| ||||||
| Rock ’n roll |
| |||||
| Sponsored by: | ||||||
| Click here to view this week's custom content online. | ||
FEATUREDRock ‘n roll: Take a ride upside down
| ||
GA NEWS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| | Your IFR rating in 10 days at your location … IFR finish-up in as little as 3 days! Professional teachers, specialized curriculum. IFR specialists for 30+ years. Whether flying G1000, Avidyne Entegra, Aspen, Cirrus Perspective or analog instruments, our instructors have the experience. Put “Instrument Rated” on your calendar NOW. 800-435-9437. Already Rated, but rusty? Our IFR Safety Course will get you current and make you a safer pilot. www.iflyifr.com |
Logbook entry: PC-12
The fractional aircraft ownership industry at large has been a strong catalyst for improvements in aircraft, service, and support systems that benefit both the business and general aviation communities. Alpha Flying Inc. launched the PlaneSense aircraft fractional ownership program in 1996 with two Pilatus PC-12s. Today, it has 32 aircraft, making it one of the largest PC-12 fleets in the world. The company completes more than 20,000 flights annually. Read more >>
Love flying? He has an app for that
Software developer Adam Fast is always thinking about his next project. Since he’s also a pilot, he likes to create Web-based applications that involve flying. And because he’s a generous guy by nature, he shares these applications with the aviation community. Fast learned to fly with the Joplin Flyers Club in his hometown of Joplin, Mo., and is still an active member of the club. Read more >>
| | AOPA Aircraft Financing Program offers NEW lower rates Our goal is to get pilots into the aircraft of their dreams. To help make aircraft ownership more attainable we just lowered our rates to make monthly payments more affordable. For more information, or to have a representative call you to discuss financing, go to www.aopa.org/loans. |
‘Corporate angels’ transport 3,000 patients in 2010
Companies offered up empty seats in their business aircraft to transport a record 3,021 cancer patients to treatment through the Corporate Angel Network (CAN) in 2010. Even as business aviation flight hours have been slow to bounce back to pre-recession numbers, companies rallied behind CAN’s cause and added to their business flights a charitable purpose. The network has now flown more than 36,000 patients since its founding in 1981. Read more >>
Godsend or gadget?
If an aviation company offered a moving-map GPS with a 10-inch display, a nation’s worth of charts and approach plates, flight planning, weather, a full aviation library, and the basic functions of a computer all for around $630, every pilot would own one. That’s just what the Apple iPad is offering. So why doesn’t every pilot have one? Like every new product with lots of hype, there’s more to the story. Read more >>
Las Vegas chapter dubbed ‘most active’ IMC club
The IMC Clubs, a network of clubs designed to help instrument pilots build proficiency, has given its Las Vegas chapter the “Most Active Chapter” award for the fourth quarter of 2010. Chapter members, who call themselves the “IMC Musketeers,” fly many types of airplanes and range in age from 18 to 80, the organization said in a press release. “No words can express my admiration about how much dynamism and contribution to aviation safety this group was able to develop,” said IMC Clubs President Radek Wyrzykowski. “Besides an involvement in the local aviation community, they were able to cultivate a unique friendship and energy.”
Hover Power: Record flight
There are a handful of helicopter adventurers who have attempted the around-the-world speed record in helicopters. Simon Oliphant-Hope holds the current eastbound record. Based on the south coast of England, he is the owner and managing director of Eastern Atlantic Helicopters. In June 2004, he flew an MD 500E around the world in 17 days, 14 hours, 2 minutes, and 27 seconds, beating the previous record of 24 days, 4 hours, 36 minutes, and 24 seconds. Read more >>
Flight Training: Act like an owner
After 10 or so years of flying and who knows how many dollars paid to an FBO to rent an airplane, Flight Training Associate Editor Jill W. Tallman recently joined the ranks of aircraft owners. A few days ago she had one of those revelations: “I can’t ask the flight school for help anymore.” Read more >>
‘AOPA Pilot’ now available digitally
AOPA members now have a choice as to how they read their membership magazines. Both AOPA Pilot and Flight Training are offered in print and digital versions. You make the choice—and you can even choose to access the magazines both ways. Digital editions allow readers to access their magazines online or through any number of devices, including desktop and laptop computers, tablet computers such as the iPad, and smartphones such as the iPhone and BlackBerry. Watch AOPA Live >>
For daily news updates, see AOPA Online.
| | “Seriously” Isn’t it time!!! 10 DAY INSTRUMENT RATING AT YOUR LOCATION AFIT has the finest most experienced Senior Instructors available in the U.S. today, with graduates across the globe. *Schedule your spring training today while positions are available! Call 866.270.8224 or visit www.afit-info.com. |
Safety & Proficiency
Too slow, too low
Student pilots are drilled on slow flight, stall recovery, and spin avoidance throughout primary training, and for good reason: Understanding how the airplane handles at minimum controllable airspeed is a crucial survival skill. Still, pilots make fatal mistakes at low speed close to the ground. On Oct. 27, 2009, an Aeronca 7AC Champ spun in next to Interstate 75 in northern Michigan, narrowly missing a car driven by two off-duty state troopers. Read more in this special report from the Air Safety Institute.
