By Jim Timm JimTimm

December 2015 

Fall is finally here, I think, and if we can keep hurricanes and their remnants out of here, maybe we can finally look forward to enjoying some great flying weather. We kicked off the flying season with the annual Copperstate Fly-in at Casa Grande Municipal Airport (CGZ). After a bit of intimidating weather days before the event, the weather during the entire event was superb. Very light winds and moderate temperatures seemed to rule the day, and the turnout of planes and pilots was good. It was great to be able to have a chat with many of you that stopped by the APA/RAF display inside the big circus tent. Thanks for dropping by!

This year’s Copperstate fly-in had a new attraction. A large “drone cage” enclosure had been brought in to contain the various sized drones that were being demonstrated and a drone vendor was also located in the large vendor tent demonstrating and selling very small UAVs. It was amazing how small some of these are with a miniature video camera and how sophisticated they are in how they can be flown. The FAA FAAST safety team had a forum on the proposed UAS regulations and advised us that The U.S. Department of Transportation will soon require registration of all drones, including hobby models. If they do, there isn’t enough space on some of these small drones to put an “N” number that could be easily read. Somewhere some sanity is going to have come into play. The FAA missed the September 30 deadline from Congress for legalizing the use of nonmilitary drones in the U.S. Lawmakers had required the agency to develop rules for operating drones by September 30 in a 2012 funding bill for the FAA, but the agency still has not completed a plan for safe integration. We can only hope no one gets hurt before they get things under control.

To address the problem of dealing with a rogue drone operating in an unapproved area, a nonprofit corporation with a long history of developing new technology (it made the first nuclear rods, invented the foundation technology of the CD) has come up with a way to harmlessly disable drones that are flying where they aren't supposed to be flying. They came up with a gun-like radio transmitter that disrupts remote control and GPS signals and can take control of the drone and land it. I guess this is a bit safer approach than what the town of Deer Trail, Colorado, suggested, issuing drone hunting licenses and offering bounties for shooting them down. Enough, I think we need to move on and get back to the other issues that can impact our flying, other than drones. In the meantime, if you do encounter a UAS where it shouldn’t be, or you have a close encounter with one, please be sure to contact ATC and file a NASA report on it! Don’t ignore it.


MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS

GPS testing has again been going on during the month of October at Beaty, Nevada; Ridgecrest, California; and Sierra Vista, Arizona; and any one of these could have impacted us here in Arizona, including the Phoenix and Tucson areas. Again, advise ATC and us at the APA, providing the date, time, location and altitude if a momentary GPS navigation problem is experienced.

A lot of airport construction activity is still going continuing, not only in the Phoenix and Tucson area, but all around the state. Be sure to check for NOTAMs before taking off so that you don’t encounter a nasty surprise when you get there. Also, continue to be sure to add TFRs to your before flight check list.

This past Arizona aviation accident reporting period has been outstanding. The good news is that only one accident was reported by the NTSB for Arizona, and it appears that the accident may have been relatively minor in nature because the NTSB report did not contain any accident details. In these cases, while aircraft damage was significant, if there were any injuries, they most likely were minor in nature. See my October accident summary for the limited details available.

APA is still working with various airports around the state, providing the pilot and aircraft owner perspective in the process of updating their Airport Master Plans. An update of the Sedona Airport (SED) and the Deer Valley Airport (DVT) master plans are still in process and we have just added Grand Canyon Airport to the master plan list. We are also closely following the proposal to add on site parachute landings at Casa Grande, KCGZ, where the FAA recently id a 180 degree from their first evaluation and lowered the activity to “moderate risk.” This is not the final go ahead as the FAA requires that the risk level be reduced to “low” through appropriate mitigation activities prior to a drop zone being approved. Airport manager, Richard Wilkie will continue working with the Airport Advisory Council and Phoenix Area Skydiving, Inc. on assessing this new evaluation, and the final direction for the proposed drop zone on the airport grounds.

THINGS TO DO - PLACES TO GO FOR BREAKFAST:

The first Saturday of the month fly in breakfast at Coolidge Municipal Airport (P08). We have been advised that last month’s food issues have been resolved and things should be back to normal.

The second Saturday of the month, Ryan Field (RYN) fly in buffet breakfast should be restarting. However, breakfast is available at the restaurant next door.

The Falcon Field EAA Warbirds Squadron Breakfast on the third Saturday has restarted.

The third Saturday of the month there is a fly in breakfast at Benson (E95) at Southwest Aviation.
(There are special fuel prices for breakfast attendees.)

The last Saturday of the month there is still a fly in breakfast at Casa Grande Municipal Airport (CGZ).

The Airport’s new restaurant, Foxtrot Cafe, operating in the Terminal Building, is open
6:30am to 2:00pm Monday through Saturday. On the last Saturday of the month they have a “Fly in Breakfast Special” available on the menu; the price for adults is $7 and kids $5.
Check with the APA Getaway Flights program and online calendar for fun weekend places to fly.

 

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