Piper Aircraft stopped manufacturing the J-3 Cub in 1947. Companies such as American Legend took up the mantle and began selling Light Sport versions that have modern features such as the ground-adjustable carbon fiber propeller on the Super Legend shown here. Designed for low and slow flying, the Super Legend cruises at 98 to 108 mph on a 115-horsepower Lycoming O-233 engine. Innovations aside, it comes <br/>standard with heel brakes.
What: American Legend Super Legend
Where: Sulphur Springs, Texas
Photographer: Mike Fizer
AOPA Action: AOPA unveils guide to help start flying clubs
Provides 'useful roadmap'
AOPA recently released a helpful tool that will steer members through the critical steps of starting a flying club. AOPA’s Guide to Starting a Flying Club identifies the most important aspects to consider when bringing a club from inception to full operation.
“This guide was created to provide a useful roadmap to pilots starting a club,” said Woody Cahall, leader of AOPA’s flying club initiative. “It addresses the biggest roadblocks to starting new flying clubs and it provides commonsense advice that pilots will be able to apply when launching clubs all over the country.”
Each chapter in the guide covers a specific topic of interest from how to choose the right aircraft to insurance considerations. AOPA has also assembled a collection of sample documents, forms, and other useful resources, like sample operating rules and aircraft lease agreements.
Download AOPA’s Guide to Starting a Flying Club on the website (www.aopa.org/Pilot-Resources/Flying-Clubs/Club-Resources).
AOPA’s 2012 research on flying clubs proved the overwhelmingly positive impact clubs have on the GA community. The survey found that more than half of all active pilots are past or present members of a flying club and virtually all of them consider club membership a positive experience.
AOPA’s efforts around flying clubs are aimed at building a stronger community in which more people earn pilot certificates, pilots are more active, and the flying lifetime of pilots is extended.
In addition to the new starter guide, AOPA provides many other resources to help strengthen existing clubs and encourage new ones:
- AOPA Flying Club Insurance Program—Several exciting features includes the ability to “stack” non-owner policy limits. A club member who owns 20 percent or less of the club aircraft and has significantly greater assets than other members can buy a non-owner policy and have those policy limits “stack” on top of the club aircraft insurance policy limits. This provides a means for individual flying club members to secure the higher liability protections they might individually desire or require. This is a kind of policy customizability never before found in a club policy. The program also allows for special rates for clubs between three and 10 members (with flat rates available as needed for clubs that grow beyond that level). And it is now easy for clubs with more than 10 members to get insurance, and the new program does not charge for “social members.”
- Aircraft Finance—Through its finance company, AOPA has a new program that offers up to 50 percent financing with no personal guaranties for established clubs and, on an exception basis, for larger start-up clubs. If a member of the flying club is able to guarantee the loan, AOPA Aviation Finance Company has programs that provide up to 70 percent financing.
- Flying Club Finder—An online tool that allows pilots to locate the nearest clubs in AOPA’s national network.
- Club Connector— A monthly newsletter that allows clubs to share information, resources, best practices and work together on issues of mutual concern.
- Flying Club webinars
- AOPA Flying Club Network Facebook Page
“There are more than 600 flying clubs in the U.S. and AOPA is committed to helping grow that number,” said Cahall. “Flying clubs have introduced thousands of people to the fun and camaraderie of flying. As the GA industry seeks to reverse rising costs and diminishing pilot numbers, flying clubs are one important solution to keeping GA strong and growing.”
Club Connector Newsletter
A monthly newsletter for the entire flying club community. We talk everything from club operations to multi-club fly-outs. If you are a member or officer of an existing club or looking to start one, we have something for you (www.aopa.org/Pilot-Resources/Flying-Clubs).
Industry news: Bell, Enstrom, building new helicopters
Flight testing beginning
A leader in its field since 1967, the Bell JetRanger 206 now has a new design, a separation of the two words in its name, and a new number—the $1 million, five-seat Bell 505 Jet Ranger X. Announced in the spring of 2013, it should fly by the end of the year. Chinese-owned Enstrom Helicopters also has a new $400,000 TH180 piston-engine trainer expected to be certified in 2015. A 210-horsepower Lycoming HIO-390 engine powers it. The hourly operating cost is expected to be $175.
