AOPA Works with Media on Serious New York-Area Accidents
AOPA helped to quell rampant misinformation following two major crashes in northern New Jersey that affected urban neighborhoods. The first, a November 26, 1999, fatal crash of an IFR Beech Bonanza, resulted in 22 injuries (three serious) to persons on the ground.
The media focused on statements indicating that the pilot departed Linden (New Jersey) Airport despite advice from line personnel not to take off. The airport manager was later quoted as saying that because of the day's locally low IFR weather (although conditions nearby were reported significantly better), a "private pilot" had no business flying. The pilot involved actually was a highly experienced veteran of a foreign air force and an ATP, CFI, and American Bonanza Society safety instructor. He reported instrument failure less than two minutes after takeoff.
AOPA corrected media assumptions regarding the "amateur" pilot's qualifications, pilot-in-command flight-planning responsibilities, and pilot decision-making authority versus the role of airport personnel. When later headlines claimed "Pilot Was Flying Wrong Way," AOPA explained in technical detail the difficulties of insidious gyro failure. AOPA worked extensively with numerous reporters at The Newark Star Ledger and with The Bergen Record, MSNBC, and others.
A crash just days later involving a Beech Baron on approach to Teterboro Airport enraged residents and local officials in neighboring Bergen County cities. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) called on the FAA to study possible special operating rules and inspection requirements for "small planes" flying in urban areas. AOPA is monitoring the situation and its effect on newly renovated Linden Airport as well as suburban Central Jersey Regional (Kupper) and Solberg airports, both of which face community opposition because of encroaching residential development.
Airman Medical Processing Slows Even More; AOPA Offers Tips for Avoiding Delays
AOPA is suggesting ways in which pilots can minimize delays in medical certification while glitches in new software are slowing response times at the FAA's Aeromedical Certification Office in Oklahoma City.
"Just when we thought things were going to get better, they aren't," said Gary Crump, AOPA director of medical certification. "To help avoid delays, call AOPA immediately if there's the slightest change in your medical application that might cause the aviation medical examiner to defer the application to Oklahoma City. A five-minute phone conversation before you go for your next FAA medical examination may save you months of unnecessary grounding."
Other ways to minimize delays include the following:
- Bring medical reports with you if you are reporting something new on a routine aviation medical application. "Your AME will be in a better position to help if the necessary medical records are immediately available," said Crump. "If a deferral is necessary, the examiner will transmit the medical application electronically and can mail the records to the FAA for you."
- Make copies of everything provided to the FAA. "With the current backlog, records can be 'misplaced,' and you may be asked to provide a duplicate set," he said.
- Encourage AMEs to consult with FAA regional flight surgeons for answers to appropriate questions, rather than simply referring all paperwork to the FAA Aeromedical Certification Division in Oklahoma City. Often, medical issues can be resolved in days by the regional flight surgeon, rather than in months through conventional channels.
- Check the detailed procedures for medical certification in the members-only section of AOPA Online ( www.aopa.org/members/resources/medical.html) .
The FAA is blaming growing delays on problems with the new document management system, part of improvements started in 1996 that should eventually reduce the backlog of airman medical applications.
AOPA Tests 'Artful' New Taxiway Marking
In the continuing effort to cut runway incursions, AOPA has teamed up with an MIT Research and Engineering (MITRE) Corporation engineer and an innovative local Frederick, Maryland, artist to explore a new angle in taxiway markings.
Now applied to the parking ramp entrance at AOPA headquarters is a three-dimensional "hold-short line." It uses an art technique called anamorphic projection, making the hold-short line appear to stand up like a wall. MITRE is testing to see if this will make hold-short lines more conspicuous, thereby reducing the number of runway incursions.
The project was inspired by the trompe l'oeil painting featured in Frederick's new Bridge Mural, innovative art applied to a highway bridge over the city's Carroll Creek urban renewal project. Optical-illusion art, increasingly used in urban renewal settings such as windowless walls of apartment buildings, will now put its optical illusions to work for aviation safety.
