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Top Stories
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Advocacy
A group of powerful senators and representatives has introduced new legislation in both houses of Congress that would allow thousands of pilots to fly without going through the costly and time-consuming third class medical process and would offer new protections for GA pilots. The Pilot's Bill of Rights 2 would not require a third class medical certificate for private pilots making noncommercial VFR and IFR flights in aircraft weighing up to 6,000 pounds with up to six seats.
Read more...
 
AOPA Live This Week
Mavericks aerobatic team members are a highly seasoned group of pilots who prove age is no obstacle to flying with the utmost precision. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) talks about the Pilot's Bill of Rights 2, legislation that would expand medical reform to include IFR operations. Also this week, join us for an AOPA-hosted event that teaches kids about aviation and animal rescue.
Watch AOPA Live This Week®, Feb. 26...
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Technique and Safety
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Login required
You're intercepting a localizer and glideslope on this approach, but you're not flying an ILS! What gives? Find out why things are different on this unique approach to Roanoke Regional Airport's Runway 6.
Take the quiz...
Aircraft Maintenance
Pilots focus on preheating the engine during cold weather, but what about the cockpit? More than 30 percent of an aircraft's value is often tied up in the panel. In addition, the interior plastic, switches, levers, etc. are all expensive components that are vulnerable to severe weather. Here are tips to preheat the cockpit safely.
Read more...
Video
On the night of Oct. 9, 2009, a Mooney experienced an engine failure over the Gulf of Mexico. The pilot, realizing he wouldn't be able to reach land, had only one option: to ditch the aircraft in the rough, dark waters below. Had he prepared adequately for an over-water night flight?
Find out what he learned in Ditching in the Dark...
Blog
When the electrical system of a Piper Comanche failed at night, the pilot used an iPad to get to an airport. With internal or supplemental GPS, an electronic flight bag's ability to navigate is more accurate and far more versatile than VORs—but it's not perfect, notes Air Safety Institute Senior Safety Advisor Bruce Landsberg. Do you supplement your certified avionics with noncertified technology? Read more...
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Advocacy
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Advocacy
The FAA needs to reform its regulatory and certification processes, including changing the third class medical and making it easier to bring safety technology into the cockpit, AOPA told a House Aviation Subcommittee roundtable on Feb. 25. Read more...
Advocacy
The FAA has released an eight-minute video providing aviation medical examiners with guidance on the agency's new obstructive sleep apnea policy, which takes effect March 2. Read more...
Advocacy
The FAA's supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking on ECi cylinders is not justified by the agency's documentation and doesn't fully account for the economic and safety implications of its requirements, AOPA said in formal comments filed Feb. 23.
Read more...
Advocacy
AOPA connected with hundreds of pilots, aircraft owners, and aviation enthusiasts during the thirty-second Northwest Aviation Conference held in Puyallup, Washington, Feb. 21 and 22.
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AOPA Close to Home
Join the Airport Support Network
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, close to 2,500 Airport Support Network (ASN) volunteers work with AOPA headquarters to help save their airports, but we need more. To learn more and nominate yourself as a volunteer, visit the Airport Support Network online. See a list of airports that need and currently have volunteers.
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Health
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Article
AOPA has crafted a new insurance policy that takes the risk of losing your medical certificate out of a flying career.
Read more...
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Opinion
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Blog
Are you working too hard while flying? Opinion Leaders blogger Rob Mark offers a tip to make your flying life a little easier: "Next time you're out solo in level flight, simply let go of the control wheel or stick and watch what happens to the nose of the airplane." Mark outlines how to trim the airplane properly.
Read more...
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Travel
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Slideshow
With one hand on the yoke and the other on his camera, Hawaii-based photographer Brian Powers captures the awe-inspiring beauty of the islands from his 1979 Piper Cherokee in the March issue of AOPA Pilot. "It's amazing what only pilots get to see in Hawaii," he says. "Pilots who visit Hawaii will be amazed at the things they can see from the air. It's totally unlike visitors who stay on the ground."
Read more...
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Financial
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Members only
Aircraft transactions are sometimes handled in a rather casual manner with the parties relying on verbal arrangements or inexact terms written on the back of a napkin. You can reduce the risks inherent in an aircraft transaction, however, by following advice in an adage used famously by President Ronald Reagan: "Trust, but verify."
Read more...
