Funding aviation’s future

MEET MELISSA RUDINGER: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE AOPA FOUNDATION

Melissa Rudinger has been with AOPA for nearly 30 years, joining the AOPA Foundation as executive director in November 2019. Rudinger leads a team of dedicated professionals who are focused on funding programs that grow the pilot population, improve safety, and make flying more accessible and affordable. In her previous AOPA roles she has worked in both public relations and government affairs, as well as serving as co-anchor on AOPA Live This Week with Tom Haines.

She has advocated for general aviation interests at the federal, state, and local levels of government on matters affecting airmen, aircraft, and air traffic control. She has also represented AOPA’s international policy interests at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and other international regulatory bodies. Additionally, Rudinger serves on RTCA’s board of directors and previously served as co-chair of the FAA NextGen Advisory Committee Subcommittee and as an appointee for the National Park Service Overflight Advisory Group. She has FAA Academy training in airspace design and analysis, air traffic management, terminal procedures development, and environmental policy.

A pilot for more than 35 years, Rudinger holds a commercial pilot certificate with a lighter-than-air rating. She began her aviation career in 1983 at a small FBO in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Around this time, she launched Conestoga Hot Air Balloons, a commercial hot air balloon business that operated half a dozen balloons providing sightseeing flights and flight instruction. The business was also an FAA certified balloon repair station.

The AOPA Foundation raises funds through gifts from generous donors who make contributions above and beyond their AOPA membership dues. Together with its donors, the foundation is building a stronger, safer pilot community to protect our freedom to fly and create a brighter future for general aviation.

The AOPA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable, educational, and scientific organization that exists to educate the public on the value of general aviation and to ensure the future of general aviation in America.

For the fifth year in a row, the James C. Ray Foundation has extended a challenge grant to the AOPA Foundation and its supporters—for every dollar raised toward the You Can Fly program by August 31, 2020, the Ray Foundation will match gifts dollar for dollar (up to $2.5 million). To double the impact of your gift and help move the needle in growing and preserving general aviation, visit the website:

Web: aopafoundation.org/challenge

SUCCESS STORIES

Thanks to generous donors to the AOPA Foundation, the AOPA Air Safety Institute creates safety education resources that are available to all pilots free of charge. In 2019, ASI’s seminars, videos, podcasts, and publications were utilized more than 7.7 million times.

• The mission of AOPA’s You Can Fly program is to get—and keep—people flying. Funded by contributions to the AOPA Foundation, You Can Fly has four initiatives—High School Aviation STEM Curriculum, Flight Training, Flying Clubs, and Rusty Pilots—each of which addresses the unique needs of its respective segment. By reaching pilots and future pilots at key points in their journey, You Can Fly is introducing a new generation to aviation careers, helping improve the flight training experience, making flying more affordable and accessible, and getting lapsed pilots back in the air.
• Among the AOPA Foundation-funded efforts to grow the pilot population, flight training scholarships provide important financial assistance to help aspiring pilots achieve their dreams of flight. In 2019, 123 scholarships totaling more than $1 million were awarded. Of those, 80 high school students and 20 teachers each earned $10,000 scholarships funded through the Ray Foundation.

Web: aopafoundation.org/donate

Air Safety Institute

Just a short flight

Learning from a commercial flight gone wrong

By Alicia Herron

On the afternoon of May 15, 2017, a Learjet 35A on a positioning flight from Philadelphia to Teterboro, New Jersey, crashed while circling to land at Teterboro in visual conditions. As part of its investigation, the NTSB released disturbing audio transcripts from the cockpit voice recorder in the Learjet. The transcripts revealed dysfunctional cockpit operations between a task-saturated captain and an inexperienced first officer, flying a demanding airplane in one of the most intense airspace regions in the world.

While there was no single factor or mistake that led to this accident, one key contributor was pilot complacency. Complacency is not limited to pilots involved in accidents, and it takes many forms. How often do you “get away” with skipping parts of a checklist? Or don’t check the weather for a quick local flight? Or skim a briefing for an approach on a VFR day? Does flying with or without passengers change your approach to personal minimums, or the overall risk you’re willing to take in a flight? We’ve probably all caught ourselves being complacent at one time or another, which hopefully spurred us to change our behavior to become safer pilots. But regrettably, we may have let the mistake slide—if nothing bad came of it, then was a small error really that critical? Maybe not today, but it might be tomorrow. A single oversight isn’t likely to be deadly, but multiple oversights can add up, with catastrophic results.