Pilots taxiing onto AOPA's ramp will be asked to complete a survey on the effectiveness of the 3-D hold-short line.
FAA'S Proposed 'One Size Fits All' Reg Changes Won't Work, AOPA Tells FAA
Proposed major changes to FAR Part 145 regulations governing certification of aircraft repair stations would disproportionately hurt general aviation pilots, AOPA has told the FAA. The proposal would increase record-keeping requirements, training, and required equipment and facilities.
"These rules might make sense for large repair stations working on Transport category aircraft, but they're costly overkill for the typical GA maintenance shop employing five or six technicians," said Dennis Roberts, AOPA vice president of government and technical affairs.
For example, the proposal would require FAA approval of the shop's organizational chart and its list of managing and supervisory personnel. It would prohibit a small repair station from "farming out" subcontract work (such as propeller repair), even to a shop that specializes in that type of repair. It would also require all repair work to be performed in an "appropriate facility," outlawing the common industry practice of working on airframe components such as floats, wings, and empennages on ramp spaces.
A proposal to require repair stations to report defects or unairworthy conditions to the FAA, including the name and address of the aircraft's operator, drew particular ire from AOPA. Roberts pointed out that many aircraft owners might avoid certificated repair stations for fear of unwarranted FAA enforcement actions against them.
"We object to the FAA's 'one size fits all' approach," Roberts continued. "GA aircraft owners, the primary customers of small repair stations, can't afford the dramatic increase in maintenance costs that would result from this proposal."
AOPA offered a list of changes to the proposed rule that would recognize the unique issues facing small GA repair stations. The association said its changes would "enhance aviation safety by ensuring the continued operation and superlative safety record of general aviation repair stations."
A copy of AOPA's comments to NPRM FAA-1999-5836 is available on AOPA Online ( www.aopa.org/whatsnew/regulatory/145comments.html).
AOPA to Participate in FAA Datalink Test
As part of the FAA's Safe Flight 21 program, AOPA this summer will help to test a datalink station at its headquarters at the Frederick (Maryland) Municipal Airport. The system, known as the Universal Access Transceiver (UAT), is capable of providing graphical weather depictions as well as air traffic information derived from both radar and special transponders known as ADS-B (see " Future Flight: Links to Tomorrow," p. 91 in this issue). The FAA will provide a ground station and avionics for two aircraft. Compared to radar-based systems, UAT has greater effective bandwidth, is less complex, and benefits from a "clean sheet" engineering design. AOPA has long advocated the need for systems designs that provide multiple services and make greater use of expensive avionics equipment.
FAA Reopens Phelps MOA Comment Period; AOPA Asks Pilots to 'Step Up to the Plate'
Responding to pressure from AOPA and area airspace users, the FAA has reopened the comment docket on the controversial and long-debated Phelps Military Operations Area. The MOA would overlie restricted area R-5314 along the North Carolina coast and could impair general aviation operations at five area airports.
"It's time for users to step up to the plate," declared AOPA Director of Airspace Melissa Bailey. "The FAA doesn't think this MOA will cause problems for GA pilots. But they won't know unless pilots speak up with specific concerns, and do so quickly, since the new comment period is just 30 days."
Revival of the Phelps MOA proposal — originally published in 1995 — was a surprise. The FAA had assured AOPA several times in recent years that the proposal was "dormant" and promised no further action unless fresh input was sought from affected pilots and other users.
Then, in July 1999, FAA officials announced that the proposal would go forward without further user comment — despite increased GA and military traffic in the area, the controversial nature of the proposal, and the likely adverse effects on Manteo's Dare County Regional Airport, Kill Devil Hills' First Flight Airport, Englehard's Hyde County Airport, Billy Mitchell Airport at Hatteras, and Ocracoke Island Airport.
