Access

One of AOPA's premier member benefits is the team of dedicated pilots and instructors who interact one-on-one with members. Together, they own 11 aircraft and have more than 53,000 hours accumulated over 321 years in aviation. Any member can reach the specialists by calling 800/USA-AOPA (872-2672), or through AOPA's World Wide Web site (www.aopa.org).

You'd think that most AOPA members already take advantage of our technical services, but every day I hear from longtime members who are calling for the first time.

The bulk of questions reflect real-life pilot concerns. Among them: "How much is my 172 worth?" "Can I log PIC time when…?" (see " AOPA Access," December 1996 Pilot). "I might have inadvertently flown into Class B airspace; what's the FAA going to do?" "When are they going to make a decision on that NPRM?"

My favorite calls are from members asking questions so tough or so embarrassing that they've avoided asking friends or their own CFI. Or maybe they just postponed placing the call. In any case, some scenarios are memorable enough to remember thousands of calls later.

• Can my ex-wife stop me from taking the kids flying during my visitations? Is it a federal offense to set fire to hangars and airplanes? What's the price of propane in India?
• A couple of pilots with major airlines have called to ask: "What's that turn radius formula again? It has something to do with bank angle, and by the way, my checkride is tomorrow." A little number crunching, a few basic trigonometry formulas, and we figure the bank and airspeed required for a predetermined radius for Boeing 727s in a circling approach. The question serves as a reminder that even when you win a seat with the majors, your AOPA membership still comes in handy.
• A foreign student struggling to learn English in addition to the demands of initial training said that he was frustrated with ATC descriptions like "traffic at 10 o'clock, left to right, slow, half-mile." Just imagine hearing that in a foreign language, especially if you've been relying on digital clocks all your life.
• A reluctant Piper Aztec seller was being courted by a broker. The broker traveled to see the airplane and review the logbooks, but was apparently unhappy with what he saw. He promptly left the state, holding the aircraft logbooks for ransom until our member paid for his travel expenses. Remember, the member didn't want to sell in the first place. Even worse, our complaint file already had that broker's name listed with an unresolved complaint. If the owner had just called AOPA before negotiating with the broker….
• Especially interesting are calls from potential FAR Part 135 (air taxi) regulation violators. I say potential because I do not know what a person will do after he or she hangs up. One member said, "I'm instructing at an FBO and we take turns flying the Seminole when a good trip comes up." Her concern was how to log time, but she was completely unaware of potential career-busting Part 135 violations. Her employer, while seemingly providing great opportunities for the flight instructors to build coveted multiengine time, was also placing them — and their pilot certificates — at risk. We tried all the scenarios, including the "let's call it an instructional flight" ploy, but it was still an FAR Part 135 flight. Other attempts to avoid Part 135 rules are very creative, such as claiming that passengers own one-tenth of the airplane as justification for the ride. The more far-out the idea, the more likely it's really FAR Part 135.
• Another member phoned after he had tied down overnight at a Mississippi airport. He was bewildered to find his aircraft "yellow tagged" by an FAA inspector (an FAA Aircraft Condition Notice #8620-1) because control surfaces had not been removed and balanced as required when the aircraft was last painted. Without access to logbooks, how could an FAA inspector know what happened in a paint shop several states away? The inspector had seen fully painted bolts and fasteners without any signs of tool scrapes during reinstallation of control surfaces, along with paint that covered portions of the registration number and missing octane decals at the fuel caps — all telltale signs of a sloppy paint job.
• The most humorous call I received began with a member who had been on hold and shouted "Wait!" just as I answered the phone. "He wasn't through…What was that guy on your hold message saying? Put me back on hold!" So I did, feeling I'd been upstaged by a taped message. I laughed and thought, "I got my CFI for this?"

CFI Susan Selig, 32, is a graduate of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. She holds a commercial pilot certificate with instrument and multiengine ratings.