AOPA Action

General aviation reliever airports enhance capacity and capability at major air carrier airports, and funds spent at the relievers should be viewed as additional support for the air carrier airports. That's the message AOPA Vice President of Airports Bill Dunn and Regional Representative Bob Dickens recently took to city officials, state legislators, and pilots in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

The Metropolitan Airport Commission runs Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport (MSP) and six reliever airports. Those relievers are home to 16 flight schools.

The commission is under pressure from Northwest Airlines to stop investing in the relievers $2 million a year in fees collected at MSP. Northwest is the primary tenant at MSP and pays the bulk of those fees.

"The trip was extremely productive," said Dunn. "We were able to begin educating MAC members and state legislators about what a tremendous benefit the six GA relievers MAC operates are to MSP."

AOPA calls for more GA perspective on advisory council

AOPA President Phil Boyer recently expressed disappointment that U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta did not include any general aviation representatives among the latest nominees for the FAA Management Advisory Council.

"This is an issue that affects every single GA pilot-from student pilots to corporate ATPs," said Boyer. "Ninety-five percent of the U.S. civilian fleet, more than three-quarters of all flights in the United States, and two-thirds of all U.S. pilots are general aviation.

"The council guides and advises the FAA in every conceivable area, and yet not one of this year's six nominees represents the largest segment of aviation."

In a letter to Mineta, Boyer wrote, "Without a doubt, general aviation can contribute greatly to the Management Advisory Council. So far, only one member of the 18-member council has ties to general aviation community, and that is to the manufacturing industry, not the consumer, pilot, or owner. My request to you is that future appointments include individuals who are from the general aviation community."

Congress established the advisory council in October 1996 to serve as "an oversight resource for management, policy, spending, and regulatory matters under the jurisdiction of the Administration." Congress intended that council members be appointed from the ranks of senior aviation industry professionals with strong backgrounds in management and planning.

Boyer's letter concluded, "In a year celebrating the first century of powered flight as we look to the next, it is important that every segment of the aviation community be involved in planning for the future."

AOPA online tool simplifies visit to AME

Are you brand-new to flying and still need to get your medical certificate? Or have you been flying for a few years and it's time to renew your medical?

In either case, AOPA Online's Turbo-Medical interactive medical application form can simplify and expedite your visit to the aviation medical examiner. AOPA members can access it on AOPA Online.

TurboMedical walks AOPA members through the medical application information in a logical, step-by-step process. Along the way, there are links to additional information if you've got a question. And it flags medical information that might cause the examiner or FAA to reject the application.

For now, the FAA does not accept a TurboMedical printout as a valid medical certificate application, but printing out the information and taking it with you when you go to the AME will make filling out the official form a lot simpler.

AOPA honored for general aviation outreach program, GA Serving America

GA Serving America, AOPA's effort to educate the nonflying public about general aviation, has been honored as one of the best examples of interactive marketing by the Direct Marketing Association of Washington (DMAW).

DMAW, an association that deals with all aspects of direct marketing including Internet outreach, presented AOPA with a Bronze Maxi Award for the site's easy-to-use, logical design.

GA Serving America was funded by individual donations from AOPA members. It was designed specifically to answer the nonflying public's questions. So it's an excellent resource for pilots who want to explain GA to family, friends, and neighbors.

Only you can answer your friends' and family's questions about why you fly. But GA Serving America can help you to answer just about everything else they might ask about GA.

Test your safety knowledge with ASF

Pop quiz time: A minimum fuel advisory is an emergency. True or false? Does VFR flight in a terminal radar service area require radio communication? Where on the airport surface are clearance bar lights located?

Don't know? You should. And you can brush up on your aeronautical safety knowledge using the AOPA Air Safety Foundation's online safety quizzes.

The 10-question quizzes cover a wide range of topics, from preflight to airspace to spatial disorientation to land-and-hold-short operations. You can check your score after taking each quiz. In the case of wrong answers, you'll be shown the correct answer and given an explanation of why your answer was incorrect.

Many of the safety quizzes are drawn directly from ASF safety seminars or Safety Advisors. To check a listing of seminar locations and dates, or to download or request a Safety Advisor, visit the Web site.

AOPA members top a half-million dollars' savings with Sporty's

AOPA credit card holders have saved more than a half-million dollars thanks to the 5-percent discount offered by Sporty's Pilot Shop.

"Sporty's has a long history of supporting general aviation and AOPA," said Karen Gebhart, AOPA senior vice president of products and services.

"We believe it's important to support general aviation while providing value to our customers," added Sporty's founder Hal Shevers.

Working with AOPA Member Products partner MBNA America Bank, Sporty's offers a 5-percent discount to AOPA members using AOPA credit cards on every product that Sporty's sells. "We honor the discount on any purchase made with the AOPA credit card," said Shevers, "from our award-winning DVD training courses to chart subscriptions to headsets and GPS units. AOPA members are saving $1,000 a day."