AOPA Online Members Only -- AOPA ePilot Custom Content --Vol. 6, Issue 24

The following stories from the June 11, 2004, 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.

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My ePilot - Owner Interest
CLASSIC LUSCOMBE PARTS AVAILABLE
Parts for Luscombes as well as Aeronca aircraft and Taylorcraft are available from the Luscombe Endowment of Gilbert, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. Doug Combs and Donna Losey said donated parts and parts on consignment are now entering their inventory for sale. For information, visit the Web site.

My ePilot - Student Interest, Training Tips
GUMPS and CIGARS
Sticking to standard procedures is a measure of pilot skill and professionalism. Using checklists-as discussed in the October 25, 2002 Training Tips-is the best example. In situations where checklists are not practical, memory items come into play. One technique for memorizing a series of actions, such as those to be attended to just before landing, is learning a mnemonic reminder-a word or acronym that helps you remember to perform a series of actions or checks. A familiar example to many pilots is the prelanding mnemonic GUMPS. "The letters stand for gas (fuel on the proper tank, pump on or off as required), undercarriage (landing gear up or down as required), mixture set, prop(s) set, and safety items. Safety items typically include seatbelts and switches (lights, pitot heat)," explains Robert Rossier in the February 2000 AOPA Flight Training feature "Mnemonic Reminders." There are variations on this theme, but the basics will always be represented in the mnemonic.

If like most student pilots you fly a fixed-gear training aircraft, it may strike you as odd or silly that "undercarriage" is part of this mnemonic. Not at all. After earning your private pilot certificate, there is an excellent chance that you will go on to fly retractable-gear aircraft. Working landing-gear checks into your prelanding thinking now could save you from committing the common gaffe of landing with the gear retracted someday (usually the result of pilot distraction). Also, it is more reliable to learn a routine once than to modify it later.

Many students ask: Why use mnemonics like GUMPS and not the actual checklists they represent? "Performing GUMPS is not checked against the written checklist because the before-landing written checklist should be reviewed before you enter the traffic pattern, where maintaining a traffic watch is essential," explains columnist Ralph Butcher in "Insights," in the January 2004 AOPA Flight Training.

CIGARS, by the way, is a pretakeoff mnemonic that some pilots use, as Butcher explains, to augment the pretakeoff checklist. In his version, it stands for "Controls, instruments, gas, attitude trim, runup and radios, and seatbelts."

My ePilot - Student Interest, Training Products
KING CD TEACHES WEATHER DECISION-MAKING
Have you ever started flying on a beautiful day and later found yourself surrounded by ominous weather? With King Schools' Practical Risk Management for Weather CD-ROM, you can learn to recognize and anticipate the changing weather, define your personal weather minimums, recognize what risks you face in VFR and IFR conditions, and more. It aims to teach you to make confident weather decisions in the air or on the ground. The $49, 113-minute CD features interactive questions and is the second course in the Practical Risk Management Series. To order, call 800/854-1001 or visit the Web site.

My ePilot - Student Interest, Final Exam
Question: When a section of airspace actually has two class designations because of an overlap, which one applies?

Answer: The Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM), Chapter 3-1-3, Hierarchy of Overlapping Airspace Designations states that when overlapping airspace designations apply to the same airspace, the operating rules associated with the more restrictive airspace designation apply. To clarify: Class A airspace is more restrictive than Class B, C, D, E, or G; Class B more restrictive than C, D, E, or G; and so on.