OF INTEREST TO PILOTS

• JAIL FOR DIABETIC PILOT
  Pilot Ronald Crews was sentenced to 16 months in prison for lying about a medical condition that led in 2002 to his diabetic seizure while at the controls of a Cape Air Cessna 402. Crews, then 50 years of age, had flown with Cape Air for four years and had not disclosed to the FAA his insulin dependency. He will serve two years probation following completion of his jail term. The Feb. 8, 2002, flight out of Martha's Vineyard for Hyannis with four passengers aboard was spared potential disaster by the actions of one passenger -- a Cape Air security supervisor and pilot trainee. Melanie Oswalt, then 24, took the controls with 48 hours of experience under her belt and managed a gear-up landing at non-towered Provincetown airport at the north end of Cape Cod. The airport was closed at the time of the landing and located well beyond the flight's intended point of arrival. None of those aboard were injured. The U.S. Attorney's office says that Crews had for his entire career hidden the condition from the FAA. More...
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• NEVER AGAIN ONLINE: BIRDSTRIKE ON LANDING
  Not even routine flights are always predictable, as this pilot learned upon an approach to landing at a familiar airport in South Carolina. "My effort to ace the landing had created a low approach speed, and the bird strike distraction was about to prove more ominous than a broken windshield. I pushed the yoke forward, birds going everywhere, the stall horn still blaring, and the airport coming up awfully fast," recalls Fleming Mattox in the latest installment of Never Again Online
  
  
• V-Speeds (There are 34 Critical Speeds) Designed for each specific aircraft. This list also includes Acronyms and abbreviations.
  
  
• Stalls and Spins – Study them to stay alive. Do you know what really causes an aircraft to stall and spin, or the difference between a spin and a spiral? Test your knowledge with this quiz
  
  
• Question: Am I required to have a current medical to act as a safety pilot while my friend (who has a current medical) practices instrument approaches?
  
  Answer: Yes, a safety pilot is always required to have a current medical. When operating an aircraft under simulated instrument conditions, FAR 91.109(b) requires a qualified safety pilot be in the other control seat. The safety pilot is considered a "required pilot flight crewmember" and is therefore required to hold at least a current third class medical certificate per FAR 61.3(c)(1), even if that person is not acting as the PIC. For more information, view our subject report. How many of our pilots are aware of this?
  
  
• Sedona, Ariz. A Peterson Cessna 182 conversion fly-in takes place May 1 through 4 at Sedona (SEZ). For more information, contact Kevin Moore, 408/483-7971.