The Jet Ranger X speed and range, 125 knots true airspeed and 360 nautical miles, are close to the original, but the useful load at 1,500 pounds is much higher. Actual speed and especially range will be determined once the helicopter begins flight testing. It has a few other upgrades such as Garmin G1000H integrated avionics and a Turbomeca Arrius 2R engine with computerized engine control. The engine was to have been run for the first time on a test bench in April.
Events: Women In Aviation holds record-setting event
Twenty-fifth anniversary conference sees high attendance
More than 4,500 attendees packed the twenty-fifth annual Women in Aviation International conference in March, setting a record for the association. “I could never have imagined the size of this conference back 25 years ago,” said WAI President Peggy Chabrian—125 people attended that event.
Four women were inducted into WAI’s international Pioneer Hall of Fame—Dr. Nancy Currie, astronaut and mission specialist on the International Space Station; Beryl Markham, author of the aviation classic West with the Night; Sally Ride, astronaut and first American woman in space; and Sheila Scott, a British pilot with more than 100 records, trophies, and awards.
As part of the celebration, a time capsule was created to be opened at the fiftieth anniversary conference. In addition to publications, products, toys, and other items placed in the time capsule, members were given a card asking some questions about themselves and the industry, one of which was a prediction about the aviation community 25 years from now.
The event featured WAI’s third annual “Bring Your Daughter to the Conference Day,” also known as Daughter Day. During this daylong event, girls from age 10 to 17 take part in activities to encourage them to select aviation as a career. “This was our biggest Daughter Day by far with 250 girls and 80 chaperones,” said Chabrian.
Some 241 international delegates attended the conference. The largest group of international attendees were from Nigeria, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates. The exhibit hall displayed 133 companies and organizations, representing all aspects of the aviation community, and 86 scholarships were distributed totaling nearly $500,000. For more information, visit the website (www.wai.org).
Milestones: AOPA to celebrate anniversary
Association was formed in May 1939
It was 1939 and war was looming in Europe. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president of the United States. The population of the country was 130,879,718. One gallon of automobile gas cost 10 cents and a loaf of bread was 9 cents.
At Wings Field in Philadelphia, five men gathered to plan what would become the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association—AOPA. Laurence P. and Phillip T. Sharples, C. Townsend Luddington, Alfred I. Wolf, and J. Story Smith were “private fliers” who recognized that the beginning general avition community would need local, state, and national representation to protect its interests.
In addition to founding the association, the group also contracted to produce a monthly publication. Beginning in 1939, AOPA and the Ziff-Davis Publishing Company joined to produce several pages in Ziff-Davis’ publication Popular Aviation, the most successful of the many aviation publications of the day. “AOPA News” first appeared in the September 1939 issue and by November 1940 was a nine-page section. AOPA’s first employee, Joseph B. “Doc” Hartranft, wrote the “AOPA Section.” In January 1943, Popular Aviation changed its name to Flying magazine. In May 1943, the “AOPA Section” became “The AOPA Pilot” and in 1958 The AOPA Pilot was launched as a standalone publication, severing ties with Flying. The association used the title The AOPA Pilot until November 1979.
AOPA’s efforts to protect, defend, and promote general aviation have continued since its inception in 1939. Over the past 75 years, the association has won many battles, ensuring that GA in this country is one of its freedoms. AOPA continues to advance the concerns of general aviation pilots and will celebrate its seventy-fifth anniversary during its planned six AOPA Fly-Ins across the country this year, with a special emphasis on the anniversary at the Frederick, Maryland, fly-in October 4 at the association's headquarters.
First Look: Five lessons for student pilots from brain research
Honeywell Aerospace helping pilots operate at the top of their game
Crosswind landings can throw so many considerations at a student pilot that it’s hard to process them all at once: Line up on the centerline, slip (or crab) into the wind, don’t forget airspeed—and attitude—and time that flare! Those skills will come with experience, but managing workload and dealing with distractions are challenges that follow a pilot throughout his or her career. Better understanding the science of your brain can provide insight into your training—and help you stay in your mental “sweet spot” of productivity.
