The AOPA Air Safety Foundation offers instruction in the online course GPS for VFR Operations to help you make your next VFR flight safer, more efficient, and more enjoyable.
The interactive one-hour course gives a broad picture of the GPS system, sorts through the different types of GPS receivers, and lists "ASF's Top 10 Bonus Tips for Using GPS in VFR Operations." The course also discusses four "gotchas" that trip up many pilots.
Master pireps: Become a SkySpotter!
Have you ever been faced with a difficult go/no-go decision because of questionable weather and wished there were pilot reports (pireps) available? Pireps provide critical weather information, such as cloud layers and turbulence, which cannot be accurately obtained from other sources. They also fill in the gaps between ground weather reporting stations. If you're still mastering the art of the pilot report, learn how to get, use, and give these invaluable weather reports with the AOPA Air Safety Foundation's free online course, SkySpotter: Pireps Made Easy.
The course qualifies for the FAA Wings program.
Proposed FAA user fees would affect you
How bad could the Bush administration's user fee proposal be? Here are some of the proposed costs that would hit you in the wallet if you learn to fly at a nontowered general aviation airport.
Before you could solo, you'd have to pay a new fee of $42 to the FAA for your medical certificate (plus your aviation medical examiner's fee, typically ranging from $50 to $100). Your rental costs would go up significantly because the avgas tax would increase nearly fourfold--to 70 cents a gallon. The new $45-a-year FAA aircraft registration fee would be factored into your rental price, too. When you fly into Class B airspace to learn how to work with ATC in a terminal environment, you'll be charged for using the airspace. We don't know what the charge would be yet, but it would apply to any GA aircraft flying in any of the 30 Class B terminal areas. When you go for your checkride, not only would you pay the designated examiner, you'd also have to pay the FAA $50 to issue your certificate.
In addition, the FAA has proposed some 13 new or increased fees that would affect pilots, aircraft owners, and mechanics. Registering an aircraft would cost $130, plus $45 a year for renewal. Issuing any pilot certificate would cost $50; replacing a certificate would be $25. Many other fees haven't been set yet.
Because this issue is so important to GA pilots and the general public, AOPA has launched a new Web page to explain the FAA funding debate and the threat of user fees.
"This proposal is dead on arrival," Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers (R-Mich.) told FAA Administrator Marion Blakey.
"There is no way that I can come to the conclusion that this user fee proposal is fair, equitable, or that it will work," said Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.).
"I hear 70 cents a gallon and it just floors me," said Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.). "I can't tell my pilots back home about this because I'm going to get pelted the moment I say it. It really, really disturbs me."
Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), noting that the administration's proposal would raise some $600 million less in 2008 than the current tax system, pushed Blakey until she admitted that the current system would be able to raise enough money to fund the NextGen air traffic control modernization program.
"We're not in agreement with what you are proposing," said another member of the majority party, Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa).
GPS-specific training for Garmin 430/530
Are you flying an airplane with a Garmin GNS 430 or 530 installed, and you wish you had a better understanding of its operation? Take a look at the AOPA Air Safety Foundation's VFR GPS Guide: Garmin 430/530. It focuses on the layout and most-often-used functions: panel and button layout, comm and VHF nav radio tuning, proper Direct-To use, "nearest airport" function, and selecting GPS waypoints.
The free 5- to 15-minute self-paced presentation also includes a printable quick-reference card that you can carry with you in the cockpit.
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