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Tel: 800/USA-AOPA or
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Copyright © 2003 AOPA. | Training Tips
| THE MAGIC PHRASE: 'STUDENT PILOT'
Speaking two magic words on the aircraft radio–or during your preflight weather briefing–can make any flight easier and less stressful. Those words are "Student pilot." Many flight instructors recommend that their students inform air traffic control of their student status when venturing out solo. When obtaining a weather briefing it is good practice to provide the briefer with as much information as possible about yourself as a pilot, and your proposed flight. Chapter 11 of the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge ( click here to download) includes a discussion of the briefing process. It's also an excellent idea to add the words "student pilot" to the "remarks" section (Block 11) of your VFR flight plans–they are the subject of the February 14, 2003, "Training Tips."
 Air traffic controllers or weather briefers will slow down their delivery of information or instructions in deference to your student status. Controllers will give you more leeway or perhaps vector you away from tight squeezes. "Timing is everything, and in a dynamic situation the more advance coordination there is, the less disruptive a change will be," counsels AOPA Air Safety Foundation Executive Director Bruce Landsberg in his "Safety Pilot" column from the May 2001 AOPA Pilot magazine. He advises any pilot, no matter how skilled, to reply "unable" to any ATC requests that the pilot deems unsafe.
Some student pilots are reluctant to admit out loud that they are novices. One new aviator recalled the day that all changed for him: "My instructor had suggested that I use those magic words to get extra help, but it seemed uncool to me. Sure, I had problems understanding what controllers and other pilots said on the radio–everyone does in the beginning. But confess that I was a student pilot? No way." He shared his experience in the "Training Topics" column from the August 1999 AOPA Flight Training.
Repeat your "student pilot" declaration whenever you contact each new ATC facility because the word does not always get passed along. This is also a good idea if you ever experience an emergency, as one pilot related in the "Learning Experiences" column in the October 2003 AOPA Flight Training. In general, however, if you as a VFR pilot want service from ATC, "All You Have to Do is Ask"–as the title of a feature in the July 1999 AOPA Flight Training assures.
| Your Partner in Training
| Filing VFR flight plans regularly is good training for pilots who will later complete an instrument rating and fly under instrument flight rules. Federal Aviation Regulation 91.103 begins by stating, "Each pilot in command shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight." Read more on preflight action from an attorney's perspective in the August 2003 issue of AOPA Pilot.
Do you have a question? Call our experienced pilots, available weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern time toll-free at 800/872-2672. 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
| FAA, SECURITY OFFICIALS APPROVE TEST OF ADIZ RELIEF
Pilots in and around the Washington Metropolitan Area Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) will get a two-month window of relief from some of the ADIZ requirements beginning November 1 under a plan originally proposed by AOPA. Security officials will test ingress-egress procedures to two busy airports on Maryland's Eastern Shore and egress-only procedures for another dozen airports. It should make operations at the edge of the ADIZ a little less complicated, said AOPA President Phil Boyer. He stressed that pilots should follow the rules exactly and prove to doubting security officials that "GA pilots are trustworthy." See the complete news story at AOPA Online.
JET TRAINING SIMULATOR ARRIVES AT SAN JUAN COLLEGE
If you happen to be in Farmington, New Mexico, next month, you can get a look at San Juan College's brand-new jet training simulator. The school will host an open house November 6 to show off the million-dollar Ascent jet flight training device, which simulates a Canadair Regional Jet Series 200 and will be part of the Mesa Pilot Development program. "Mesa [Air Group] made a major investment in this training program because, like most regional carriers, it is moving toward an all-jet fleet," said Rich Castle, chief flight instructor. "The bulk of our students are going to go to jets rather than turboprops. So, it is a matter of training them in the more challenging jet aircraft that most will fly." Graduates of San Juan College's aviation program earn an associate's degree and are guaranteed an interview for a first officer position with Mesa Airlines. For more information, call 505/566-3348 or see the Web site.
NAA TO HONOR AVIATION TRAILBLAZERS
The National Aeronautic Association will present its 2003 Katherine and Marjorie Stinson Award for Achievement to two aviation trailblazers on November 10. Honoree Mary Feik has been flying, fixing, and restoring aircraft for 60 years and is the first woman to receive the FAA's Charles Taylor Master Mechanic award. As an engineer for the Air Technical Service Command, she built a flight simulator based on a P-51C Mustang, and eventually accumulated more than 5,000 hours as a pilot, flight engineer, and engineering observer during World War II and the Korean War. Ann Wood-Kelly was a volunteer pilot for the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), whose mission was to ferry warplanes from factories to air bases during WWII. After the war she spent 30 years in airline management. She currently maintains a Web site devoted to the history of the ATA. For more information about the awards, see the NAA Web site.
| Inside AOPA
| DON'T FEAR THE FRACTIONAL OWNERSHIP RULE
If you belong to a flying club or have a partnership interest in an airplane, you may have been wondering whether the FAA's recent final rule on fractional ownership applies to you. The good news is, most likely it doesn't. AOPA worked to ensure that flying clubs, traditional management companies, and other forms of joint ownership would be exempt from the rule, which takes effect November 17. The bottom line, says Melissa Bailey, AOPA vice president of regulatory affairs, is that unless your organization's contract includes part ownership in an aircraft "and" an assigned aircrew, it isn't considered a fractional arrangement under FAR 91 Subpart K ( click here to download). Read more about the final rule in a regulatory brief at AOPA Online.