‘Mayday Mayday Mayday … I need a place to land’
Don’t let this happen to you! Watch the Air Safety Institute’s Accident Case Study: Cross-Country Crisis, which examines a chilling, ill-fated flight from Chicago to Raleigh, N.C. Actual ATC audio and dramatic Microsoft Flight Simulator re-creations have you ride along in a Piper Seneca II as fuel becomes critical and the pilot struggles to maintain control of the aircraft in heavy snow in the mountains near Huntington, W.Va. Share this gripping video re-creation and lessons learned to help save lives. Watch now >>
| | Get to the Fun Faster with Weekend Rentals from $20 a day at Alamo®. Alamo is offering weekend rentals from $20 a day for AOPA members, January 2nd through February 6, 2011. All you need to do is reserve an economy to premium car at participating US or Canada locations and keep it over a Saturday night. A 4-day maximum rental applies and you must return the car by Monday, or higher daily rates apply. Click here for more details. |
An easier way to remember your ‘ABCs’
Does Class D airspace require an ATC clearance, or is that Class B? How about TRSAs—will you ever see one at a Class C airport? If it’s been a while since you’ve thought about airspace, odds are you’re rusty on a few details. Fortunately, the Air Safety Institute’s free airspace flash cards make reviewing a snap. The front of each card highlights a particular type of airspace, while the flip side has a summary of all the important facts. Download the cards >>
Transition challenge
Ready for a flying challenge? Set a goal of adding a new category, class, or operating privilege to your credentials. Whether you want to be prepared “just in case” or will use your skills for business flying, an instrument rating can hone your skills and equip you with new capabilities for your aviator’s toolkit. Or, learn to fly the airplane you’ve dreamed of flying by obtaining a tailwheel or complex airplane endorsement. Find out what’s required for ratings and endorsements in AOPA’s subject report.
| | Join the Evolution Available in one, two or three display configurations, the flexible Aspen Evolution system is designed and built to be easy to install, easy to use, and easy to own. Read about our current customers at www.aspenavionics.com/customergallery. |
Air Safety eJournal: Precautionary landing or good luck?
There are days and nights when we just shouldn’t be flying and some of us try it anyway. VFR into IMC still claims too many lives. In the 2009 Nall Report there were 21 such accidents and 18 were fatal. A recent accident involved a Cessna 172 that crashed in a pasture near an airport around 10:45 p.m. The aircraft flipped over with the pilot apparently trapped inside. It was discovered the next morning. The area was said to be covered in dense fog. Read more >>
Flight Instructor Refresher Clinics | Air Safety Institute Safety Seminars | |||||||||
For a complete schedule, see AOPA Online. Can’t make it in person? Sign up for the CFI Refresher Online. |
Topics vary—for details and a complete schedule, see AOPA Online. | |||||||||
| | A Complete Avionics Stack in the Palm of Your Hand | |
| Sporty’s SP-400 Hand-held NAV/COM
|
| |
ADVOCACY
Threat to GPS, NextGen seen in FCC proposal
AOPA is urging the Federal Communications Commission not to allow any expanded use of radio spectrum for mobile-satellite services that could interfere with GPS and undermine the Next Generation air transportation system. “Due to the extensive reliance on GPS by the general aviation community, any interference source is perceived as a safety threat,” said AOPA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Melissa Rudinger in a Jan. 14 letter to the FCC. The FAA has also expressed concerns about the broadband-use proposal. Read more >>
SAIB aims at better V-speed understanding
Think you know your V-speeds? The FAA has released a special airworthiness information bulletin (SAIB) providing information to pilots after determining from a crash investigation “that many pilots have a misunderstanding of what the design maneuvering velocity (speed), V A, represents.” The investigation followed the Nov. 12, 2001, crash of American Airlines Flight 587, which killed all 260 people on board and five people on the ground after the vertical stabilizer separated in flight. Read more >>
| | Touch ’n go with Garmin’s aera™ GPS portables Say hello to the aera series: Easy-to-use pilot/motorist GPS solutions from the leader in both Aviation and Automotive portable navigation. So, you can go from runways to roadways with the best in moving-map guidance to match your needs and budget. |
Executive order directs ‘modern’ regulatory system
A new presidential executive order directs federal agencies to use the best available cost-benefit analysis techniques, and encourage private-sector participation in the creation of new regulations. The executive order may give general aviation a prime opportunity to help shape what President Barack Obama is calling a regulatory system for the 21st century—and the order comes in a year when AOPA is urging pilots to participate in an industry-wide effort to rally GA. Read more >>
FAA reports record laser incidents in 2010
Reports of lasers pointed at airplanes almost doubled from 2009 to 2010, the FAA announced Jan. 19. Reports rose from nearly 300 in 2005, when the agency first began keeping track, to 1,527 in 2009 and a record 2,836 in 2010. Read more >>
| | Caribbean Air Challenge: NOT A RACE! Visit the Caribbean like no one has ever before! Bahamas-DR-Puerto Rico-Saint Martin-Martinique-Turks & Caicos. Starts March 19 FXE—Ends at Sun-n-Fun March 31—Exhibit N025. www.airrally.com or [email protected] |
Join the Airport Support Network today
Ensuring the health and vitality of your airport is up to you—incompatible development and economic and political pressures can restrict your flying. Every day, more than 2,000 Airport Support Network (ASN) volunteers work with AOPA headquarters to help save their airports, but we need more. Below is a link to a list of the airports where an ASN volunteer could make a difference.