The revitalized Phelps MOA proposal includes access to real-time information on MOA use, with frequencies for both Dare County Range Control and Giant Killer Approach Control printed on sectional aeronautical charts. Real-time information on all special-use airspace is a long-term AOPA goal. In addition, an FAA agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense would give priority to civilian IFR traffic using the area, thus minimizing the impact on pilots using busy north-south routes throughout the North Carolina Outer Banks area.
Pilots should submit comments to the FAA Southern Region, Air Traffic Division, ASO-530, Post Office Box 20636, Atlanta, Georgia 30320. Additional details on the proposal are available on AOPA Online ( www.aopa.org/whatsnew/region/r-se.html).
AOPA Battles Van Nuys Noise Ordinance
AOPA has objected to proposed additional restrictions on Van Nuys (California) Airport, one of the 10 busiest GA fields in the nation. The proposed noise regulations would discriminate between aircraft of the same class, category, and noise level, and discriminate between based and transient aircraft. In a letter to the Los Angeles City Council, AOPA said the proposed ordinance would violate federal law and could jeopardize future federal funding for the city's airports.
FAA Fails to Provide Data to AOPA Regarding Changes to Salt Lake City Class B Airspace
AOPA is opposing expansion of Salt Lake City (SLC) Class B airspace, in part because the FAA has refused to provide data justifying the expansion.
The FAA is proposing to increase the ceiling of the SLC Class B from 10,000 to 12,500 feet msl and to add more Class B airspace east of Ogden-Hinkley Airport because of "numerous complaints about near-midair collisions" and "many TCAS events" involving general aviation aircraft.
"We asked the FAA to provide details, but they refused," said Dennis Roberts, AOPA vice president of government and technical affairs. "They told us we would have to request the information under the Freedom of Information Act. If there is data demonstrating a safety concern, the FAA should willingly share it with the public."
AOPA is concerned that the data may not be there.
AOPA searched the FAA's Near-Midair Collisions System and NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System for reports of near-midairs in the Salt Lake City area between GA and air-carrier aircraft, and found only three such incidents reported, the most recent in 1996. All incidents occurred within the existing Class B airspace. AOPA also chided the FAA for not providing enough information to VFR pilots.
"The SLC Terminal Area Chart does not depict the most-used air-carrier arrival and departure tracks, leading pilots to believe they are flying in areas of light traffic," said Roberts. "AOPA is disappointed that the FAA is proposing to take more airspace before taking the commonsense approach of just telling pilots where they're likely to encounter heavy traffic."
AOPA reminded the FAA that its own standards recommend that such traffic information be on the terminal area chart to enhance safety around Class B airspace.
A copy of AOPA's letter of opposition is available on AOPA Online ( www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/1999/991119slc.pdf).
Action in the States
AOPA Airport Support Network volunteer activity is italicized. For information on how you can help AOPA's efforts to save your local airport, visit www.aopa.org/asn/ on AOPA Online.
Connecticut. Bridgeport: AOPA members have complained of poor traffic handling by the contract control tower at Sikorsky Memorial Airport. AOPA ASN volunteer David Faile, who previously noted inadequate staffing at that ATC facility, is working on resolving the problems. Also, ASN volunteers are still needed for Danbury Municipal and Bradley International airports.
Colorado. AOPA ASN volunteers are still needed for Denver's Broomfield-Jefferson County Airport and Bob Adams Field in Steamboat Springs.
Florida. Bartow: A proposed residential development could endanger the Bartow Municipal Airport. AOPA ASN volunteer Terry White is working with airport management, the Florida Aviation Office, and the FAA to stop the development. Dunnellon: AOPA ASN volunteer Earl Meredith is investigating a report that Marion County officials are considering closing the Dunnellon Airport. Ocala: A reported large housing development that could endanger Ocala Airport is under investigation by AOPA ASN volunteer Ted Bowman.
Illinois. Chicago: AOPA ASN volunteer Dan Swanson is investigating the possible adverse aviation effects of a power generating station proposed for just south of Dupage Airport. Also, disputes between GA pilots and Chicago/Lewis University Airport management are being investigated by AOPA ASN volunteer Ed Boerman.