Changing your mailing or e-mail addresses? Click here to update.
| Training Products
| 'GLIDER FLYING HANDBOOK' OFFERED BY ASA
The first FAA book dedicated solely to glider flying is now available from Aviation Supplies and Academics, Inc. A technical manual for glider pilots and students, the Glider Flying Handbook includes flight information necessary to obtain a glider rating (regulations, performance limitations, maneuvers), as well as decision making, flight planning, soaring weather, radio navigation and communications, and more. Powered-flight students who tense up when asked to demonstrate a simulated emergency landing may benefit from a more thorough understanding of fluid and thermal dynamics that glider instruction can bring to the table. The 232-page softcover book sells for $29.95 and can be ordered online or by calling 800/ASA-2-FLY.
| | Final Exam | Question: The aviation medical examiner placed a color vision restriction on my medical. Can I get it removed so I can fly at night?
Answer: There are procedures available to demonstrate to the FAA that a color vision deficiency does not adversely affect aviation safety. The preferable method is to pass one of about 15 different color vision tests that the FAA accepts. This procedure allows you to meet the color vision standard of FAR Part 67. The other alternative is to take a color signal light test at an FAA air traffic control tower. That test results in the issuance of a waiver, or Statement of Demonstrated Ability (SODA). Use this method as a last resort. Read more about this at AOPA Online.
Got a technical question for AOPA specialists? E-mail to [email protected] or call 800/872-2672. Don't forget the online archive of "Final Exam" questions and answers, searchable by keyword or topic.
| Picture Perfect
| | The AOPA Online Gallery allows you to download your favorite images to use for wallpaper, send a personalized e-card, and order high-quality prints to be shipped directly to your doorstep. Search the hundreds of fabulous images in our archives and select your favorites today! For more details, see AOPA Online.
| What's New At AOPA Online
| | He is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and pilot of his own Piper Comanche, but AOPA member Rick Newnum had never logged tailwheel time nor flown with the wind in his face. All of that changed, however, when he became one of the latest monthly winners of AOPA's Centennial of Flight Sweepstakes. Read Newnum's account of his flight in a Waco, an opportunity he won in the sweepstakes, at AOPA Online.
| Weekend Weather
| See the current weather on AOPA Online, provided by Meteorlogix.
| ePilot Calendar
| WEEKEND FLYING DESTINATIONS
St. Petersburg, Florida. The Albert Whitted Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Celebration takes place October 11 at Albert Whitted (SPG). Airport open house and airshow featuring aerobatic demonstrations by Patty Wagstaff, Ian Groom, and Phil Knight. Warbird/civilian flights and displays along with EAA Young Eagles flights. Admission $5. Contact Albert Whitted Airport Preservation Society, 727/822-1532, or visit the Web site.
Wichita, Kansas. Women in Aviation International Regional Conference takes place October 17 and 18 at the Wichita Hyatt Regency. "Realizing Career Goals in a Changing Economy" is the theme. For more information, contact 386/226-7996, or visit the Web site.
Salinas, California. The California International Airshow takes place October 17 through 19 at Salinas Municipal (SNS). Show features the Air Force Thunderbirds, Wayne Handley, Jimmy Franklin, Jim LeRoy, Eric Beard, the Showcopters, Bill Leff, Dan Buchanan, and the Flying E Team. Also see a variety of military aircraft including the F-15, A-10, FA-18, and F-117 Stealth Fighter. Static display of military and civilian aircraft. For more information, contact 888/845-SHOW, or visit the Web site.
West Chester, Pennsylvania. Rotorfest takes place October 18 and 19 at the American Helicopter Museum. Helicopter airshow from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., featuring Army special operations command parachute team; Bell 47 fly-in; and military, police, Coast Guard, and news helicopters. Admission $10; children $5. Contact 610/436-9600, or visit the Web site.
To submit an event to the calendar, or search all events, visit AOPA Online. For airport details, see AOPA's Airport Directory Online .
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 Columbia, South Carolina, and Nashville, Tennessee, October 18 and 19. Clinics are also scheduled in Windsor Locks, Connecticut; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Indianapolis, October 25 and 26. For a complete schedule, see AOPA Online. Can't make it in person? Sign up for the CFI Renewal 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 Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Windsor Locks, Connecticut, October 26. For more Pinch-Hitter courses, see AOPA Online.
ASF SAFETY SEMINARS
AOPA Air Safety Foundation Safety Seminars are scheduled in Gainesville, Florida, October 13; Tampa, Florida, October 14; Sarasota, Florida, October 15; Naples, Florida, October 16; Eugene, Oregon, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, October 20; Portland, Oregon, and Vero Beach, Florida, October 21; Everett, Washington, and Orlando, Florida, October 22; and Seattle, and Jacksonville, Florida, October 23. The topic is Say Intentions: When you need ATC's help. See AOPA Online for complete details.
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