Visionary High Gloss

ORBIS’ FLYING EYE HOSPITAL p. 66 RESTORING LOST LUSTER p. 94

May 10-11, 2019

F R E D E R I C K
MARYLAND

The Voice of General Aviation www.aopa.org/pilot | April 2019 | $8.95

April 2019

New A/Ttitude
CIRRUS VISION JET
GEN2 UPGRADES p. 74

The 7 Percent
WHY SO FEW FEMALE FLIERS? p. 82
Sweepstakes Super Cub | Cirrus Vision Jet Gen2 | Women Pilots | Flying Eye Hospital

BigAOPA
Sweepstakes
Super Cub

Splash YOUR AIRPLANE IS READY p. 58

www.aopa.org
“...the best equipment
for safety I have seen.”
“The NGT-9000 and the NGT-9000+ are the best equipment, not only great for ADS-B but the
best equipment for safety I have seen. Being able to have traffic alone is worth the price, but
also you get weather, with both displayed—not only on the NGT-9000, but also on my Aspen
PFD-1000, which works perfectly with the NGT-9000. I like putting the transponder code in,
then getting out of the way to display traffic on one side, then weather, along with METARS,
temperatures and winds at altitude. I have had zero problems with the unit, but L3’s reputation is
they stand behind their products. I couldn’t be more pleased with this addition to my cockpit.”

–Marshall Guthrie, Pilot, 1990 Mooney M20J (MSE)

Discover more:
www.L3CommercialAviation.com A product of:

CONTENTS
April 2019 | Volume 62 | Number 4 | www.aopa.org/pilot
66
One Glorious Vision
The Orbis International Flying
Eye Hospital brings life-changing
procedures to the world.
By Thomas B. Haines
FEATURES
New Lease on Life
AOPA’s sweepstakes airplane is a
Piper Super Cub that comes with
tundra tires, amphibious floats,
and hydraulic skis.
By Alyssa J. Cobb
Page 58
A new A/Ttitude
Cirrus adds autothrottle and
altitude to the new version
of the SF50 Vision Jet.
By Thomas B. Haines
Page 74
AOPA PILOT
ON THIS PAGE:
Orbis staff preps a young
patient in Bangladesh for sur-
gery. The Flying Eye Hospital
was in Chittagong for a two-
week clinical training program.
Photography courtesy of
Celia Yeung/Orbis.
The 7 Percent
Why do women still account for HOME OF THE BRAVE
such a small portion of the pilot Special coverage of the
Frederick, Maryland,
population? AOPA Fly-in, May 10-11,
By Ian J. Twombly 2019.
Page 82 Page 50
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 1
 AOPA PILOT

CONTENTS April 2019 SECTIONS

PROFICIENCY &
EFFICIENCY
88 Proficiency
Bad behavior.

91  Wx Watch

94
Polar power.

94 Ownership
Get your gloss on.

43
AOPA ACTION 99 ADS-B
12 Airspace Going global.
AOPA advocates
for TFR relief. 103 Technique
Taming the stall.

PILOT BRIEFING 107  Savvy Maintenance

30  First Look Crimes and misdemeanors.
Remembering the ‘Rosies.’
113  Never Again
COMMENTARY DEPARTMENTS 32  Pilot Products Wild card.
Weather, traffic
6  President’s Position 4  AOPA Online at your fingertips. MEMBERSHIP
Soaring through ceilings. Take your reading
NEWS & NOTES
beyond these pages. 34  You Can Fly
18 Waypoints 114  AOPA App
Can I still land an airplane?
To minimums, really? 14 Letters Introducing Pilot Passport.
Driven to distraction. 36 Musings
20  Proficient Pilot 116  Member Services
On the thrill of inspiration.
The possible turn. 123  Fly by Wire The process is easy.
Index of advertisers. 38  Aviation Mysteries
22  Flying Life 118  AOPA Air Safety
Glenn Miller aircraft found?
Committed to memory. 124  Answers for Pilots Institute
Fighting corrosion. 40  Pilot Products A familiar route turns deadly.
24  Safety Spotlight Trim Aviation watches.
Automatic. 128 Pilots 120  Pilot Protection
Judy Birchler. Services
43 Destinations
26  Fly Well A bump on the noggin.
Fly away ideas.
Celestial objects.
44  Test Pilot
Flying pet.

