Pilar Wolfsteller is a senior editor for Air Safety Institute. She holds FAA commercial pilot and flight instructor certificates with an instrument rating as well as an EASA private pilot certificate. She’s been a member of AOPA since 2000, and the top two items on her ever-growing aviation bucket list include a coast-to-coast journey in a single-engine piston aircraft and a seaplane rating.
Every year, thousands of pilots face a hazard they usually never saw coming: a bird that decided to occupy the same airspace as they did. The consequence of such an impromptu and unintentional meeting in the air can range from a minor inconvenience all the way to a life-threatening emergency.
One morning soon you’ll wake up and the sun will be shining, the birds will be chirping, and you’ll wander outdoors to discover it’s almost T-shirt weather. Today, you tell yourself, today’s the day to get back into the sky. The fly-in season will be here before you know it.
More than a dozen aviation associations will join AOPA in launching the National Pause for General Aviation Safety on April 1 at the Sun 'n Fun Aerospace Expo in Lakeland, Florida.