OF INTEREST TO OUR PILOTS

1. TAKE A NEW SAFETY QUIZ ON EMERGENCY PROCEDURES
   
   If faced with an in-flight emergency, would you be prepared to act?
   
   Emergency procedures are something every pilot memorizes and practices during training, but those skills are sometimes lost after the check-ride is passed. Knowing and practicing emergency procedures can mean the difference between walking away from a problem and becoming a statistic.
   
   Put your knowledge to the test with the latest AOPA Air Safety Foundation Safety Quiz: Emergency Procedures. Need another challenge? Read the foundation's Safety Advisor on the topic
   
   
2. AOPA Air Safety Foundation interactive courses are free and easy to use.
   
   Most courses take about an hour to complete, but you control the pace. If you start a course and prefer to finish at another time, your progress is automatically saved for your convenience
   AOPA Free Courses
   
3. December 17, 2007 FAA Releases NOTAMs for Super Bowl in Glendale, AZ
   Anticipating an increased demand for both commercial and general aviation operations in conjunction with Super Bowl XLII, the FAA has released the temporary flight restriction (TFR) notices to airmen (NOTAMs) for the event, which will take place on February 3 in Glendale, AZ.
   
   While there will not be a special traffic management program (STMP) put into place, users can expect to see some form of traffic management initiatives (TMIs) into the Phoenix area. Further details, including the Super Bowl TFR restrictions, can be found on the NBAA web site at:
   http://web.nbaa.org/public/ops/superbowl.php
   
   
4. DEDICATED TO ALL THOSE WHO FLEW BEHIND ROUND ENGINES
   
   We gotta get rid of those turbines, they're ruining aviation and our  hearing.
   
   A turbine is too simple minded, it has no mystery. The air travels through it in a straight line and doesn't pick up any of the pungent fragrance of engine oil or pilot sweat.
   
   Anybody can start a turbine. You just need to move a switch from "OFF" to "START" and then remember to move it back to "ON" after a while. My PC is harder to start.
   
   Cranking a round engine requires skill, finesse and style. You have to seduce it into starting. It's like waking up a mistress.
   
   On some planes, the pilots aren't even allowed to do it.
   
   Turbines start by whining for a while, then give a ladylike poof and start whining a little louder.
   
   Round engines give a satisfying rattle-rattle, click-click, BANG, more rattles, another BANG, a big macho FART or two, more clicks, a lot more smoke and finally a serious low pitched roar. We like that.
   It's a GUY thing.
   
   When you start a round engine, your mind is engaged and you can concentrate on the flight ahead.  Starting a turbine is like flicking on a ceiling fan. Useful, but hardly exciting.
   
   When you have started his round engine successfully your Crew Chief looks up at you like he'd let you kiss his girl, too!
   
   Turbines don't break or catch fire often enough, which leads to aircrew boredom, complacency and inattention. A round engine at speed looks and sounds like it's going to blow any minute. This helps concentrate the mind!
   
   Turbines don't have enough control levers or gauges to keep a pilot's attention.  There's nothing to fiddle with during long flights.
   
   Turbines smell like a Boy Scout camp full of Coleman Lamps. Round engines smell like God intended machines to smell.
   
   Pass this on to anyone who flew them, ever in remembrance of that "Greatest Generation."

4. BEING VIGILANT MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE


Cessna C-150 Two Place Cessna C-172 Four Place

By Greg Risling

ASSOCIATED PRESS

2:13 p.m. January 21, 2008

CORONA, CA – Authorities were trying Monday to learn why two small planes collided over a row of businesses, dropping a macabre shower of debris and body parts and killing someone inside an auto dealership when one of the aircraft punctured the roof.

All four people aboard the two aircraft also were killed in Sunday's crash, on a clear crisp afternoon that seemed ideal for flying.

The Riverside County Coroner's Office identified the dead as Scott Gayle Lawrence, 55, of Cerritos; Paul Luther Carlson, 73, also of Cerritos; Brandon William Johnson, 24, of Costa Mesa; Anthony Joel Guzman, 20, of Hesperia; and Earl Smiddy, 58, of Moreno Valley.

Smiddy was crushed in the car dealership. The other four were in planes, with two in each aircraft.

No one else was hurt, though wreckage fell on three car dealerships, all of which remained closed to customers as investigators combed through the debris in Corona, about 45 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

People in the area after the collision along the 91 Freeway described a horrific sight. Marisela Garay was working a few hundred yards away at Lucky Greek Burgers when she saw the planes come down.

She and some customers ran outside, where they saw blood and what looked like body parts on the ground.

“There was a lot of stuff everywhere. I was shocked, I couldn't believe what happened,” said Garay, 17.

“There were bodies falling out of the sky,” witness Hector Hernandez told KCBS-TV. “One of them crashed into the top of a Ford Mustang, and another one fell not too far behind that one on the parking lot.”

In one of the car lots, the twisted hull of a plane rested against two vehicles.

Witnesses told authorities that one of the planes slammed into the other. One of the aircraft shattered on impact, while the other spiraled to the ground, left mostly intact.

Authorities haven't released the planes' origins or destinations. The crash occurred about a mile south of the Corona Municipal Airport, which doesn't have a manned control tower.

The crash is the sixth in the area over the past 10 years.

Without the aid of air traffic controllers, pilots are supposed to use visual flight rules when there are clear conditions. Pilots are responsible for their own safety, making sure they steer clear from aircraft and other potential hazards.

Pilots can communicate by radio with one another, but not all do, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.

Investigators will likely try to determine if there were any other pilots in the area who saw the crash or heard any transmission between the two planes, he said.

Woodrow Anselen, 52, a member of the Corona Pilots Association, called Sunday's collision a “freak accident.”

“It's an extremely rare occurrence,” Anselen said. “Pilots are very vigilant in giving their positions and there are rules we have to follow.”

He estimated about 350 planes are kept at the airport, which has about 64,000 landings and takeoffs each year. Anselen didn't think any of the victims in the two planes were members of the 150-member pilots association.

John Elwell, who has been a pilot for 42 years, said sometimes clear days can be more challenging that those that are overcast.

“The sunlight is the biggest problem because it is in your face and it impairs your vision,” Elwell said.

Investigators said Sunday night they would have to open up the fuselage of the planes to ensure that there were no additional victims. NTSB investigators declined to comment on that effort Monday until news conference set for late afternoon.

One of the planes was a Cessna 172 registered to William A. Reinke of La Habra, according to aircraft databases. Reached at his home Sunday night, Reinke declined to say who was flying his plane or who might have been on board.

The second plane, a Cessna 150, is registered to Air Corona Inc., based in Dover, Del. Many plane owners register their aircraft in Delaware even if they are not based there because of the state's low taxes.

Question: If I let my medical expire, is there a penalty if I wait to renew it?

Answer: No, in fact nothing in the FAA's Part 61 regulations requires a pilot to continuously maintain a valid medical certificate. You might have a good reason for delaying and not renewing right away because of an existing medical condition, or maybe your personal "to do" list doesn't leave room for a visit to the local aviation medical examiner at that exact time.

The only pilot restriction you'll be subject to by not renewing your medical certificate is that you will not be able to act as PIC within the privileges of a recreational pilot and higher (excluding sport pilot privileges) or as a required crewmember such as a safety pilot.