AOPA Online Members Only -- AOPA ePilot Custom Content --Vol. 5, Issue 33
The following stories from the August 15, 2003, edition of AOPA ePilot were provided to AOPA members who expressed an interest in the particular subject areas. Any AOPA member can receive information customized to their areas of interest by updating their member record file online.
My ePilot - Professional Pilot Interest
NEW LOW-FARE AIRLINE COULD CREATE JOBS
A new low-fare airline eventually could result in additional professional flying opportunities. Following months of negotiations, Washington-Dulles-based Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA), which operates primarily under the United Express banner, announced that it would likely end its longstanding agreement with United Airlines and launch an independent, low-fare airline based at Dulles. United is currently reorganizing under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and renegotiating contracts with all of its Express carriers; ACA expects that United will reject the current agreement. For the new airline, ACA plans an all-jet fleet using its existing 50-seat Canadair Regional Jets as well as larger jet aircraft from Boeing or Airbus. The company employs approximately 1,500 pilots and currently has 100 on furlough; the hiring outlook depends entirely on the success of the new venture. It will continue to provide service as United Express out of its Dulles and Chicago O'Hare bases until the present agreement with UAL is terminated; ACA's Delta Connection service from Cincinnati and Boston will not be affected. For more information, see the Web site.
My ePilot - Student Interest, Training Tips
OPERATING AROUND MOAs
Planning cross-country flights will bring you face-to-face with an endless variety of navigational decisions. One is how to deal with a military operations area (MOA) straddling your route. Is this a reason to change your plans?
Not necessarily. In fact, some airports sit beneath MOA airspace, as Elizabeth Tennyson describes in the Flying Smart column titled "Legends: Airports in MOAs" in the July 1999 AOPA Flight Training.
MOAs "consist of airspace of defined vertical and lateral limits established for the purpose of separating certain military training activities from IFR traffic," notes the Aeronautical Information Manual in Section 3-4-5. The AIM offers guidance to pilots traversing MOAs under visual flight rules: "Pilots operating under VFR should exercise extreme caution while flying within a MOA when military activity is being conducted. The activity status of MOAs may change frequently. Therefore, pilots should contact any FSS within 100 miles of the area to obtain accurate real-time information concerning the MOA hours of operation. Prior to entering an active MOA, pilots should contact the controlling agency for traffic advisories."
How to determine the controlling agency? Inside the sectional aeronautical chart covering your route is a compendium of information including control tower and approach control frequencies, the special use airspace on the chart, and MOA names, altitudes of use, time of use, and controlling agency. This information may vary, so consult notams and a briefer. Increasingly, advisory frequencies for civilian traffic wishing to transit MOAs are being printed on the sectional chart itself, adjacent to the military airspace-this is one result of AOPA's years-long effort to make military airspace status available on a real-time basis.
Caution is always recommended in this time of ever-changing temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) and new air defense identification zone (ADIZ) airspace. As far as MOAs are concerned, however, "there is no regulation restricting flight in these areas, but pilots are advised to ask ATC if any activities will be taking place in them at the time of a flight, and to avoid flying through that airspace during that time if the answer is yes," notes Kathy Yodice in her Legal Briefing column that appeared in the June 2003 AOPA Flight Training.
Remember, writes Robert N. Rossier in the November 1998 issue of Flight Training, that military aircraft in MOAs or on military training routes fly at high speeds and are difficult to see. Note his tips for safe passage. Then try your hand at the AOPA Air Safety Foundation's online airspace quiz and plan your cross-country flights confidently, with the latest information on what to expect during your trip.
My ePilot - Training Products
CFI TEACHING METHODS EXPLORED IN BOOK
First-time author Gordon C. Henrie says Instructional Methods for Flight Instructors is a compendium of teaching techniques he has amassed during more than 20 years as a CFI and designated pilot examiner. The 272-page softcover book moves from a discussion of learning techniques to the meat and potatoes of flight instruction: air work, flight maneuvers, cross-country flying, and emergency training. It includes syllabi and practical training techniques for the private and commercial certificates and instrument rating. The price is $39.95 plus $3.64 in taxes; Henrie pays shipping costs. For ordering information, call 928/333-2990 or e-mail Henrie.
My ePilot - Student Interest, Final Exam
Question: I am looking at the current New York sectional chart. What does the thick blue dashed line surrounding the prohibited P-67 area near Kennebunkport, Maine, represent? Also, why is the surface within this dashed circle a white color?
Answer: The area within the dashed blue line denotes a temporary flight restriction (TFR) around P-67. The TFR is in effect only when activated by a notice to airmen, or notam. This 30-nm-radius TFR has a white background to make it more prominent. Remember to check notams before every flight.
