Sport Pilot Rule 'Needed Step Forward,' AOPA Says
The FAA's Sport Pilot and Light Sport Aircraft proposed rule is a needed step toward a lower-cost alternative to the current private pilot certificate, AOPA told the agency. AOPA said that the FAA should accelerate the issuance and implementation of a final rule on the airman portion of the proposal, permitting sport pilots to fly some seven existing certified aircraft (such as a Piper Cub) that meet the Light Sport Aircraft definition, using a driver's license for a medical certificate.
"AOPA believes this rule could help many lapsed pilots return to flying," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "Many have quit aviation due to aircraft rental and ownership costs, as well as the expense and difficulty of maintaining a current medical certificate. The rule could also have a meaningful, positive effect on the cost of learning to fly, bringing new people into flying." AOPA said the agency should go even further and extend sport pilot privileges to recreational pilots. That would mean that recreational pilots could use a current driver's license to meet the medical requirements and they could fly in Class B, C, and D airspace with the proper endorsement from a flight instructor.
AOPA's proposal would effectively extend the benefits proposed in the sport pilot certificate to a much larger group of aircraft such as Cessna 172s and Piper Warriors. "The driver's license medical is a reasonable and safe standard for both sport and recreational flying," said Andy Cebula, AOPA senior vice president of government and technical affairs. "Only one-fifth of 1 percent of GA accidents were caused by medical issues, and glider pilots have been flying for years without medical certificates or problems."
GAMA Names 2002 Scholarship Winners
Toni Burgos, a senior at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, and Jennifer Meek, a junior at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, will receive the General Aviation Manufacturers Association's 2002 Dr. Harold S. Wood Award for Excellence. The annual award honors Wood, founder and past executive director of the National Intercollegiate Flying Association. Interested in applying for the 2003 scholarship? Information is available on the Web site ( www.generalaviation.org/main.shtml ).
Comm1 Continues Scholarship Program
The e-Publishing Group will continue its Comm1 Aviation Scholarship Program into the 2002-2003 flying season. Two people will each receive $2,000 scholarships. Applications will be accepted from June 1 through September 30. In addition to demonstrating an interest in an aviation career, applicants must submit a 75-word comparative essay that completes the statement, "Talking on the radio can be as intimidating for pilots as...." Winners will be announced October 24 at AOPA Expo 2002 in Palm Springs, California. For more information, visit the Web site ( www.comm1radio.com ).
King Offers Free Video Tips On Web Site
King Schools is now offering free full-motion training tips on its Web site. The video training tips are taken from actual King courses and cover everything from how to taxi with a quartering tailwind to emergency procedures. New tips will be available each month. "Our mission is to provide training and products that make pilots safer and more competent," said Martha King. To check out the tips, see the Web site ( www.kingschools.com ).
1,000 Miles Of Spins
Do you like spins? Have you ever done one? Rich Stowell of Santa Paula, California, figures that he has done more than 21,100 spins. Stowell, a flight instructor specializing in spin and emergency maneuver training since 1987, estimates that it took him that many spins - with students, of course - to accumulate 1,000 miles of vertical descent. He did the spins in a variety of aircraft approved for intentional spins, including Citabrias, Decathlons, the Grob 115C, Zlin 242, and Cessna 150, 152, and 172. Stowell is also an author and speaker who presents safety seminars across the country (see "Emergency Maneuver Training," August 2001 AOPA Flight Training). For more information, visit his Web site ( www.richstowell.com ).
Foundation Announces Scholarship Program
The Aviation Foundation, dedicated to promoting and preserving the science of aviation, will award one or more aviation career scholarships later this year. Anyone is eligible to apply, but residents of western Pennsylvania will be given primary consideration. Pilot applicants must hold at least a private pilot certificate by September 1. For more information or to request an application, write the foundation at 2961 West Liberty Avenue, Suite 207, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15216. Fall 2002 awards will be presented on October 6.
Share The Wealth, Spread The Knowledge
Are you a pilot looking to share the joy of flying? Or have you been bitten by the bug but need moral support before taking wing? AOPA Project Pilot has a new and improved way for the two of you to find each other.
Project Pilot's recently enhanced Find-a-Mentor/Find-a-Student Web page on AOPA Online offers a single, easy-to-use place for pilots, student pilots, and would-be pilots who are interested in a mentor/student relationship but don't know where to find a partner. AOPA provides support material for both mentor and student. Once a mentor and student have teamed up, mentors receive a kit of materials explaining how best to support their students as well as access to AOPA Online resources, including monthly articles offering mentoring tips, safety advice to share, and other useful resources.
