Taking Care of our members

Typical questions concern website access, dues payments, and password changes, as well as allowed medical conditions, and buying and selling aircraft.

Members services representative Kim LaMay has fielded many questions in 35 years at AOPA, including some unusual requests: “Can someone help me pick out a paint color for my airplane?” “If I join, can you help me with my business?” Recently she received a call from a member looking for an old friend. She was able to connect the two so they could attend their 50-year class reunion together.

“Between Member Services and the PIC, we can handle almost anything a member can throw at us.”—Charles Lehman, AOPA Member ServicesMembers can contact AOPA Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time, at 800-USA-AOPA (800-872-2672) or via email at [email protected].

MEET FERDI MACK, SENIOR MANAGER, AOPA PILOT INFORMATION CENTER

As the senior manager of AOPA’s Pilot Information Center, Ferdi Mack oversees a staff of 17 individuals who assist more than 500 members every day, primarily via phone and email. Mack is a computer engineer and flight instructor, and he uses both skill sets by implementing technologies such as webinars, videos, and podcasts. “The best part about today’s online landscape is that we can utilize many different channels to provide useful resources to our members,” he says. “Everyone has a different preference, and we work to address each one, whether you’d prefer to listen in the car via podcast, watch short but thought-provoking videos, enjoy hourlong webinars, or read detailed white-paper-style subject reports online.”

Products and Services

Pilot Protection Services: Managing the paper chase

A few rules of thumb to follow when dealing with the FAA<

By Gary Crump

If you have spoken with a specialist at AOPA about a medical certification issue, you may have heard the importance of providing good documentation to the FAA to support your application for a medical. Having a medical application deferred is a bummer, and the delay that can happen after the deferral is a huge frustration, expense, and inconvenience.

There are a few rules of thumb we routinely espouse when you call AOPA after having been notified by the FAA.

The first and most important caveat is don’t ignore letters from the FAA. Eventually that letter may contain your medical certificate. In the interim, though, the FAA is probably asking you for some additional medical information needed to determine if you are qualified for the medical for which you applied. “Adequate documentation” is, admittedly, a relative term, but in most cases, the FAA letter will state exactly what it needs from you to determine your eligibility for a medical certificate. Provide the FAA only what it is asking for—nothing more and nothing less. If you provide less, the agency will just keep coming back asking for the documentation. Equally bad is giving the agency more than it asks for, especially if you aren’t paying attention to what you are sending.

The FAA asks for specific information that is important from a regulatory certification standpoint, even though your treating physician may say, “They don’t need that. You just had a little stent put in your coronary artery, for crying out loud!” There are aeromedically significant reasons the FAA asks for something, so don’t try to second-guess the reasons.

Another tip: Take responsibility for sending any requested information yourself to the FAA. Don’t trust anyone else—your family doctor’s office, the health care facility where you were treated, or even your AME—to send records for you to the FAA.

Finally, be patient. This is a complex and bureaucratic process and that means it isn’t always efficient. You will eventually hear something back from the FAA. I promise.

Gary Crump is the director of medical certification for AOPA’s Pilot Protection Services.

Tips from PIC: AOPA web resources

By Kathy Dondzila

Eighty-thousand pages. That’s the size of AOPA’s website, filled with aviation information. AOPA has made it easier than ever to find what you’re looking for, with improved navigation and a responsive search engine. Six tabs sort information into these main categories: Go Fly, News and Media, Training and Safety, Advocacy, Community, and Membership. Go Fly includes sections on all aspects of flying—from medical certification to flight planning to aircraft ownership. News and Media has a few categories, but don’t be fooled; each is packed with resources and easy access to AOPA’s magazines, newsletters, and AOPA Live videos, including extensive archives. The Training and Safety section holds a wealth of AOPA Air Safety Institute publications and courses, the schedule for AOPA’s popular webinars, and information hand-tailored for pilots across every stage of accomplishment: students, lapsed pilots, active pilots, CFIs, and career pilots. The Advocacy section highlights AOPA’s government-related efforts. For answers to questions on third-class medical reform, look here. The Community section has the 2017 AOPA Fly-in schedule, a running list of aviation events across the country, and resources for local flying clubs. And finally, the Membership tab is where you can read about your AOPA benefits, products, or drool over the AOPA 172 Sweepstakes aircraft. Still stuck? Give AOPA a call at 800-USA-AOPA (872-2672). We’ll be glad to help you, click by click.

Answers for Pilots

Vacation ideas

By Kathy Dondzila

There’s nothing like a winter storm to get pilots wishing for a vacation. We can sigh about it as we slog through the sleet, or we can check out some fabulous outings on AOPA’s website On the Go Fly tab, choose Destinations, and then the Travel Destinations Map to explore aviation excursions—some popular, others hidden gems. In Idaho, for instance, Johnson Creek Airport has a 3,400-foot runway, campgrounds, and a bunkhouse, perfect for an outdoor family adventure. If you prefer posh to rustic, there’s Madden’s on Gull Lake in Minnesota with four golf courses, a spa, and an opportunity to get your seaplane rating—or Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, as well as dozens of other destinations to discover. With links to airport information, articles, and more, you have a virtual travel guide at your fingertips. Once you’ve decided where you’ll go, use the AOPA Flight Planner to work out details of the flight. When you get close to your departure date, you can overlay wind and weather and adjust your flight path to stay in the best conditions—and maybe even catch a tailwind. The Weather Along Route tool in the AOPA Flight Planner allows you to visualize TAFs along your route at your passing time. Or, if you are thinking of an international trip, check out AOPA’s Bahamas and Caribbean Pilot’s Guides, or the AOPA web pages on flying to Canada, Mexico, and Central America.