To nominate yourself or an associate to be a volunteer, visit AOPA Online.
To learn more about the Airport Support Network, visit ASN Online.
| | The Road Calls, and So Do the Savings When you’re ready to go, Enterprise makes it easy with great cars and great deals. Take advantage of your AOPA membership and enjoy a discount on our everyday low rates. Click here to learn more. |
Member Benefits
Think you can’t afford a vacation this year?
With great rates on airfare, hotels, and cruises through AOPA Online Travel, you may find that you don’t have to sacrifice your vacation this year after all. You can even save on your car rental from Alamo, Avis, and Hertz with special AOPA discounts and members-only coupons for free rental days, dollars off, and free upgrades. With member savings like that, you can plan a dream vacation that fits your budget.
Read more >>
Fly Well: A rolling stone…
A rolling stone gathers no moss. Fast-moving stuff doesn’t get gunky; think engine oil or a swiftly moving stream. But what of bile? The liver makes a quart a day, which flows through bile ducts, tubes like tree branches, becoming a main trunk draining into our gut near the stomach. A side branch feeds the gallbladder, the villain of this article. This hollow, muscular, pear-shaped organ sits under the right ribs. Upon seeing, smelling, or tasting fatty food, bile stored and concentrated in the gallbladder squirts out, enabling digestion. Read more >>
| | FREE Video Tip! — Courses for Beginner to Pro! Click for a Free Video Training Tip and find a course to achieve your next goal, or to make your flying safer and more rewarding. Not sure? Call us at 800-854-1001 and talk to one of our pilot training advisors. |
AOPA Career Opportunities
Ever dream of turning your passion for aviation into a career? We’re looking for a vice president of new product development and interactive marketing, business analyst, financial analyst, IT project architect, program specialist—communications, and aviation education program developer. To learn more about other AOPA career opportunities, visit AOPA Online.
| | Stay healthy, fly longer Enroll in the AOPA Medical Services Program and gain access to numerous resources designed to keep you in the air. Plus, receive assistance from our Medical Certification Specialists for FAA-related medical issues. |
Community
Picture PerfectAOPA’s online photo gallery allows you to upload your own aviation photography as well as view, rate, and comment on others’ photos. Your favorite aviation images from AOPA Pilot are still available online through this new gallery. Take a look, and submit your own photos! | Let’s Go Flying: What GA can learn from USAF proficiency flyingPrivate pilot and Civil Air Patrol major Steve Tupper knows what it takes to stay current and proficient in the aircraft that he flies, and he works hard at it. But he wondered what it was like maintaining currency when your flying has a little bit more riding on it than his usually does. The U.S. Air Force has many exotic platforms that are expensive, difficult, or both, to fly. Because of that, the Air Force uses “companion trainers.” Read more >>
| |
Engage in AviationCheck out user-submitted events from your region. To include an event or to search all events in the calendar, visit AOPA Online. | ||
|
QUIZ ME!Here’s a question asked by an AOPA member who contacted our aviation services staff through the AOPA Pilot Information Center. Test your knowledge.
Question: Last year I moved to the United States from Canada. I applied for and obtained an FAA private pilot certificate based upon my Canadian license. I am interested in earning a stand-alone FAA commercial pilot certificate. Would any of the flight training received from my Canadian instructor count toward the requirements for the U.S. commercial certificate?
Answer: Yes! The flight training you received outside of the United States by an instructor who is certificated by Transport Canada can be credited toward the requirements for an FAA certificate or rating. According to 14 CFR 61.41 a person may credit flight training toward the requirements of a pilot certificate or rating issued under Part 61 of the FARs if that person received the training from a flight instructor who is authorized to give training by the licensing authority of a contracting state to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Got a question for our aviation services staff? The AOPA Pilot Information Center is a service available to all members as part of the annual dues. Call 800/USA-AOPA (800/872-2672), or e-mail to [email protected]. |
| |
| Engage in aviation: Post a response on GA stories. Almost all online articles contain a comment function that allows readers to submit their thoughts on the topic. Whether it is a positive, well-reasoned article or a misleading, sensational article, post a comment with the facts about GA.
|
| |
My Membership
 | ||||
| ePilot Editor: Sarah Brown | Contributors: Alyssa Miller Jill W. Tallman Warren Morningstar Alton K. Marsh | | Production Team: William Rockenbaugh Lezlie Ramsey Melissa Whitehouse Mitch Mitchell | Advertise in ePilot: |
| Member Tools: Send feedback | Update member profile/e-mail | Unsubscribe | ePilot Archive © 2011 Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association | 421 Aviation Way Frederick, MD 21701 | Phone 800/USA-AOPA | Fax 301/695-2375 | ||||
Related Articles
