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Frederick, MD 21701
Tel: 800/USA-AOPA or
301/695-2000
Copyright � 2002 AOPA. | Training Tips
| LOST PROCEDURES
The best visual navigation techniques, as discussed here last week, use checkpoints that come into view before the previously used one disappears from sight to the rear. But such high-quality checkpoints are not available on every route. For that or other reasons, a pilot may become unsure of his position, and may have to resort to the lost procedures described in Task D, Area Operation VII of the Private Pilot Practical Test Standards ( click here to download).
 Your dual cross-country training and flight-test prep should include practice of these procedures. Returning home with your instructor after a flight along a new route, simulate a lost condition by spending some time practicing flight by reference to instruments with a view-limiting device. Then remove the view-limiting device and attempt to establish your position by reference to "the nearest concentration of prominent landmarks," as mandated in the test standards, and your aeronautical chart. (Are you as familiar as possible with the chart's symbols? Click here to download the Aeronautical Chart User's Guide.
Practice using electronic navigation aids to get yourself reestablished on course, too. Center a VOR needle with a "from" indication from each of two VOR stations, to identify the radials from those stations on which your position lies. Note the magnetic bearing of the radials and draw a line on your chart representing each. Your position should correspond to the point where the lines intersect. Verify this visually using your chart. Or contact a nearby Flight Service Station and request a practice DF steer. This old but reliable component of the air traffic control system is profiled in the June 2002 AOPA Flight Training.
Your practice should include simulated use of the well-known 4 Cs: climb, communicate, confess, comply. How and why is explained in the January 2000 AOPA Flight Training.
Practicing lost procedures under controlled conditions certainly does not qualify as an emergency, so you would not switch your transponder code to 7700 or use an emergency radio frequency–but what about when it's the real thing? Read the legal briefing on "When is it an emergency?" in the September 2001 AOPA Flight Training, then make the decision that returns you most swiftly and safely to your planned route of flight. You'll probably never need these skills, but in the unlikely event that you do, you'll find them invaluable.
| Your Partner in Training
| The FAA's Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) is the best reference for learning good ATC communication skills and phraseology. Your most important lesson as you learn to use the right words is learning not to be afraid of using the wrong words. Regardless of the form it takes, communication is the goal. Read more on effective communication in AOPA Flight Training . Still have questions? Call our aviation experts at 800/USA-AOPA weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern time.
As an AOPA Flight Training Member, you have access to all of the features within AOPA Online. For login information, click here.
| Flight Training News
| PRACTICAL TEST STANDARDS UPDATE COMING SOON
The FAA's Private Pilot, Commercial Pilot, and CFI Practical Test Standards (PTS) documents have been revised by the FAA. Changes include additional emphasis on airport ground operation and the prevention of runway incursions; the new Private Pilot PTS becomes effective August 1. Student pilots preparing for August checkrides will have to meet the new PTS require-ments. Download the new Private Pilot-Airplane PTS from the FAA's Web site; Practical test standards on AOPA Online will be updated when the new editions go into effect.
LOUISIANA UNIVERSITY BUYS THREE FLIGHT SIMS
In one of the largest university flight training contracts of the year, the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) has purchased three Motus full-motion flight simulators from Fidelity Flight Simulation. The contract includes a single-engine piston, twin-engine piston, and twin-engine turboprop flight simulator, which will be located in the newly constructed William T. Hemphill Airway and Computer Science Building on the ULM campus. "A full-motion simulator provides motion cues to a training environment that can only be improved upon by actually flying in the airplane. These new simulators will give us the tools to grow our department not only for ULM students, but for continuing education students as well," said Paul Karlowitz, interim head of ULM's Department of Aviation. ULM's is the first university flight program in the nation to be based predominately on motion-based simulators. For more information, see the school's Web site. | Inside AOPA
| SPORTING EVENT NOTAM UNCLEAR, AOPA TELLS FEDS
In letters to both the FAA and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), AOPA President Phil Boyer said that the current "blanket notam" for sporting events and open-air assemblies is difficult, if not impossible, for both pilots and the FAA to understand and follow. "While it is preferable that the notam be withdrawn, if the concept is to be retained for some period, it must be revised," Boyer said. For more information, see AOPA Online.