Iowa. Cedar Rapids: FAA funding for 24-hour operation of a control tower at Cedar Rapids Airport is being sought by the Cedar Rapids Airport Commission. Staffing the tower between 11:30 p.m. and 4:45 a.m. will cost the commission about $85,000 per year if FAA funding is not approved. Des Moines: AOPA members report plans to close Runway 13R/31L at Des Moines Airport. AOPA is investigating.
Kansas. Dodge City: A proposed mobile home park that would be located just 1,300 feet from Dodge City Regional Airport has been approved by county commissioners. Despite incompatible land use pointed out by local pilots and AOPA, the FAA has yet to comment on the development.
Michigan. Grosse Ile: A proposal to convert part of a 40,000-square-foot hangar into apartments with a community hangar for residents to store their airplanes is reported by AOPA ASN volunteer Gary Soloway. Jackson: AOPA ASN volunteer Chester Dziak is monitoring a dispute between private hangar owners and management of Jackson County-Reynolds Field Airport. Midland: City councilors have accepted an updated master plan for Jack Barstow Airport that includes main runway resurfacing and taxiway improvements. AOPA ASN volunteer Tom Lind is monitoring the improvements.
Minnesota. Minneapolis: A coalition known as the Airport Tax Relief Committee has been formed to pursue property tax relief for airport tenants in the seven-county metropolitan area.
Virginia. Quinton: AOPA ASN volunteer Shawn Pratt reports that local officials are now focusing on improvements at the formerly endangered New Kent County Airport. Needed airport maintenance is under way, and a new FBO offers fuel, flight instruction, and aircraft rental.
Washington. Ellensburg: AOPA ASN volunteer John Dugan is working with local officials to help save Bowers Field from encroachment.
Wyoming. Hulett: Engineering studies and plans for land acquisition have started for the new GA airport near Hulett. This airport could be open sometime in 2001. Evanston: An ILS, approach lighting, and runway improvements have been proposed for the Evanston-Uinta County Burns Field Airport. The airport is conveniently located near ski and summer resort destinations.
Detert to head AOPA Member Technical Support, Benefits
AOPA Senior Vice President Karen Detert has been named to manage AOPA programs providing membership benefits and technical services to AOPA members.
Formerly head of membership marketing, Detert becomes AOPA senior vice president of products and services. Her portfolio now includes the "AOPA Certified" program of benefits and discounts for members, plus the AOPA Aviation Services department, AOPA Online, and the annual AOPA Expo convention.
Detert joined the AOPA staff in 1994 as vice president of membership marketing, and in 1996 she was promoted to senior vice president, assuming additional responsibilities in management of the AOPA Membership Assistance department. During her tenure, AOPA membership has increased to its current level of more than 355,000.
Previously, she was vice president of Barry Blau & Partners in Baltimore, Maryland. She is a private pilot and holds a business degree from Iowa State University.
Members Asked to Encourace Good GA Coverage
Tired of inaccurate, demeaning, and scurrilous coverage of GA in the media?
AOPA is asking members to help improve coverage of GA in general interest (nonaviation) newspapers, magazines, TV, and radio. How? By encouraging journalists who do write fair, accurate, and insightful GA stories to enter AOPA's 2000 Max Karant Journalism Awards competition. Awards of $1,000 are given annually in four categories: print, TV news or short feature, TV program length, and radio.
Prizes for stories published or broadcast during 1999 will be awarded at AOPA Expo 2000 in Long Beach, California, in October. The entry postmark deadline is April 17.
For more details, visit AOPA Online ( www.aopa.org/special/karant/), or obtain an entry form from AOPA's Patricia L. Rishel ( [email protected]) at 301/695-2157.
Morningstar Promoted to AOPA Vice President
Warren Morningstar, director of AOPA media relations since 1995, has been promoted to vice president of communications.
