AOPA Action

For the latest on AOPA’s advocacy efforts for pilots, visit AOPA Online.

Student gets a lift from Flight Path

A photograph that a colleague brought to work one day was enough to prompt Jan Johnson of Portola Valley, California, to pursue a lifelong dream of flying. Johnson recently got some financial assistance for her training, simply by registering in the AOPA Flight Path Sweepstakes. In July, she won $1,000.

Flight Path is a progression of e-mails written by CFIs and pilots that contain educational resources and encouraging tips for 24 different stages of becoming a pilot. The program provides student pilots an online “My Flight Path” page to track their progress. As students achieve each of five milestones—first flight, obtaining an FAA medical certificate, first solo, passing the knowledge test, and passing the checkride, they are automatically entered into the sweepstakes for a chance to win one of five $1,000 cash prizes or one of two monthly $100 Sporty’s gift certificates.

Johnson, an engineer, said she had always wanted to fly but no one encouraged her to start flight training when she was young. She took an introductory flight after seeing her colleague’s photo and hearing about his flying club. She began flying in February and soloed five weeks later. “I made really good progress, and I am completely 100 percent obsessed with flying now,” Johnson said.

New college students explore careers in aviation

Students starting at Birmingham Southern College without a declared major had a hands-on introduction to opportunities in the field of aviation at Shelby County Airport in Alabaster, Alabama. The airport and members of the Shelby County Aviation Association (SCAA) hosted an event for incoming freshmen that included presentations about what aviation has to offer and hands-on exposure to a variety of aircraft.

AOPA provided SCAA members with information about careers in aviation, from becoming a pilot to opportunities in meteorology, airport operations, and aeronautical engineering. Students were treated to one-on-one discussions about aircraft on the flight line, including gliders, low-wing airplanes, high-wing airplanes, and taildraggers.

“The opportunity to sit in the cockpit and have all their questions answered was a hit, and the questions did flow,” said Rick Kilgore, SCAA president and the AOPA Airport Support Network volunteer for Shelby County Airport. “The most common reaction was, ‘This is so cool!’”

ASF spotlight on VFR night flight

Once the sun has set and the night sky illuminates you’re in for a mostly magical and peaceful time aloft. And with the winter season’s short days and long nights, you may find an afternoon flight spill into the night rather quickly, so why not enjoy this opportunity?

Stop! First review ASF’s Night VFR Flight Safety Spotlight, which offers plenty of night flying resources all in one convenient place. When you contemplate a VFR night flight, planning takes on another dimension—well beyond your usual VFR daytime flight planning; if not, it should. Some of the questions to ask yourself before any night flight:

• Are you night current?
• Do you feel comfortable with night takeoffs and landings?
• What’s the possibility you’ll encounter clouds? You will not be able to see clouds on a dark night.
• Is there rising terrain after departure, along your route, or on the approach path at your destination?

Fully brief your flight and understand weather conditions that can produce marginal visibility, or worse. At night, marginal VMC should be considered a no-go for VFR operations.

Be safe, bolster your knowledge, and fly prepared—brush up now online.

Instrument approaches could face chopping block

In its latest round of proposals to cancel instrument approaches, the FAA extended its scope from slashing NDB approaches at airports that also had RNAV approaches to also include cutting VOR and GPS approaches. Of the 154 approaches that the FAA is considering canceling, 64 are VOR approaches, and 19 are circling GPS approaches.

AOPA supports the FAA’s efforts to eliminate redundant ground-based procedures and shift its resources to developing more satellite-based GPS WAAS approaches, which deliver better all-weather access, vertical guidance, and lower minimums than conventional nonprecision approaches. However, the association wants to make sure needed approaches aren’t canceled.

The FAA has been canceling redundant approaches for several years in an effort to help fund new GPS approaches. So far, the agency has produced 1,670 WAAS approaches with vertical guidance and ILS-like minimums. AOPA has worked with pilots and the FAA each time to preserve approaches that would maintain access to the airport, support instrument training, and keep the lowest possible weather minimums.