Students receive a free six-month AOPA Flight Training membership, including AOPA's Joy of Flying video, six issues of AOPA Flight Training magazine, and access to the members-only section of AOPA Online, among other things. For more information on Project Pilot, including a FAQ page and online enrollment form, visit the Web site (www.aopa.org/info/pp).
FAA Gives Overseas Pilots Extra Time To Renew Certificates
Flight instructors and pilots whose certificates have expired while serving abroad in Operation Enduring Freedom received relief from the FAA.
The FAA has adopted a Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) that allows local flight standards district offices (FSDOs) to accept expired flight instructor certificates and mechanics' inspection authorizations for renewals from civilian and military personnel who can document their service outside of the United States. The SFAR also allows FSDOs to accept expired airman written test results from civilian and military personnel.
The FAA recently took similar action for 14 CFR Part 121 and Part 135 check airmen (simulator), Part 121 and Part 135 flight instructors (simulator), Part 121 aircraft dispatchers, and Part 142 training center instructors, to meet certain qualification requirements. To be eligible, the person must have served outside of the United States sometime between September 11, 2001, and May 6, 2004, when the SFAR expires.
School News
Safecon Winners Announced
Western Michigan University captured first place in the National Intercollegiate Flying Association's annual Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (Safecon), held at Ohio State University in Columbus in May. Twenty-seven teams earned the right to participate by placing in one of 11 regional events. The Prescott, Arizona, campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University took second place in the national event, and the University of North Dakota placed third. Kim Carter, of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, was named coach of the year.
Air Force Academy Upgrades Glider Fleet
The U.S. Air Force Academy recently set aside roughly $4 million to purchase new gliders for a program that introduces cadets to the flight environment. The current fleet of Schweizer 2-33s and 1-26s and Schleicher ASK-21s will be replaced with new Blanik models, built by the LET company in the Czech Republic.
The academy already has taken delivery of five gliders, with two expected each month until the program begins using them in September. The goal of the program is "to introduce cadets to the flying environment," according to program spokesman Capt. Mike Smith. Cadets, regardless of pilot status, are offered the opportunity to participate in the program during the summer after their freshman year. Fifteen sorties are planned, and those who complete 10, or solo, receive a badge. Cadets can then volunteer to serve as instructor pilots in the soaring program, a slot for which 80 out of 200 to 300 applicants are selected.
Julie K. Boatman
Future Controller Named College Valedictorian
Tarah Park of Manchester, New Hampshire, was named valedictorian of Daniel Webster College's graduating class. Park, who is majoring in air traffic control, is a nontraditional student - although she is in her 20s, she is older than most college students, married, and a mother. "It's my dream" to be an air traffic controller, she said. Commencement at the college in Nashua, New Hampshire, which offers a variety of aviation and aviation-related degrees, was in May.
Parks College Students Recreate Lindbergh Cockpit
Students at Saint Louis University's Parks College of Engineering got a taste of what it would be like to fly across the Atlantic in a primitive cockpit.
For the seventy-fifth anniversary of the historic crossing on May 20, students constructed the controls and instrument panel for an 11-foot replica of the airplane's fuselage. The project is part of the new Lindbergh exhibit at the Missouri History Museum. The exhibit, which includes hundreds of artifacts, many on public view for the first time in decades, began May 5 and runs through January 5, 2003. After that, it will go on a national museum tour.
The task of rebuilding the cockpit was challenging in its own right. Armed with only a few instruments from the actual plane, students used their creativity, computers, and a special machine to produce the more than 60 components. Each plastic part took hours to produce. Students painted the components with metallic paint to mirror the plane's original pieces.
SLU's Parks College marks its own seventy-fifth anniversary this year. It was founded in 1927 by another visionary in aviation, Oliver L. Parks. Lindbergh visited the college in 1929.
Pan Am Academy Expands Regional Jet Training Program
Pan Am International Flight Academy has begun offering regional aircraft type rating training on the Saab 340 and BAe 146, J-41, and J-31/32 aircraft. Training takes place on a monthly basis and is being conducted at the academy's new Regional Airline Training centers in Dulles, Virginia, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Training includes two weeks of ground school, 28 to 32 hours of full-flight simulator time, and cockpit procedures training. The academy is also developing a CRJ (Canadian Regional Jet) type rating program.
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