"Warren has represented AOPA well in his media relations role at AOPA, and we're pleased to see him move up to more status and responsibility within the AOPA Communications Division," said Drew Steketee, AOPA senior vice president of communications.
Morningstar played a strong role during high-profile accidents involving Jessica Dubroff and John F. Kennedy Jr. His work won the AOPA President's Award in 1996.
Before joining AOPA, Morningstar was senior producer for KTVX-TV in Salt Lake City, where he won numerous "Best Newscast" awards and an Emmy nomination for a series of special news programs during the Persian Gulf War.
A pilot since 1976, he holds a commercial pilot certificate with instrument and multiengine ratings.
The AOPA Insurance Agency: More Than 20,000 Served
The AOPA Insurance Agency, the world's largest GA insurance agency, celebrated its 20,000th policyholder just before the end of 1999.
Created in 1993 and based in Wichita, the AOPA Insurance Agency offers insurance for pilots, aircraft owners, renters, and CFIs. In May 1998, the agency transitioned from offering only the AOPA Aircraft Insurance Program Policy to being an independent agency representing multiple carriers.
"Being able to give comparative quotes over the phone has raised the bar for service to our members," said Greg Sterling, AOPA Insurance Agency executive vice president and general manager. "It's played a key role in helping us reach this milestone."
For more information on the AOPA Insurance Agency or for a free quote, call 800/622-AOPA (800/622-2672), or visit AOPA Online ( www.aopaia.com).
Coverage Increase Available for AOPA Aviation AD&D Insurance
Benefit levels of up to $125,000 for accidental death or dismemberment while flying are now available through the AOPA Aviation AD&D program, underwritten by Minnesota Life Insurance Company. The increase was available beginning January 15.
The AD&D coverage for AOPA members is guaranteed, regardless of age or physical condition. More than 30,000 have chosen to add additional coverage using the low rates made possible by AOPA's group buying power.
For additional information, call 800/USA-AOPA (800/872-2672) or visit www.aopa.org/aviationadd.html.
AOPA Air Safegy Foundation
1999 ASF Silent Auction Earns Nearly $50,000 for Safety Outreach; 2000 Auction Adds Interactivity
Successful bidders for the 268 items sold in the AOPA Air Safety Foundation's 1999 Silent Auction on the Web raised more than $49,000. The sum represents nearly 10 percent of the Foundation's entire 2000 safety seminar budget and will be used to fund those seminars throughout 2000.
Silent auction items offered by 93 donors included airline tickets, NFL football and Nascar auto racing tickets, an air-to-ground phone system, watches, headsets, a GPS, a Palm Pilot, a P-51 Mustang ride, and special aviation artwork. More than 1,800 bids were placed during 150,000 hits on the Silent Auction Web site.
This year, the ASF Silent Auction on the Web features an entirely new look and numerous enhancements for ease of bidding. Among the improvements is the capability of placing a "secret" maximum bid that will increase automatically as needed to top other bidders, with immediate e-mail notification if the "secret" maximum is exceeded.
Kentucky Pilot Wins ASF Transceiver
Kevin Patsey of Versailles, Kentucky, is the latest winner of a Sporty's handheld transceiver after attending an AOPA Air Safety Foundation "Operations at Nontowered Airports" seminar at Bowman Field in Louisville, Kentucky. Quarterly winners are drawn at random from among ASF seminar attendees.
Although his father was a pilot and aircraft owner, Patsey didn't learn to fly until 1986 while in college. He continued his training with a rotorcraft rating in January 1987 and an instrument rating in October 1988.
In 1997, after a long break in his flying, Patsey's wife bought him a membership in the local soaring club and he was again hooked on aviation. Patsey received his glider rating this past April and has just begun building a Van's Aircraft RV-6.
Information and schedules for all ASF safety seminars can be found in AOPA Pilot and on AOPA Online at ( www.aopa.org/asf/seminars/) .
The AOPA Air Safety Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization chartered in 1950 to improve GA safety. The majority of ASF funding comes from individual pilots' tax-deductible donations.
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