Combine a beautiful aircraft flying in a beautiful environment, and you have a can’t-miss scene of a manmade machine blending seamlessly with Earth’s brilliance. This high-performance glider may not fly exactly like a bird, but it’s as majestic as one, and relies on the same atmospheric energy.
Download a large version of this photograph (1280 x 853).
WHAT: Schempp-Hirth Duo Discus
WHERE: Near Omarama, New Zealand
PHOTOGRAPHER: Mike Fizer
Fuller to step down as AOPA president and CEO
Departure set for later this year
AOPA President Craig Fuller has announced he will step down from his position and from the Board of Trustees. He plans to remain in his current role until a successor is ready to assume the position. The board will conduct a national search for his successor. Following Fuller’s decision to leave AOPA, the succession process was developed by working together, Chairman of the Board William C. Trimble III said.
Fuller, who took office January 1, 2009, will assist with the search and the transition to a new administration.
Fuller, 62, noted that he made a five-year commitment to AOPA when he was appointed president. As he approaches the fulfillment of that commitment, he said he is looking forward to taking on new challenges and opportunities. “I have flown since age 17, and flying has been part of my life ever since. I will always be grateful to the AOPA Board of Trustees for having given me the opportunity to serve the general aviation community and AOPA’s 385,000 members in a leadership position,” said Fuller. “It has been a privilege to work with my colleagues on a strong set of initiatives that have built on the decades of hard work by AOPA trustees and members of the management team.
“With the end of my five-year commitment approaching, this is an appropriate time for me to consider new opportunities and allow the board time to recruit a successor. The process of finding a new leader can now go forward as all of us at AOPA roll up our sleeves to fight the day-to-day battles that seem to keep coming our way,” said Fuller. “The team will not miss a beat this year as we lay the groundwork for the future.”
“During his more than four years as president of AOPA, Craig has advocated strongly on behalf of the general aviation community in Washington, built bridges with the other aviation associations, improved member communications, and generated promising ideas for tomorrow,” said Trimble. “We recognize the importance of finding a leader who can continue to inspire all of us in these challenging times. We are focused on finding a leader who shares our vision and convictions, as well as the talent and capabilities necessary to achieve our goals.” Trimble said the board will form a search committee shortly and retain an executive search firm.
PilotPool.com opens a job source for applicants
Free site links job seekers with airlines
PilotPool.com, ATP Flight School’s pilot recruitment tool, is now available for all pilots.
According to ATP, airlines are struggling to find qualified applicants, and PilotPool allows them to connect with qualified job seekers. A proprietary hour-tracking system alerts hiring staff when an applicant has reached the minimums, giving the applicant the best chance of success and recruiters the ability to digest the applicants quickly and easily.
Registration is free, and currently 12 airlines have access to applicants.
PilotPool is a companion site to ATP’s PilotJobs.com, a blog that centers on airline hiring news and updates. It also features interview and résumé advice.
For more aviation career information, check out AOPA’s Flight Training blog, where airline pilot Chip Wright writes about the lifestyle and how to get in the door.
Scholarship winner completes pilot certificate
Nursing student Emma Quedzuweit has a packed schedule that includes college courses, learning to fly, and working at California’s Auburn Municipal Airport to help pay for her training. Quedzuweit, who received the Richard J. Santorini Memorial Scholarship in November 2012 during AOPA Summit, successfully completed her private pilot checkride on February 25. “Now the real learning can begin,” said Quedzuweit, who would like to work in missionary medical aid aviation and has added aerobatic training, an instrument rating, and a commercial certificate to her goals.
Aviation’s ‘good news story’
Able Flight scholarship benefit planned at Fantasy of Flight
How do you throw a great aviation party and make it possible for wounded veterans and other people with disabilities to become pilots? Mix inspiring new pilots with music and food and have the party at the Fantasy of Flight museum near Orlando on Saturday, April 20. Able Flight is hosting a night to celebrate “aviation’s good news story” while surrounded by an amazing collection of rare aircraft, according to Able Flight’s Charles Stites.
“Able Flight pilots and other special guests will be there, and, with music by the Paul Thorn Band, this will be a night to remember,” Stites says. “It will be both a celebration of success, and an opportunity to grow the scholarship fund so that we can bring even more people into aviation.”
With the support of Sennheiser, Embraer, and Signature Flight Support, all expenses for the party are covered, so all proceeds from donations to attend go directly to the Able Flight Scholarship Fund.
Seats are available on a first-come, first-serve basis for a $500 tax deductible donation to the scholarship fund. For information on reserving a seat, visit the website or call 919-942-4699.
Honoring teachers
Nominations open for Crossfield Aerospace Education award
Know an outstanding teacher who takes an innovative approach to aerospace education? Nominate him or her for the twenty-seventh annual A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Education Teacher of the Year competition.
The event awards a $5,000 cash stipend and is open to current classroom teachers kindergarten through grade 12. Entrants will be judged on their effectiveness, creativity, and ability to maintain high standards for students and themselves with aerospace as part of the core subject matter.