Complacency is insidious, and we may become complacent gradually, over time, with little realization that a deviance from standard operating procedures has become the new normal. One way to find out any phases of flight in which you might have developed complacency is by flying with an instructor and willingly opening up your abilities for critique and, therefore, improvement. By doing so, you will ultimately make yourself more aware of where you lack skills as a pilot and places to improve and avoid complacency.

As general aviation pilots, we can reflect on this accident to better understand the importance of a focused cockpit, how quickly situational awareness can erode, and the dangerous consequences when it does. Learn from the links in the accident chain and how to apply the lessons learned from this commercial flight gone wrong.

Watch Accident Case Study: Just a Short Flight on the AOPA Air Safety Institute’s YouTube channel.

Web: youtube.com/airsafetyinstitute

Email [email protected]

70 years of safety

Since 1950, the general aviation accident rate has decreased by 90 percent. It’s no coincidence that’s the same year the AOPA Air Safety Institute began creating safety programs for the pilot community.

ASI is committed to reducing general aviation mishaps by providing free educational resources and supporting initiatives that improve general aviation safety and grow the pilot population.

The ASI team’s passion for aviation, creativity, insightful education, research, and analysis is evident in its educational offerings. From award-winning online courses to in-person seminars, flight instructor renewal courses, accident analysis, and much more, the products are created with the goal of helping all pilots fly more safely.

Web: airsafetyinstitute.org

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Pilot Protection Service

Medically speaking

Know your numbers

By Gary Crump

I’ve been blessed with generally good genetics and have had no serious health challenges my whole life. I work out, and annual health screenings have historically had good results. I monitor my blood pressure on a regular basis, and I noticed it starting to creep up slowly over the past few months, in the high 130s systolic. Considering my baseline has always been in the normal range, I brought it up with my health-care provider. That started a mild cascade of change that caught me by surprise. Based on my blood pressure readings, he suggested I start with a low-dose trial of lisinopril, an ACE inhibitor. I also had a complete blood count with lipid panel ordered at the same visit, and my follow-up visit three weeks later brought even more surprises.

My fasting glucose was slightly high, and so was the LDL. That led to another pharmacy visit, this time for simvastatin to bring the LDL back into line. During the follow-up, he ran a risk profile for heart disease based on age, blood pressure, and total and HDL cholesterol that showed my 10-year risk for heart disease or stroke was almost 20 percent! It was a sobering realization.

I’ve spent my career at AOPA telling pilots that taking anti-hypertensives and statins is “no big deal,” and it really isn’t, but when it happened to me, it did get my attention. Although the thought of being on two new meds in the same visit wasn’t sitting well with me at the time, the risk/benefit equation made sense. Being on a statin is reported to lower the long-term risk by about half, so I’m OK with that.

So, know your numbers, and don’t ignore the need to treat the condition(s). The FAA is fine with virtually all blood pressure meds and statin. If you have questions, do not hesitate to give us a call.

Web: aopa.org/pps

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

Adam answers

engine programs

By Adam Meredith, President, AOPA Finance

Q: I’m looking to finance a Cessna Citation. The current owner does not have it on an engine program. Will that be a problem with the lenders when I try to finance?

A: Generally, the best financing options are available to turbofan aircraft enrolled in an engine maintenance program. We still have plenty of options for those not enrolled in a program. Lenders are able to get comfortable without engine programs by either requiring a larger down payment, setting up a reserve account at the bank to cover maintenance, or sufficient cash reserves to cover maintenance and/or overhauls. We can always discuss your options with a quick call at 800-627-5263.

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF MEMBERS
The annual meeting of the members of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has moved to 9 a.m. on Tuesday, September 15, 2020, at the headquarters of AOPA, 421 Aviation Way, Frederick, Maryland, 21701, located on Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK), for the purpose of receiving reports and transacting such other business as may properly come before the meeting, specifically including the election of trustees. If you are not able to attend, but would like to appoint your voting proxy, please visit www.aopa.org/myaccount or call 1-800-872-2672.  —Justine A. Harrison, Secretary