46  Aviation History

Accidental hero.

40 PILOT PRODUCTS
Trim Aviation
watches.
Visionary
ORBIS’ FLYING EYE HOSPITAL p. 66

The Voice of General Aviation

High Gloss
RESTORING LOST LUSTER p. 94

May 10-11, 2019

F R E D E R I C K
MARYLAND

www.aopa.org/pilot | April 2019 | $8.95

April 2019

New A/Ttitude

BIG SPLASH
CIRRUS VISION JET
GEN2 UPGRADES p. 74

The 7 Percent

Is this your airplane? AOPA’s

WHY SO FEW FEMALE FLIERS? p. 82
Sweepstakes Super Cub | Cirrus Vision Jet Gen2 | Women Pilots | Flying Eye Hospital

Sweepstakes Super Cub is modern-

ized, beautified, and ready for the big
giveaway. Learn more in “New Lease
BigAOPA
Sweepstakes
Super Cub

on Life,” which begins on p. 58.

Splash YOUR AIRPLANE IS READY p. 58 Photography by Mike Fizer.
www.aopa.org

Contact us at 800-USA-AOPA (872-2672)

2 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

Why Choose SiriusXM
over ADS-B
ADS B Weather?
SiriusXM

ADS-B
(FIS-B)

Twice-as-Fast Composite Radar Twice-as-Fast Lightning No Altitude Limitations

SXM’s Composite Radar is high resolution SXM includes Cloud-to-Cloud Lightning (not SXM is available from taxi to touchdown.
from coast to coast, with 2.5 minutes updates. available on ADS-B) and twice-as-fast Lightning ADS-B’s availability is determined by altitude
ADS-B’s radar resolution, update rate, updates, giving you the complete guidance you and location, so you may not have storm info
and availability vary. need to avoid rapidly developing adverse weather. when you need it the most.

SiriusXM

ADS-B
(FIS-B)

No Line-of-Sight Restrictions
SXM has no line-of-sight restrictions. With ADS-B,
you may have interruptions if you’re in an area
with an obstructed line-of-sight to the
ADS-B ground station.
Base Reflectivity Radar
SXM’s Base Radar identifies what precip is falling
from the bottom of the storm, which tends to
match up with the visual picture for pilots flying
under 10K ft. It is not available on ADS-B.
Always Available METARs & TAFs
SXM’s weather guidance, including METARs & TAFs,
is available when you need it. With ADS-B you
must be at the right altitude and distance to
receive the weather.

The 2020 ADS-B Mandate does not require you to use ADS-B weather.
You are free to choose SiriusXM, ADS-B Weather, or Both.

2-month trial for AOPA members. Visit aopa.org/siriusxm for Offer Details.
Explore the significant differences between SiriusXM and ADS-B weather at
siriusxm.com/daretocompare
NOTE: Data displays vary by device; images are representative only. SiriusXM Services may include weather and other content and emergency alert information.
Such information and data is not for “safety for life,” but is merely supplemental and advisory in nature, and therefore cannot be relied upon as safety critical
in connection with any aircraft, sea craft, automobile, or any other usage. SiriusXM is not responsible for any errors or inaccuracies in the data services or their use.
© 2019 Sirius XM Radio Inc. Sirius, XM, SiriusXM and all related marks and logos are trademarks of Sirius XM Radio Inc. All other marks, channel names and logos are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
 AOPA PILOT

AOPA ONLINE
Take your reading experience beyond these pages | www.aopa.org/pilot
April 2019

CIRRUS VISION JET GEN 2

With added autothrottle and a higher
maximum operating altitude, Gen 2
provides new options for fuel efficiency,
ATC routings, and weather avoidance.
www.aopa.org/pilot/visionjet

