EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
December, 2012
The flying weather has really been great so far this year. The real challenge has been deciding where to fly to with so many things to choose from each weekend.
The UAV issue has really been heating up lately with the latest word being that because of safety concerns and privacy issues, the Federal Aviation Administration acting chief, Michael Huerta has delayed indefinitely the selection of the six U.S. sites for the testing of unmanned aircraft. It appears that the major pressing issue at the moment is that of privacy. Privacy aside, the safe operational integration of UAVs, or drones in the national airspace system is an issue that needs to be addressed soon. I found it was interesting that a university professor figured out how to intercept drones while in flight. His team taped into the GPS coordinates of a civilian drone and could alter the flight path and even land it, to illustrate the dangers that hacking can present.
It has been estimated that unmanned aircraft, of various sizes, could number 10,000 in five years. And flown by whom is a scary part of the question. Some influential members of Congress have asked an independent government watchdog to review wether the FAA is making progress on meeting the new law to develop a plan to manage this growth. It would appear to me that the safe integration of UAVs in to the system is not going to be fast and easy.
Can we use a cell phone in the airplane? FAA Advisory Circular 91-21.1B provides the answer. “The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) currently prohibits the use of cell phones while airborne. Its primary concern is that a cell phone, used while airborne, would have a much greater transmitting range than a land unit. Their use could result in unwanted interference to transmissions at other cell locations since the system uses the same frequency several times within a market or given operating area. Since a cell phone is capable of operating on various cellular frequencies, unwanted interference may also affect cellular systems in adjacent markets or operating areas. The FAA supports this airborne restriction for other reasons of potential interference to aircraft systems and equipment.” The FAA does not prohibit cell phone use in an aircraft on the ground. I have been advised that if the phone is on in flight, at altitude it may very likely enter a roaming mode and more rapidly drain the battery. However, based on some aircraft accidents that have occurred, the accident site was very quickly identified by the CAP thru a cell phone carried on board that had been left turned on. With this information in hand, even if you don’t use it to place a call, should you leave your cell phone on while flying or not. It could possibly be a more reliable locator than most of the ELTs. I’ll leave the decision up to you to think about.
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
GPS testing is still going on. The latest notices were for Alamogordo, NM and Oceanside, CA and could have impacted much of the state.
To cut costs, the FAA is considering canceling instrument approaches around the country that are used very little, if at all, and will be establishing some new approaches at airports that have been inaccessible in instrument weather. The FAA says it has been incurring flight check and obstacle survey costs for hundreds of little used approaches and will develop criteria for approach cancellations by the end of the year.
The new ICAO Flight Plan Amendment has taken effect, changing the way all ICAO flight plans are filed. Apparently, there are numerous changes and you will need to review the new requirements. All international flights, including flights to Mexico and Canada and operations within oceanic airspace are required to file ICAO flight plans, as usual. Domestic IFR and VFR flight plans are not affected by the new requirements.
The following bits of information are from a recent airspace user’s meeting:
The really great news is that the decision has been made to make the Luke ILS at Luke Aux. Field 1 available for practice approaches when the Wing is not flying. Everyone appears to be in agreement and are awaiting the leadership level final approval. This is something we have all been hoping and waiting for and it should take a little bit of the pressure off the Williams Gateway and Casa Grande ILS. If all goes well, the ILS could be available for use by the first of the year. As soon as we get more detailed information we will pass it on to you.
Based on the success of the recent general aviation fly in, Luke is planning to have another fly in next year.
In a move to reduce inadvertent intrusions into the Goldwater Range restricted areas resulting from airport misidentification, the Air Force Gila Bend Auxiliary Field identifier is being changed to KGXF.
Radar service in the Prescott area will be transfered from Albuquerque Center to the PHX TRACON by the March 7, 2913 charting period. This will permit tower to tower IFR operations between Prescott and Phoenix without having to go through Albuquerque Center. In the not too distant future, surveillance coverage may be able to be extended to Tucson.
We were advised that CAE at Falcon Field, (FFZ) has purchased Oxford Flight Academy at GYR and will be consolidating it’s operations at FFZ over the next 6 months.
Be advised that on July 26, 2013 the Cochise VORTAC will be decommissioned.
This has been a really bad reporting period for aviation safety. From NTSB reports, there have been eleven aviation accidents in Arizona, four of them involving fatalities. See my December Aviation Accident Report for details.
We are continuing to work with airports around the state, by providing the general aviation user input in the planning process of updating the Airport Master Plans. We are presently working on the Gila Bend Municipal Airport Master plan up date and an update of the Phoenix Sky Harbor FAA Part 150 Noise Study.
THINGS TO DO - PLACES TO GO FOR BREAKFAST:
The first Saturday of the month there is a fly in breakfast at Coolidge Airport (P08).
Time: 8:00 to 11:00 am.
The last Saturday of the month there is a Fly in breakfast at Casa Grande Airport (CGZ)
Time: 7:00 to 10:00 am.
Saturday, December 15th in Benson (E95) pancake breakfast 9am to noon, and get a $0.20/gal discount on gas!