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Agricultural aviation today is state of the art; many of these working aircraft are powered by turbine engines, and most use GPS to deliver their loads with a high degree of precision. Maybe you’ll see one of these aircraft flying low over a field—or perhaps one day you’ll fly one.

What: Air Tractor 502-B
Where: Crookston, Minnesota
Photographer: Mike Fizer

We’re fighting for you

"Keep 'Em Flying" is 2012 association initiative

By Flight Training staff

A severe recession. A dwindling pilot population. Numerous legislative threats. What can you do? Get in the air and fly.

That’s the message AOPA President Craig Fuller will be advocating throughout 2012. “The best action we can take to keep general aviation healthy is to get in the air and fly,” Fuller told attendees at the Northwest Aviation Conference and Trade Show recently. “Keep ’em flying” will be the theme for association initiatives throughout the year. It is based on activities of another time when GA faced tough times: World War II. “The Army Air Corps was struggling to recruit pilots,” Fuller said. “They came up with a great slogan that eventually turned into a hit song and even the title of a hit movie, Keep ’Em Flying. The idea is still relevant today.”

Fuller outlined numerous steps the association is taking to protect GA and help keep pilots in the air. First is growing the pilot population. AOPA’s study of the flight training industry, which took place last year, indicated that as many as 80 percent of those who start flight training do not complete it to earn a private pilot certificate. In the study, key criteria emerged that play a role in student retention. AOPA is sharing that information with the flight training community “to help schools and instructors recognize what works and put that knowledge to use in their own businesses,” Fuller said.

A new program that will recognize flight schools and instructors who “do it right” has been launched. The AOPA Flight Training Excellence Awards, bought to you by Flight Training magazine, will be given annually to flight schools and individual flight training professionals. Nominations are being accepted and will be viewed by a panel of judges assembled by the magazine. Winners of the award will be recognized at AOPA Summit in Palm Springs, California, this October. Those who nominate will receive an AOPA Flight Training Excellence Award challenge coin.

The MyFlightTraining website has also been launched. This site is specifically designed to help student pilots through the training process. Students can use the site to log milestones, receive customized information for their point in training, and ask questions of the experienced flight instructors in AOPA’s Pilot Information Center.

A second step in the Keep ’Em Flying initiative is getting pilots back into the air. In conjunction with EAA, AOPA is working to extend to all pilots the ability to fly 180-horsepower or less single-engine four-seat aircraft without a third class medical certificate. An estimated 56,000 aircraft would be eligible to be flown under the request. “Our proposal would give pilots who fly recreationally in certain types of aircraft the option of getting a third class medical or participating in recurrent online training that will teach pilots how to self-certify their fitness to fly,” Fuller said.

Another aspect of increasing the number of active pilots is getting those who have stopped flying back in the left seat. Last year, the association launched the AOPA Aircraft Partnership Program to match co-owners, making owning an aircraft a reasonable proposition for more pilots. So far, more than 10,000 participants have signed up for the program.

Step three is fighting for pilots in Washington, D.C. This means preventing the $100-per-flight user fee for turbine general aviation and commercial operations. “Our friends in Congress have repeatedly said the user fees are dead on arrival and we will work closely with them again to try to put a stop to this latest user fee plan,” Fuller said.

“These efforts will take time, but I believe they will make a difference with your help. When people choose to focus on the most successful and positive practices in any kind of endeavor, things improve,” said Fuller.

FAA publishes first officer qualification rule

ATP requirements could change for all applicants

By Dan Namowitz

The FAA has published an anticipated notice of proposed rulemaking revising the qualifications for air carrier first officers. The NPRM is a combination of training and experience requirements mandated by Congress in 2010 as a result of the Colgan Flight 3407 crash in Buffalo, New York, in 2009 and proposals that originated with the FAA.

The proposal would change air crew hiring requirements by making it necessary for all air carrier first officers to hold an airline transport pilot (ATP) certificate instead of a commercial pilot certificate, increasing minimum flight time hours from 250 to 1,500.

The training course would require training in a Level C or higher flight simulator, making it only available through a Part 141 pilot school, 142 flight training center, Part 121 air carriers, or Part 135 air carriers. The rule would also affect the ranks of program instructors by requiring them to hold an ATP certificate and have at least two years of experience in a fractional ownership program or at an air carrier.

Potential students could face the choice of enrolling at a four-year aviation university or take a 500-hour and two-year age disadvantage. Military and pilots who have graduated from baccalaureate aviation-degree programs would be eligible for a “restricted” ATP certificate at age 21, instead of the standard ATP requirement of being 23 years old, with reduced required flight hours of 750 for military pilots and 1,000 for program graduates.

The proposed rule did not adopt an aviation rulemaking committee (ARC) recommendation to give credit for certain high-quality flight experiences in GA, such as flight time as an instructor or in a multiengine or multi-crew environment.

Under other provisions, the ATP airplane multiengine certificate would now require a prerequisite minimum of 50 hours in a multiengine aircraft; ATP practical and knowledge exams would be revised; and air carrier pilots would be required to have 1,000 hours experience as a first officer before upgrading to captain.

Members may submit comments online or by mail to Docket Operations, M–30; U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Room W12–140, West Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC 20590–0001. Please refer to Docket Number FAA-2010-0100.

Vermont CFI, DPE is National CFI of the Year

Winner specializes in instrument multi-instruction

By: Jill W. Tallman

Hobart Caleb “Hobie” Tomlinson of Huntington, Vermont, has been named the 2012 National Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year.

Tomlinson is one of four aviation professionals who received top accolades in this year’s National General Aviation Awards. They will receive their awards in July at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Tomlinson, a Master CFI, works for Heritage Aviation at Burlington International Airport and is an independent flight instructor and a designated pilot examiner. In 2010, he received the FAA’s Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award given to pilots with 50 consecutive years of safe flying. He has been a flight instructor since 1965 and has more than 11,000 instructional hours. He specializes in instrument and multiengine training at the CFI and ATP levels, as well as tailwheel aircraft and seaplanes. He has been an FAA designated pilot examiner since 1977.

Build A Plane launches fundraiser to Oshkosh

Program aims to get more kids interested in aviation

Build A Plane, the organization that brings airplane projects into schools to help teach science, math, and technology, is launching a fundraising program called Kids Across America. Kids are encouraged to find sponsorship for every mile they travel to reach EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, regardless of the mode of transportation.

Kids Across America will raise money for youth aviation education programs. During AirVenture, all participants will receive a goodie bag and be invited to a special event at the show. Prizes such as tropical vacations, pilot training, headsets, and more will be awarded to the kids who raise the most money. To register or for more information, log onto BuildAPlane.org or call 804-843-3321.