Questions? Call AOPA a call, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., 800-USA-AOPA (872-2672) or email [email protected].

Kathy Dondzila is AOPA technical communications manager and an instrument-rated private pilot.

AOPA Foundation

Two engines, four rules

How to stay proficient flying multiengine aircraft

Learning to fly a twin-engine aircraft is a great adventure in any pilot’s flying career. Even if it’s in a small trainer, the aircraft looks more robust than its single-engine cousins and it exudes a certain flying accomplishment once you’ve entered the cockpit to fire up each engine.

But that extra engine requires extra respect for the limitations and characteristics of multiengine airplanes—especially of the one you will be flying. Multiengine airplanes generally offer better performance and greater safety; however, those benefits also come with special strings attached. Ask any multiengine pilot: Learning to fly with two engines means flying most of your training with one simulated failed engine. Why the emphasis on single-engine operations in a twin? In certain instances, piston-twin single-engine performance adversely affects the aircraft’s handling and its ability to climb. This can be especially hazardous close to the ground during takeoff and climbout, when “losing” one engine (or 50-percent power) in a typical piston twin translates to losing about 80 to 90 percent of performance—meaning a climb may no longer be possible. In addition, the “dead” engine’s drag and the operating engine’s thrust make it difficult to control the airplane unless you react swiftly and correctly to the situation. These are just a few examples of distinct flight dynamics multiengine pilots must consider.

Flying a twin means you must stay on top of the aircraft and be sharp, but how? A periodic dual flight with your MEI is one way to remain proficient. Learning from other experienced multi-engine pilots is an additional way to hone those skills.

In Taming the Twin: Four Rules for Safe Multiengine Flying, the AOPA Air Safety Institute interviewed several knowledgeable multiengine pilots. The video explores some of the proactive things pilots can do to ensure a safe outcome on every multi-engine flight. Watch the video, listen to the experts, and take away some of the finer points of flying a twin.

Video made possible by the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association and the Donner Canadian Foundation.

No room for a mistake

When air traffic control instructs you to exit the runway at a specific taxiway, they expect you to comply. If you don’t, it can put other aircraft, pilots, and passengers at risk. It did at Allentown, Pennsylvania, after a landing Cessna 172 missed the turnoff from the active runway when a regional airliner was cleared for takeoff from that runway. This AOPA Air Safety Institute animation of the mishap illustrates why it’s important to communicate properly with ATC and stay vigilant while moving on any airport surface area. Watch Runway Safety: Allentown, Pennsylvania to learn more and avoid making a similar mistake. If you find yourself lost at an unfamiliar tower-controlled airport, ask ATC for help. In this video, a controller explains what you can do to be safe.

Member Services

A good idea

Purchasing an aircraft with a partner

By Adam Meredith

Having a partner when you purchase an airplane makes it possible for you to share expenses. Shared expenses mean that you will be able to afford to fly more—and that’s a good thing.

Most lenders are OK with working with two to four partners. In general, partners help the cash flow; they make the financial situation look better. One important consideration in the underwriting process, though, is that it will take longer depending on the number of people involved. As a very general rule of thumb, two partners will take twice as long; three partners will take three times as long, and so on.

But if you’re patient, having partners reaps rewards. Airplanes are built to fly, and it doesn’t help anyone for an airplane to sit idle because of money constraints. Most experts agree an airplane should be flown a few hundred hours a year; that’s easier to do with more than one person flying the airplane. Critters can get into an idle airplane, wreaking havoc, even if the airplane lives in a hangar. More people flying means mechanical issues are more quickly addressed; problems typically identify themselves sooner. And when it comes to turbine airplanes, an aircraft that isn’t being flown makes mechanical issues worse. In fact, some turbine engine programs are made void if the airplane isn’t flown once every 30 days.

The biggest benefit in having partners for your aircraft are fixed costs such as hangar rent, insurance, annual, and avionics software updates.The biggest benefit in having partners for your aircraft is in sharing fixed costs such as hangar rent, insurance, annual, and avionics updates.

Of course, the logistics of financing an airplane as a partnership can get complicated. One partner may be paying for his or her share in cash while another partner requires financing. All partners typically need to get approved, even if one is paying cash. That’s why a clear operating agreement is mandatory. This document should spell out exactly what happens in case one partner defaults on the loan or is delinquent within the partnership. Some standard agreements are available on AOPA’s website, and AOPA Aviation Finance can help you navigate through the process if you’re financing an aircraft in a partnership.

With the benefits of an airplane partnership, AOPA Aviation Finance can expedite the turnaround time for loans that involve partners. Call 800-62.PLANE (75263) or go online for answers to your financing questions.

Adam Meredith is the president of AOPA Aviation Finance.