Member benefits
AOPA Insurance Services provides you with comprehensive, competitive aviation and life insurance coverage, with the general aviation community in mind.
Read more...
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News and Notes
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Article
After nearly a year of voting for their favorite AOPA Pilot magazine covers, members have dubbed the March 2000 cover featuring the Grumman Widgeon the winner. AOPA Photographer Mike Fizer snapped the cover image for Barry Schiff's Grumman G-44 Widgeon feature. "Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation was known during its heyday as the Grumman Iron Works. There was nothing fragile about a Grumman-built airplane," Schiff writes.
Check out the cover...
Article
J. Reid Garrison, an airshow performer and formation pilot who has been part of the story line at the major aviation events across the years, including Sun 'n Fun and EAA AirVenture, was recently inducted into the South Carolina Aviation Hall of Fame.
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Article
Children from the Frederick, Maryland, area got a chance to climb into an airplane, fly a simulator, and meet a flying dog during Paws and Planes Day.
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Event
The Women of Aviation Worldwide Week community, which organizes activities to welcome women and girls into aviation, is issuing a challenge to pilots: give a female passenger her first flight in a small aircraft or fund a flight during Women of Aviation Worldwide Week March 2 through 8. The 2015 events celebrate 100 years of female pilots in combat, and organizers are encouraged to extend a special flight invitation to nonflying female military personnel and their daughters.
Find out more about the Fly it Forward Challenge online.
Article
A career spent "democratizing flight" is entering the realm of documentary movie-making as two filmmakers launch a project to tell Burt Rutan's story.
Read more...
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Career Opportunities
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Aviation job board
The Houma-Terrebonne Airport Commission is seeking an individual who is professional and personable, has political acumen, and has experience managing a general aviation airport with a high volume of both fixed- and rotary-wing traffic.
Apply for this exciting opportunity now.
AOPA career opportunities
Ever dream of turning your passion for aviation into a career? We're looking for an outreach and events coordinator; aviation event and meeting planner; vice president for major and leadership gifts; Sitecore developer; director of studies, research, and analysis; associate editor—Web/ePilot; and account manager II. To learn more about other AOPA career opportunities,
visit AOPA Online.
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Question of the Week
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Question
While transitioning from instrument reference to visual reference following an instrument approach, visual illusions can lead to landing errors. A pilot who encounters fog during this transition may experience which illusion?
Answer
The illusion of pitching up may occur when flying into fog, which may cause a pilot to steepen the approach abruptly. (Source: Instrument Flying Handbook, page 3-9.)
Got a question for our technical services staff? Contact AOPA. |
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Education and Seminars
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Flight Instructor Refresher Courses
Mar 7-8 - Phoenix, Arizona; and Orlando, Florida
Mar 14-15 - Columbia, Maryland; and Burlingame, California
Mar 21-22 - King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; Ontario, California; and Virginia Beach, Virginia
Apr 11-12 - Salt Lake City, Utah; Hebron, Kentucky; Atlanta, Georgia; and Indianapolis, Indiana
For a complete schedule, see AOPA Online. Can't make it in person? Sign up for the Air Safety Institute's Online eFIRC.
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Air Safety Institute Safety Seminars
Mar 2 - Bedford, Massachusetts; and Greenville, South Carolina
Mar 3 - Decatur, Georgia
Mar 4 - Huntsville, Alabama
Mar 6 - Dallas, Texas
Topics vary—for details and a complete schedule, see AOPA Online.
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Rusty Pilot Seminars
Feb 28 - Mobile, Alabama; Chandler, Arizona; and Burlington, Washington
Mar 5 - Dallas, Texas
Mar 19 - Buffalo, New York
Mar 21 - Frederick, Maryland; Spencer, Iowa; and Monterey, California
For a complete schedule, see AOPA Online.
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Aviation Calendar
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Check out user-submitted events from your region. To include an event or to search all events in the calendar, visit AOPA Online. AOPA does not endorse the events listed below, nor have ePilot editors edited the submissions. AOPA assumes no responsibility for events listed.
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ePilot Editors:
Sarah Deener
Alyssa Miller
Jim Moore
Production Assistant:
Melissa Whitehouse
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Contributors:
Jill W. Tallman
Elizabeth Tennyson
Warren Morningstar
Alton K. Marsh
Dave Hirschman
Tom Horne
Ian J. Twombly
Dan Namowitz
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