OF INTEREST TO OUR PILOTS

1. US Army Air Force Training Pamphlet – Year 1940. (2.4 mb) Do you remember?
Courtesy of member Dan Bott

2. User Fee Battle Continues Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) says general aviation is vital to the national economy.

3. FAA Certifies 1,000^th WAAS approach - The FAA recently marked a major milestone in the move toward a satellite-based air traffic control system with the implementation of the 1,000th instrument approach that uses the enhanced GPS Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS).

4. NIGHT FLIGHT ENDS IN CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain)

A sparsely populated areas can quickly become a challenge, even for a skilled pilot following a familiar route. On the night of Jan. 17, 2006, the pilot of a Cessna 182P was killed when he flew into a hill near Big Pine, Calif.

The noninstrument-rated pilot had accumulated more than 6,500 hours of flight time, with thousands of those hours reportedly accrued near the accident scene. Read what went wrong in this special report prepared by the AOPA Air Safety Foundation.

5. UNMANNED MILITARY AIRCRAFT TO OPERATE UNDER ADVISORY NOTAM

The FAA's decision to issue an advisory notam, rather than flight restrictions, for unmanned military aircraft operations near Cherry Point, N.C., should be a model for managing traffic near unmanned aerial flights, AOPA says. "It is encouraging that the FAA balanced the needs of civil aviation with those of the military by making this an advisory notam," said Andy Cebula, AOPA executive vice president of government affairs.

"This needs to be the template for other locations where unmanned aircraft are used." See AOPA Online for specific operations at Cherry Point.

6. AOPA SEEKS LOWER ALTITUDE GPS ROUTES IN WEST

AOPA recently asked members if they need lower minimum en route altitudes (MEAs) on segments of Victor routes they fly, and they responded, with many saying routes are needed in the Pacific Northwest and in the Southwest. Now AOPA has prepared a formal letter of recommendation asking the FAA to honor those requests.
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In its Jan. 31 letter, AOPA praised the FAA's efforts to establish GPS MEAs for Victor airways in the Northeast and asked the agency to turn its attention to member-requested routes in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona. Read more on AOPA Online.

7. DELIVERIES BEGIN FOR QUEST KODIAK

Quest Kodiak made two customer deliveries of the tough backcountry Kodiak single-engine turboprop in one week following a longer-than-expected effort to bring the FAA-certified aircraft to market. More than 100 are on order.

First requested by missionary groups, the aircraft has caught the eye of charter and cargo carriers that don't necessarily need to pick their way through trees toward unimproved mountain airstrips. Read more on AOPA Online.

8. Miscellaneous FAA Regulations. By John S. Jodice – We have highlighted the one we think may be violated most often – Change of address.

9. Enhanced loran offered as GPS backup

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced plans to maintain and enhance loran as a backup “positioning, navigation, and timing” system in the event of a GPS outage. The upgraded loran system is referred to as eLoran.

“This is good because we have pushed for the continued availability of loran as the federal government has evaluated the future,” said AOPA Government Affairs Chief of Staff Randy Kenagy. “But it is still unclear how or when eLoran could be used for aviation because new standards need to be developed before avionics can be produced and certified.”

The system may eventually join paper charts and VORs as another option for pilots to use as a backup positioning system during GPS outages. In recent years, federal agencies debated decommissioning loran, but AOPA urged caution because loran has been identified as one of the few potential backup systems available to general aviation.