Changing your mailing or e-mail addresses? Click here to update.
| Training Products
| ASA OFFERS DVD TEST PREP COURSE
Aviation Supplies and Academics is offering a new DVD-based Private Pilot Virtual Test Prep home-study ground school. Virtual Test Prep uses 3-D graphics and animations, special effects, and air-to-air video, and includes real-world tips from the classroom, in the airplane, and at the airport. The course, which offers more than nine hours of content that can be accessed with any television or computer DVD player, may be ordered for $99.95 by calling 800/426-8338 or by visiting the Web site.
| Final Exam
| Question: If a student pilot wants to obtain a student pilot certificate and solo on his or her sixteenth birthday (the earliest date allowed by FAR 61.83), and the birthday falls on a weekend when aviation medical examiners usually are not conducting flight physicals, can the combined student pilot/medical certificate be issued early?
Answer: An aviation medical examiner can issue the certificate early, provided the applicant is medically qualified, but no more than 30 days before the sixteenth birthday. The medical certificate must include the limitation "NOT VALID UNTIL (MONTH, DAY, AND YEAR OF 16TH BIRTHDAY)."
Got a technical question for AOPA specialists? E-mail to [email protected] or call 800/872-2672.
| Picture Perfect
| | Jump to the AOPA Online Gallery to see the featured airplane of the day. Click on the link for details on how to capture wallpaper for your work area. See AOPA Online.
| What's New At AOPA Online
| ASF POSTS WAKE TURBULENCE SAFETY ALERT
Don't let wake turbulence get you down. Read about this phenomenon, common to airplanes and helicopters, in an AOPA Air Safety Foundation Safety Alert. The report includes strategies to keep you well clear of these potentially deadly encounters. See AOPA�Online.
| Weekend Weather
| See the current weather on AOPA�Online, provided by Meteorlogix.
| ePilot Calendar
| WEEKEND FLYING DESTINATIONS
Oshkosh, Wisconsin. EAA AirVenture 2002 takes place July 23 through 29 at Wittman Regional Airport (OSH). For complete information, visit the Web site.
Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. Lock Haven Airfest takes place July 27 at William T. Piper Memorial Airport (LHV). Pancake breakfast, aircraft displays, hot air balloon display, craft show, antique cars, children's area. Contact Dave Rodgers, 570/893-8889.
Backus, Minnesota. A Backus Lions Fly-in Breakfast takes place July 28 at Backus Municipal Airport (7Y3). Contact Denny Williams, 800/920-2473.
Cumberland, Maryland. An EAA Chapter 426 Breakfast Fly-in takes place July 28 at Greater Cumberland Regional Airport (CBE). Contact Harry Dolly, 814/356-3773.
For more airport details, see AOPA's Airport Directory Online . For more events, see Aviation Calendar of Events.
ASF FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR REFRESHER CLINICS
(All clinics start at 7:30 a.m.)
The next AOPA Air Safety Foundation Flight Instructor Refresher Clinics are scheduled in San Diego, Jacksonville, Florida, and Baltimore, July 27 and 28. Clinics are also scheduled in Champaign, Illinois, and Allentown, Pennsylvania, August 3 and 4. For the Flight Instructor Refresher Clinic schedule, see AOPA Online.
ASF PINCH-HITTER GROUND-SCHOOL COURSES
(Pinch-Hitter courses start at 9:30 a.m.)
The next Pinch-Hitter� Ground Schools will take place in Jacksonville, Florida, and San Diego on July 28. For more Pinch-Hitter courses, see AOPA Online.
ASF SAFETY SEMINARS
AOPA Air Safety Foundation Safety Seminars are scheduled in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, July 24 through 27. The topics vary. For the complete schedule, see AOPA�Online.
To make submissions to the calendar, visit AOPA Online. For comments on calendar items, e-mail [email protected].
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