VIEW THE
VIDEO
These and other
videos can be
accessed in the
AOPA Pilot
Enhanced Digital
Edition.
www.aopa.org/
digitaleditions

FLYING VISIONARIES
Orbis International’s Flying Eye Hospital helps
blind people in developing nations to see.
www.aopa.org/pilot/orbis
HOPE FLOATS
Newly outfitted with amphibious floats, AOPA’s
Sweepstakes Super Cub is ready to take its future
owner on all kinds of adventures. Will it be yours?
www.aopa.org/pilot/floats

VIEW THE VIDEO

These and other videos can be
accessed in the AOPA Pilot
Enhanced Digital Edition. AOPA LIVE THIS WEEK
www.aopa.org/ Watch AOPA’s weekly web-based
digitaleditions program to get your fix for all things
aviation.
www.aopa.org/thisweek

4 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

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PRESIDENT’S POSITION
Soaring through ceilings
Inspiring and supporting women pilots
“No borders, just horizons—only freedom”
 —Amelia Earhart
IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, Amelia Earhart
defied the odds when she became the first woman to fly
solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She was and still is consid-
ered a champion for women in aviation having set record
after record in her short life. History books, biographies,
and documentaries classify her as a great female avia-
tor, and her legacy lives on in the countless women who
prove that a “great female pilot” is simply a great pilot.
Aviation was a boys’ club in its early days, and it still
isn’t much better today. Just think about the last time you
flew commercially. “On behalf of the flight crew, let me
welcome you aboard….” Passengers tend to mindlessly
ignore the inflight announcements except when it comes
from the higher-pitched voice of a female captain.
Even though we live in the twenty-first century,
women working in male-dominated industries deal
with belittlement every day. In 2018, a young female
pilot’s tweet went viral for calling out male passengers
who made jokes about her gender saying they wouldn’t
have boarded had they known she was flying. But it’s
clear the pilot had the last laugh after tweeting, “Fact
is, I can fly an £80m jet, you can’t.”
People are often surprised to see women flying.
From pilots, astronauts, air traffic controllers, main-
tenance technicians, business owners, educators, flight
attendants, airshow performers, and airport manag-
ers, women have long been making waves in aviation.
Although women make up just 7 percent of pilots,
they are continuing to inspire new generations of girls
to write their own history and be a part of this amazing
experience of flying. As fellow pilots striving to make
GA more accessible, it’s our job to welcome them. But
the industry hasn’t always been so inclusive and, his-
torically, women have had to overcome challenges and
break through barriers.
During World War II, Women Airforce Service
AOPA President
MARK BAKER Pilots, also known as WASP, received the same mili-
is looking forward tary training as their male counterparts and did some
to hosting an AOPA of the most important jobs, from ferrying aircraft to
Fly-In at Frederick
Municipal Airport training, and even acting as test pilots. Although part
on May 10 and 11 of the greatest generation, WASP were not considered
in celebration of active duty military and were forbidden to be buried at
the association’s
eightieth our nation’s most hallowed ground—Arlington National
anniversary. Cemetery. In 2002, a decision allowed the heroines into
6 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
BY MARK BAKER
President and CEO
the cemetery, but it was quickly reversed. It wasn’t until
the granddaughter of WASP Elaine Harmon started a
petition fighting for her grandmother and all other sur-
viving WASP to be buried in the famous cemetery that
things changed. In 2016 it was announced that WASP
were allowed back in.
Female aviators in the Navy, Army, and Air Force
could only train and do noncombat jobs until 1993
when restrictions on female pilots flying combat mis-
sions were lifted. That was thanks to Rosemary Mariner,
who shattered barriers, becoming one of the first female
fighter pilots in the Navy. To honor her life and accom-
plishments, the first ever all-female fighter pilot flyover
took place in a ceremonial tribute in February.
Women have come a long way in the industry, but
the underrepresentation is still surprising. At one of
our fly-ins, a member reluctantly told a story of how
his daughter said she didn’t know girls could be pilots.
He was in disbelief but took it as an opportunity for us
all to do better; I’m sure there are plenty of other young
girls who have the same mindset.
That’s why it’s important for the GA community to
change that perception. We should take more initiative
to welcome female pilots and those who show interest
in this great hobby of ours. To quote champion aerobatic
aviatrix Patty Wagstaff on gender: “Do you think the air-
plane knows—or cares?” (See “The 7 Percent,” p. 82.)
AOPA is working to inspire a new generation of
youth to pursue careers in aviation with its high school
aviation science, technology, engineering, and math
(STEM) curriculum. Especially for young people and
students who don’t come from an aviation family, the
high school classes can become a starting point. The
You Can Fly curriculum is designed to instill the love
of flying in young people as our industry faces an ever-
present pilot and workforce shortage.
So far, I am very proud of the curriculum effort. The
program has exceeded our expectations with nearly
2,000 enrolled students, of which 25 percent are female
and 51 percent are minorities.
But there is still more work to be done. As a com-
munity of pilots, we should strive toward a future
where a woman’s voice on the radio, presence in the
cockpit, or gold epaulets on her shirt isn’t shockingly
out of the ordinary.  AOPA
EMAIL mark@aopa.org
 CONNECTED BY SPEED