The annual competition is sponsored by the National Aviation Hall of Fame. It is named in honor of the naval aviator, aerospace engineer, and test pilot who was the first man to successfully fly at speeds above Mach 2 and Mach 3. Crossfield was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1983.
The 2012 recipient was Jim McCarter of Kokomo, Indiana, whose elementary school classroom is a mock space shuttle. Children who “want to be in your classroom are going to show up, have good behavior, and are going to learn something,” he said.
The deadline for nominations is June 1. For more information and submission forms, see the website or call 888-383-1903, extension 11. The recipient must be able to attend the NAHF’s fifty-first annual enshrinement ceremony on October 4 in Dayton, Ohio.
IMC Club launches ‘Brown Jacket’ mastery award
Leather jacket and headset to be awarded
Mastering and maintaining the art of instrument navigation could earn you a custom brown leather flight jacket, along with a new headset from Sennheiser.
The IMC Club announced recently the new Instrument Master award, and club members who meet various criteria—including at least one approach per month (actual or simulated)—will have a chance to win the top prize to be given each year at the Sun ’n Fun International Fly-In & Expo starting in 2014.
“We are creating an award that is going to allow instrument pilots to compete on the basis of safety, common sense, and self-improvement, as well as participating in helping other pilots,” said IMC Club President Radek Wyrzykowski in a news release. “It is my sincere desire that this award will recognize the value and add to the prestige of those who master instrument flying. The Brown Jacket Award will become an integral part of what our IMC Club’s mission is all about.”
The club will choose one winner each year from the pool of eligible applicants, evaluating various criteria including recent instrument flight experience, and subscription and adherence to the Aviators Model Code of Conduct. The special brown leather flight jacket will come with a Sennheiser S1 digital aviation headset donated by the company.
Diamond Aircraft lays off most of staff
Slow sales of piston-engine aircraft cited
Diamond Aircraft on February 25 announced that it had laid off most of its staff, saying it needs several weeks to restructure. Work on the company’s costly prize project, the D-Jet, has been suspended. Remaining is a support staff needed to fulfill orders for spare parts, provide technical information to owners, and provide airworthiness support.
Diamond President and CEO Peter Maurer said he hopes to rehire the employees as quickly as possible. “We want to hire back as many employees as possible, as quickly as possible, but the exact number and timing will be determined as we develop our restructuring plans in the coming weeks,” Maurer said.
Two years ago the London, Ontario, company acquired extra funding with a promise to finish the D-Jet development program when the Medrar Financial Group in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, bought the company. “The funds we were to receive never came and despite a protracted effort to conclude the transaction it didn’t,” Maurer said. “We made efforts to secure other investors and in the interim, funding was provided by the shareholders.”
A newsletter from Great Lakes Diamond Aircraft Sales said that it was briefed by the factory, and 161 of 212 employees were laid off. The remaining 51 will also do production of new aircraft in addition to support of the existing fleet of 2,000 aircraft. Operations at Diamond Aircraft Industries in Austria, still independently owned and operated, are not affected by the layoffs in Canada.
Survival training
Embry-Riddle to offer emergency water landing course
If recent news coverage of pilots forced to ditch their aircraft has you rattled, you can train for the possibility that you might be in the same situation through a new course offered by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Embry-Riddle has partnered with Antipodean Aviation of Australia to offer survival training in emergency water landings for fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. Once enrolled, participants have 30 days to complete a theory-based online course, then receive one day of practical training in a pool, using a simulator known as a portable shallow-water egress trainer. The practical training takes place at Embry-Riddle’s Prescott, Arizona, campus.
Participants can choose one of two options: aircraft ditching, escape, and survival, a class aimed at general aviation pilots that is said to be similar to a helicopter underwater escape training course but more comprehensive; and aircraft ditching, escape, and survival with emergency breathing systems, designed for flight crews who use emergency breathing systems such as a helicopter aircrew breathing device, a helicopter emergency egress device, or a survival egress air device.
Both versions are priced at $750 per person. For more information, contact Albert Astbury.
Embry-Riddle’s partnership with Antipodean Aviation will develop more than 50 courses on advanced aviation topics for pilots, flight nurses, flight paramedics, and public safety officers, the university said in a press release.
GA education in Hawaii
Collegiate aviation programs to be offered
Hawaiian lawmakers are supporting legislation that sets the stage for the creation of collegiate aviation programs at the University of Hawaii, Hilo, and Hawaii Community College—with a significant and encouraging new model of increased state support for general aviation education.
A pair of bills backed by AOPA won unanimous approval in various committee votes taken recently.
Among other action, AOPA Western Pacific Regional Manager John Pfeifer officially weighed in with letters to legislative leaders supporting House Bill 725 and the related Senate Bill 1221, noting the ongoing decline in the pilot population and the important role that state-aided college aeronautical programs can play in reversing it.
“Fully developed programs of this nature would finally offer young Hawaiians the very best opportunities to pursue successful careers in aviation—as currently afforded to students across the continental United States,” Pfeifer said.
Both bills call for unspecified appropriations to hire staff and begin building the programs. The House version and Senate version both have cleared various committee votes with unanimous approvals from every committee.
