Read More…(Santa Fe)
Santa Fe’s elevation is about 7,000 MSL but the Sangre de Cristo mountains just north of town inconveniently push ground to more than 13,000 feet MSL. For Fly-In attendees, it’s a nearly ideal place to start a one-or-two-day initial (or refresher) education on the fine art of mountain flying. Hint: your instructor will use the words “density altitude” more than once on your checkout and you will be astounded at its effects.
A 3.5 minute video on Santa Fe is available on AOPA Live
Read more…(Weather Wisdom)
Former NWS meteorologist and CFII Scott Dennstaedt will join St. George and Russ Still in presenting this webinar, which will provide real tools for safe flight. One WINGS credit for Basic Knowledge Top 3 is available for this webinar, although pre-registration and participation is required.
Previous highly-acclaimed SAFE webinars have included CFI Professionalism, The Improbable Turn, New Technology At Sun’n Fun, Loss of Control and Checkride Tips. All are available to SAFE members free, thanks to SAFE partner Gold Seal Ground Schools.
Read more…(Training A/C)
Rotorcraft shipment growth was 6.7 percent, from 463 units to 494, while piston airplane deliveries climbed 6.4 percent, from 468 to 498. Turboprop deliveries climbed 9.7 percent, from 237 to 260, but Bizet deliveries flattened to match last period’s 296.
Surprising strength surfaced in the rotorcraft piston category, with deliveries rising 19.2 percent, from 125
“We hope the continued interest in training aircraft as well as in new, safety-enhancing products and technology our member companies are bringing to the market will continue to drive increases in future quarters, and drive increases in people joining the industry’s workforce,” Bunce said.
Read more…(IAP Cancellations)
The FAA has blamed cost for the rush to cancel procedures. “The complexity and cost to the FAA of maintaining the IAP inventory while expanding the new RNAV capability is not sustainable,” an agency statement said. It noted that the number of IAPs have nearly doubled since the first GPS approach was implemented.
As an example, the FAA is moving to decommission the Teterboro VOR, which will remove more than 30 IAPs currently serving TEB. Although new RNAV approaches to restore full approach capability for airports with cancelled legacy approaches are in development, some are years away from implementation.
Read more…(Bad Habits)
The agency noted that most GA accidents occurred during landing, but far fewer of them resulted in fatalities. Research from 2008 to 2014 showed that “nearly 48 percent of fatal fixed-wing GA accidents in the United States resulted from pilots losing control of their aircraft in flight” and accounted for 1,194 fatalities.” The group also noted that “more general aviation pilots and passengers die from accidents involving loss of control than any other single cause.”
NTSB studies revealed that maneuvering, and take off and climb out, are “statistically, the deadliest phases of flight for LOC accidents,” although loss of control—or LOC—can occur “in all phases of flight.”
After the NTSB event, the EAA Founder’s Innovation Prize judges decided that pilot awareness of critical AOA warranted continued study. Judges awarded a $25,000 innovation prize to a team headed by Mike Vaccaro, a retired U.S. Air Force pilot and a Van’s Aircraft RV–4 owner, for a low-cost aural AOA warning system.