Membership News & Notes

Start exploring

We can help you plan your next trip

The editors and writers of AOPA have gathered their collective wisdom of great places to fly in one place online (www.aopa.org/destinations). From inspiring stories to great photography, this section of AOPA.org has everything you need to start planning your next great flying trip:

• Stories on destinations from Maine to Mexico, featuring ski areas to snorkeling spots, and historic aviation sites to challenging airports.
• An interactive map you can view by region—or see the entire United States.
• AOPA Hangar discussion posts by pilots who offer advice on places to fly.
• Discounts on car rentals and hotels.
• Links to additional travel information such as restaurants, museums, and lodging.
• The AOPA Flight Planner, airport information, AOPA Go, and AOPA weather-related information.
• Tips for international travel.

Travel Pilot newsletter planned

Explore the world from the airport out with AOPA Travel Pilot. This free biweekly email newsletter will feature popular general aviation destinations as well as hidden gems that should be on every pilot’s must-visit list. The newsletter will debut this spring.

AOPA Travel Pilot will inspire big trips, weekend getaways, and day trips when flying solo or with family and friends. Whether you are a city slicker or love the outdoors, enjoy fine dining and wine tastings or relaxed family restaurants, prefer swanky hotels or cozy bed and breakfasts, AOPA Travel Pilot will cover it all. Travel stories are written by pilots for pilots, and include airports to fly into, tips for landing at tricky mountain strips or navigating complex airspace, and advice for viewing areas from the air.

AOPA Travel Pilot will be a free offering to members; sign up (www.aopa.org/travelpilot) to receive stories about destinations that will inspire you to travel; advice on where to stay and what to do; videos of great locations to visit; a personalized calendar of upcoming events in your area; and AOPA member travel discounts and products.

Web: www.aopa.org/destinations

Bahamas bound?

White sandy beaches are calling your name

If you are thinking about a trip to the Bahamas or Caribbean in 2018, start your planning with the Bahamas and Caribbean editions of the AOPA Pilot Guides. the trusted source of flight planning information for pilots who love to fly the islands. Recently redesigned, these comprehensive guide books are updated annually and are packed with everything you need to prepare for a trip to the Bahamas and Caribbean islands, including maps with airport data and the layout of each island, customs information, and more.

Featuring photographs of every airport (61 in the Bahamas and 88 in the Caribbean), the guides provide runway and navigation information, as well as other flying tips. There is information on the local culture, local customs, the best way to get around while you’re there, what the food is like, and tips and suggestions from other pilots for where to stay and fun things to do. AOPA provides links to forms necessary when traveling to these tropical destinations.

The guides cost $39.95 each; charts are $12.95 each. The guides also can be purchased as an app on iTunes. If the turquoise waters and white, sandy beaches are calling your name, begin your preflight with the AOPA Pilot Guides.

Member Services: Legally Speaking

Compliance issues

LLC or corporation?

By Jared Allen

If you fly an aircraft that is owned by a business entity such as a corporation or limited liability company, be aware that an issue with the legal status of the entity could raise compliance issues with registration and airworthiness requirements, and may affect insurance coverage.

In a recent interpretation, the FAA’s Office of the Chief Counsel stated that “a business entity that does not have or has lost legal status in the state in which it has been incorporated is neither eligible to register an aircraft nor operate that aircraft.” The FAA stated that this was a state-specific determination; likely impacts are suspension, forfeiture, or administrative dissolution.

The FAA’s position is based upon requirements for a registration to be “valid” and “effective” as described in 14 CFR Part 47: Aircraft Registration. Under FAR 47.43, one circumstance that invalidates a registration is if, at the time the registration application was made, the applicant was not qualified to submit the application. For an entity meeting U.S. citizenship requirements to be qualified, it must be organized under the laws of the United States. If the entity was qualified at the time of application but then later loses this status, the registration would then be rendered ineffective pursuant to FAR 47.41.