Researchers at Honeywell Aerospace are investigating how hard the brain is working at different moments in flight to develop technologies that help pilots operate at the top of their game. The researchers are using filtered signals from electroencephalography (EEG) sensors to measure pilots’ cognitive effort in the cockpit: too high, and a pilot is overloaded, but too little, and a pilot becomes disengaged. Honeywell is using its research to develop cutting-edge technology for the airline flight deck, but the science of brain activity sheds light on some lessons your CFI might already know:
It’s easy to miss the “invisible gorilla.” You’ve nailed that heading, but how’s your altitude? The human capacity to focus intensely on one thing at the expense of everything else was demonstrated dramatically in a much-cited study published in 1999: Subjects were shown a video of two teams, one in white shirts and one in black shirts, and asked to count the number of passes made by the team in white. In the middle of the video, a woman in a gorilla suit walks to the center of the screen, pounds her chest, and walks out of the frame. Half of the people tasked with counting passes missed the gorilla. How does that apply to you in the cockpit? If you’re fixating on one instrument, consider how much you might be missing. A pilot who is fixating might show normal workload on the EEG when the flight instruments tell a different story—for instance an unusual attitude.
Identifying when a pilot is overwhelmed is important to Honeywell because the company can then develop ways to automate tasks so the pilot can regain focus. A disengaged brain is less likely to pick up on critical information such as an annunciator light or climbing exhaust gas temperature. Honeywell is considering ways to introduce tasks when a pilot’s attention wanes.
Honeywell’s technology can detect lapsed attention in aerospace workers like baggage screeners, who must maintain focus even during a repetitive, monotonous task. In testing, some people respond, while others don’t.
EEG measures show that cognitive effort is both task specific and individual specific. Some phases of flight, like takeoffs and landings, naturally take more mental effort, but the effort required isn’t uniform for everyone. In a training environment, remember that everyone’s learning experience is different.
It may feel at times during training like your brain just can’t handle any more. At the time, maybe it can’t. But as tasks become more familiar and you begin to master the skills of flying, your brain will process information more efficiently. Brain scans of a novice and skilled person performing the same task show a dramatically different picture: The first lit up like a Christmas tree, and the latter showing activation in just a few select areas.
As your training progresses, you’ll get better at holding altitude and heading, and juggling all the tasks of a crosswind landing. Paying attention to your attention levels during flight can help you better identify when you need to lower your workload or restore your focus—and you don’t even need an EEG.
News: Colorado pilot creates barter website
Alternative way to pay
Do you have services to barter in exchange for flight training? Are you a flight instructor who would accept those services in exchange for your talents? If so, Stephanie Thoen hopes you’ll visit a new website, www.willworktofly.org.
Thoen, of Aurora, Colorado, created the website as a means of offering an alternative method for student pilots to pay for their flight training. Registration is free for flight instructors; prospective student pilots pay a yearly fee of $18.95. Thoen said she plans to set aside 10 percent of fees toward monthly scholarships for registered users and has begun the process of registering her business, Limitless Aviation, as a nonprofit.
The website suggests numerous services that registrants may wish to offer, such as accounting, automotive work, house- and pet sitting, property management, tutoring, catering, and many more. If you aren’t particularly skilled in any of those areas, the website also suggests that timeshares, cabins, hunting property, boats, and other recreational vehicles can be posted if owners are willing to trade or sell.
Thoen said she was inspired to create the website after running out of funds to pay for her own training. She was discharged from the U.S Army in January 2014 and had applied for flight training assistance through the GI Bill. She has been unable to get full credit for her active duty time from the Veterans Administration and is just 16 hours away from completing her private pilot certificate.
“My business isn’t just targeting” primary student pilots, Thoen said. “I want to find CFIs of all ranks of experience who are willing to barter with students all the way up to ATP.”
See you in San Marcos
Texas gears up for AOPA’s first regional fly-in of 2014
AOPA’s first-ever regional fly-in will be held April 26 at the San Marcos Municipal Airport. An exciting and action-packed day of fun, friends, food, and flying awaits AOPA members, pilots, and aviation enthusiasts.
A pancake breakfast will accompany a pilot town hall meeting with AOPA President Mark Baker, and a free barbeque lunch for all AOPA members and their spouses will be prepared by one of San Marcos’ best local restaurants. Some of aviation’s leading speakers will be on hand to share their knowledge in seminars covering safety, maintenance, and technology. Bruce Landsberg, Rod Machado, Adrian Eichhorn, and John Zimmerman will be with us in San Marcos. Spend the rest of the day exploring exhibits, visiting with AOPA leaders, and getting to know fellow aviators.
RSVP for the free lunch and find complete details online.
AOPA is hosting six fly-ins and our seventy-fifth anniversary homecoming in 2014. If San Marcos isn’t convenient, check out the schedule online to find one that is.
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