By Jim Timm
January 2015
I hope all of you have had an enjoyable holiday season and are rested and ready to start a fresh new year. It will be interesting to see what challenges the new year will bring. With a new legislative session starting on both the state and national level, it will be interesting to see what our legislators come up with next. On a national level, we will be watching to see when, or if, the General Aviation Pilot Protection Act bills are reintroduced again this year. Hopefully, the Third Class Medical legislative bills will be reintroduced, and to get them passed we may be called upon to contact our legislators in Washington to get on board and support these bills. So, in the meantime, watch the weather, keep flying, and please fly safe!
Last summer the FAA issued a Notice of Proposed Policy for the non-aeronautical use of airport hangars which would clarify compliance requirements for airport managers, airport tenants, state aviation officials, and the FAA compliance staff. AOPA, EAA and the aviation community offered comments to the proposed policy, requesting they be a bit more lenient and permit construction or reconstruction of aircraft in hangars. At last reports, I heard the FAA was inundated with comments. As a result, I hope we see a more tolerant and acceptable policy issued soon in the coming year.
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
Many airports around the state may still have construction projects underway this winter, so be sure to check NOTAMS before your departure for possible destination airport operational restrictions. The reconstruction projects that have impacted operations on Runway 12R/30L at Phoenix Gateway Airport have been completed and operations are now back to normal. At the Phoenix area airports, they are getting ready for the Super Bowl and Pro Bowl visitors. Again, they are anticipating a crush of jet traffic bringing people in for the games. You can expect the ramps and airspace around Phoenix to get pretty congested and it’s suggested that, unless it’s necessary, not flying IFR the weekend of and the following Monday morning after the two games.
Be sure to mark your calendars; The Classic Airplane Association of Arizona is planning for their 57th Annual Cactus Fly-In on March 6 & 7, 2015 at the Casa Grande Municipal Airport. This year’s event will be featuring the historic Aeronca Airplanes. If you own an older airplane or a historic aircraft, you are very much encouraged to fly it in for the event. It’s a great fly-in, and attending is always like taking a step back in time in seeing some of the fantastically restored airplanes and talking to the people that have restored them.
Are You Moving or Have You Moved? The FAA would like to remind all airman certificate holders that in accordance with 14 CFR 61.60, 63.21, and 65.21, the FAA requires you to update your mailing address within 30 days of obtaining that new address. You can do this on line at http://www.faa.gov or by sending a completed “Change Of Address Notification Form AC8060-55” to:
Federal Aviation Administration
Airmen Certification Branch, AFS-760
P.O. Box 25082
Oklahoma City, OK 73125-0082
We are still getting get last minute notices that GPS Interference testing is continuing. Unfortunately, we continue to receive these notices only days before the testing is to take place, thus making it impossible to provide you with timely notification. Tests at most of these locations are impacting significant portions of Arizona. Because of all this testing that is taking place, it’s difficult to believe that some of you haven’t encountered anomalies at some point in receiving a suitable GPS navigation signal. Please, if you do encounter inflight problems with getting a useable GPS navigation signal, it is important that you contact ATC, providing the date, time, location and altitude the problem is noted, and please also advise us at the APA.
We all need to be continually concerned about aviation safety and strive to always exercise good judgment and prevent being an accident statistic. In the last reporting period there were three reported accidents in the state, which was an improvement over last month’s report of ten. Unfortunately however, one of this month’s accidents did involve a fatality. Fortunately, the other accidents involved either minor or no injuries. Please fly with care! This month’s detailed aircraft accident information is contained in my January Accident Report.
APA is continuing to work with several airports around the state providing the pilot and aircraft owner perspective in the process of updating their Airport Master Plans. The Deer Valley Airport (DVT) master plan update is in process and we are waiting for a review of the final draft of the Sedona (SEZ) Airport master plan.
THINGS TO DO - PLACES TO GO FOR BREAKFAST:
The first Saturday of the month fly in breakfast is at Coolidge Municipal Airport (P08).
On the second Saturday of the month is the Ryan Field (RYN) fly in buffet breakfast. Location is between the Restaurant and the Fuel Pits. Time 8:00 to 11:00 am
The Falcon EAA Warbirds Squadron Breakfast is on the third Saturday of the month and breakfast is being served from 7:00 to 11:00 AM.
The third Saturday of the month there is a fly in breakfast at Benson (E95) at Southwest Aviation. (Often there have been very special fuel prices for breakfast attendees.)
The last Saturday of the month there is a fly in breakfast at Casa Grande Municipal Airport (CGZ) that runs from7:00 am until 10:00. The breakfast is inside the air conditioned/heated terminal building.
(The Casa Grande and Coolidge fly in breakfasts are put on by a service group to raise funds for community service projects.)
Check the APA Calendar for our Getaway Flights program for weekend places to fly.