Operating an aircraft with an invalid or ineffective registration not only violates registration requirements, but can also result in airworthiness violations and affect insurance coverage. Under FAR 21.181, an airworthiness certificate is effective only as long as certain maintenance requirements are met, and the aircraft is registered in the United States. For some insurance policies, an effective airworthiness certificate is explicitly required for coverage.

Consider routinely checking the entity’s legal status online, as many states have websites that provide such information free of charge. While unintentional registration violations may be resolved under the FAA’s compliance philosophy, legal enforcement action such as a pilot certificate suspension or civil penalty is still possible. For knowingly and willfully operating an unregistered aircraft, federal law provides for imprisonment up to three years and/or a fine.

Jared Allen is an in-house attorney with AOPA’s Legal Services Plan and an instrument-rated private pilot.

Member Services: AOPA FINANCE

Movin’ on up

First, determine the mission

By Adam Meredith

Low performance was fine when you were in training. “Slow” was the right speed and you had only your flight bag and one passenger to carry. Now that you have your certificate it may occur to you that faster is better for what you do, and utility is important. It could be time to move up.

You start looking at aircraft with more capability, more seats or more speed, such as a Cirrus SR22, a Beechcraft Bonanza, or a Mooney. What made you think of utility in the first place? The answer is your typical mission profile, the same thing you need for deciding which aircraft is best for you. If you most often have a family of five traveling for recreational purposes, maybe you should look at a Bonanza, a Piper Saratoga, or a Piper Cherokee Six.

Or maybe it is just you and one or two others traveling to a destination 500 miles away—and time is important. For those trips maybe a Cessna TTX, Cessna 182, or a Mooney Acclaim is best. You don’t need cabin space, and you don’t need a ton of speed, so four seats are fine. The Cirrus SR20 is advertised as a dual-role airplane because it is easy to manage for the “newer pilot,” yet fast enough to save time on business trips. Pilot experience should be factored into the decision as well.

What’s the distance of your average mission? How many people will typically be onboard? How much stuff do you need to carry? Asking those questions should help narrow which aircraft best suits your needs. AOPA Aviation Finance can help with those decisions, and help you understand ownership costs to avoid surprises later.

Considering aircraft ownership? AOPA Aviation Finance will make your purchase experience as smooth as possible. For information about aircraft financing, please visit the website or call 1-800-62-PLANE (75263).

ASI NEWS

Time to spare?

On-the-go learning with the AOPA Air Safety Institute

By Machteld Smith

If you enjoy learning and honing your pilot skills, you’ll hit the jackpot when you visit the AOPA Air Safety Institute website (www.airsafetyinstitute.org). You can choose from a vast collection of programs, including online courses, publications, videos, podcasts, and quizzes. If you have 30 to 40 minutes available to brush up on a topic, you might take a course on your laptop. Only 10 minutes to spare? Pull up one of ASI’s safety quizzes on your phone.

During 2017, the AOPA Air Safety Institute updated and converted its more than 60 quizzes to a format optimized for use on a handheld device such as a tablet or smartphone.

Here are some examples to get you started:

• Radio Communication—Proper radio terminology goes a long way in clear radio communication. Get on the same wavelength with other traffic and ATC (www.airsafetyinstitute.org/quiz/radiocomm).
• IFR Quiz: Obstacle Departure Procedures—Do you need an ATC clearance to fly a published obstacle departure? (www.airsafetyinstitute.org/quiz/odp).
• Night Operations—When approaching an airport with pilot-controlled lighting, the runway lights activated by another pilot could turn off before you land unless you click the frequency to keep them on. How long will the lights stay illuminated once activated? (www.airsafetyinstitute.org/quiz/nightoperations).
• Airspace Review—Do you need an ATC clearance to fly through complex airspace using a published VFR transition route? (www.airsafetyinstitute.org/quiz/airspace).
• IFR Quiz: Cross-Country to Crescent City—Why are some localizers depicted on en route charts while others are not? (www.airsafetyinstitute.org/quiz/crescentcity).

