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Published: 16 March 2026

By Paul Wiley   Background: This article addresses the subject of pilots flying inadvertently from VFR conditions into Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC). This is commonly referred to as: “VFR into IMC”.  Although VFR into IMC is a rather small percentage of overall accidents, it is the number 1 cause of weather-related fatal accidents.  A

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Published: 16 March 2026

  Welcome to the March 2026 edition of the APA Approach! Thanks to everyone that stopped by the APA and RAF booth at the AOPA Buckeye Air Fair. It was great to be able to spend some time with our members and make some new friends. I wanted to pass on a special thank you to the RAF volunteers that helped man the booth over the weekend. It was especially encouraging to

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Published: 15 March 2026

  The breakfast fights on Saturday morning are good to have an excuse to go flying. These morning flights have been a bit cool at the start or at civil dawn, but in general the temperatures have been a bit warmer than normal. Let’s hope this isn’t a harbinger of what’s to come as the months move closer to summer. Anyway, in any event, let’s go flying. I strongly suspect

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Published: 15 March 2026

  By Howard Deevers   Not everyone wants to build their own airplane.  But enough pilots  DO want to build their own airplane that a whole culture exists around that idea.  It is called the EAA;  Experimental Aircraft Association.  It is so large that they have their own convention each year in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, now named

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Published: 13 March 2026

by Tommy Thomason   Backcountry Enthusiasts, A group of about 9 pilots and volunteers recently flew and / or drove to Forepaugh to do some clean up.  We spent a few hours trimming back the mesquite from the edges of the runway and grooming the runway.  The windsock was replaced and the segmented circle organized and painted. This is a great spot while the

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Published: 12 March 2026

  by Mike McCann   March Day Trip:                          Grapevine Airstrip – 88AZ Saturday, March 21, 2026   Trip Detail Recap: ·This is a combined Day Trip / APA monthly Grapevine backcountry campout. ·88AZ Arrival time: 8:15

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Published: 20 February 2026

  by Jim Timm   The following are the reports of aviation accidents that have occurred in Arizona from mid-December through January. The Accident Report will be limited in size because of the unexpected and sudden passing of Craig Tompkins of the FAA SDL FSDO. Craig always provided the substantial FAA input to the Accident/Incident report, and all the information

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Published: 19 February 2026

By Rod Kunkel   The weekend of January 30 - February 1 was our first weekend getaway of 2026.  Most of us flew into Bermuda Dunes airport (KUDD), about 10 miles SE of Palm Springs.  A few of us drove … More on that later.  Despite warnings from some APA members and the FBO that parking can be very limited during the winter months, there was plenty of

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Published: 17 February 2026

By Jim Hefner     It was a beautiful day to fly to Lake Havasu for the APA fly-in lunch at Hangar 24 on Saturday.  It was very busy when I arrived around 10:30 am.  There was a Cirrus formation flying training program and several other group events taking place.  There were 4 flights of 2 and one flight of 4 Cirrus's coming into the pattern

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Published: 16 February 2026

  Welcome to the February 2026 edition of the APA Approach! I wanted to start this month’s President’s Report with an update on the Falcon Field landing fee proposal. As you know, the city pushed out the original February 9, 2026, date for the city council vote by 45 – 60 days to “allow sufficient time to process and potentially incorporate public feedback into staff