Each quiz has 10 questions and includes an explanation of the correct answers. Visit the website (www.airsafetyinstitute.org/quizzes) for the full list.

Machteld Smith is an aviation technical writer for the AOPA Air Safety Institute.

Online statistic snapshots

Are you interested in keeping a tab on certain GA accident statistics? You can now access major accident causes in the Accident Analysis section online (www.airsafetyinstitute.org/accident-analysis). The statistical graphs cover nine major elements: decision making; takeoffs, landings, and go-arounds; mechanical and maintenance; maneuvering flight; descent and approach; fuel mismanagement; stalls; collision avoidance; and weather. Some categories drill down deeper. For example, while the main takeoffs graph provides the total number of takeoff accidents, its subcategory—listed at the bottom of the page—breaks these down by accident type, such as loss of control, delayed abort, or runway conditions. Data are updated each April to be current through the end of the preceding calendar year, covering the most recent 10-year period for which the NTSB’s investigations are reasonably complete.

Member Products: Tips from PIC

‘It depends’

Consequences of a diagnosis can vary

By Mike Filucci

When you get a cancer diagnosis, it will set you back on your heels. It doesn’t necessarily mean an end to your flying—as with most things aviation, it depends. Mine was non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, with an 80-percent survival rate—odds were in my favor, and I came out on the winning side.

What do you do to get back in the cockpit once you have completed your treatment? Back to your AME you go, medical records in hand, to apply for an authorization for special issuance of a medical certificate. Your AME will complete the requisite physical, review your oncologist’s medical records and lab reports, and forward everything to the FAA Aerospace Medical Certification Division for review. With cancer, your medical records should show that you are in remission, not taking any disqualifying drugs, and that you can perform the duties of a pilot “without endangering public safety.” If the Aerospace Medical Division is satisfied you meet those requirements, a special issuance will be issued for your first, second, or third class medical. The SI likely will stipulate that you be monitored, meaning “examined,” by your oncologist every three months for the first two years, then every six months for three additional years. An SI for cancer will also have a time limitation, typically one year, and will be withdrawn earlier if there is evidence of relapse.

BasicMed provides an alternative path to certification, and if your state-certified physician will sign you off, this could be the best option. However, if you subsequently develop one of the FAA-specified 11 disqualifying medical conditions, BasicMed will not be valid. Call your AOPA Pilot Information Center for specifics: 800-872-2672, because, as I said, it depends.

Mike Filucci is vice president of AOPA Pilot Information Services.

ANSWERS FOR PILOTS

Prebuy inspection: Missing STC paperwork

By Kathy Dondzila

If you are thinking about buying an airplane this spring, you may be wondering whether to have a prebuy inspection done. If you are serious about that aircraft, it’s money well-invested, as a prebuy inspection is your chance to research and investigate every aspect of your potential acquisition. It should include a thorough inspection of the mechanical and cosmetic condition—and the legal status—of the aircraft.

This includes ensuring that the FAA records on the aircraft are up to date. Find out which supplemental type certificates (STCs) are installed on the aircraft and make sure you have the paperwork for them. There are all kinds of STCs, some for small modifications such as oil filters, and some for much larger modifications. For each STC, a logbook entry must show that the modification was installed according to the procedure outlined in the STC, and a Form 337 must have been filed with the FAA.

Occasionally, a Form 337 is missing. What do you do? Find out who owns the STC and obtain a copy of it. Verify that the installation complies with the requirements of the STC; then, refile a Form 337. Sounds easy enough. But what if the STC owner is no longer in business and a search of the FAA database yields no results? You can seek a field approval through the FAA, or remove the modification and replace it with an updated STC product, if one is available.

Questions? Call AOPA Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time at 800-USA-AOPA (872-2672). AOPA

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