Crafted for Aviators

- Photo Airborne Films

Speed is of the essence with Daher’s TBM 910 and TBM 930. Cruising at a maximum
330 kts., they travel continental distances rapidly and efficiently. The ultimate
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 www.aopa.org/pilot
PUBLISHER Mark R. Baker

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/
EDITOR IN CHIEF Thomas B. Haines
EDITOR Kollin Stagnito
MANAGING EDITOR Sarah Deener
TECHNICAL EDITOR Mike Collins
SENIOR FEATURES EDITOR
Julie Summers Walker
SENIOR CONTENT PRODUCER
Ian J. Twombly
TURBINE PILOT EDITOR/EDITOR AT LARGE
Thomas A. Horne
EDITOR AT LARGE Dave Hirschman
SENIOR EDITOR Jill W. Tallman
COPY EDITOR Kristy O’Malley
MEDIA PRODUCTION SPECIALIST
Sylvia Horne
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Miriam E. Stoner
CONTRIBUTORS Jared Allen
Peter A. Bedell
Mike Busch
Kathleen Dondzila King
Natalie Bingham Hoover
Alton K. Marsh
Richard McSpadden
Jonathan Sackier
Barry Schiff

SENIOR ART DIRECTOR Jill C. Benton

ART DIRECTOR Elizabeth Z. Jones
DIGITAL ASSET MANAGER/GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Leigh Walsh
SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
Mike Fizer, Chris Rose

EMEDIA MANAGING EDITOR Alyssa J. Cobb

WEB EDITOR Jim Moore
ASSOCIATE WEB EDITORS Dan Namowitz,
David Tulis
EMEDIA PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
Elizabeth Linares, Melissa Whitehouse

The S-TEC 3100 digital, attitude-based autopilot is one of the most AOPA LIVE THIS WEEK EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Warren Morningstar
advanced autopilots ever developed for general aviation. You can now be
AOPA LIVE THIS WEEK ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS
confident of the preceise digital control during every phase of flight, with Josh Cochran, Paul Harrop
features such as envelope protection, straight and level recovery, altitude
preselect, precision approaches and much more. The S-TEC 3100 can ADVERTISING VP Carol Dodds
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Brenda D. Ridgley
interface with compatible EFIS displays as well as analog gauges.
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Donna Stoner
DIGITAL ADVERTISING SPECIALIST Dan Teore
The S-TEC 3100: the next generation of autopilot technology capability,
from the leading name in autopilots with over 40 years experience. ADVERTISING INFORMATION/PRODUCTION
301-695-2368
Find out more at stec3100.genesys-aerosystems.com/aopa
MEMBER ASSISTANCE 800-872-2672

AOPA PILOT EDITORIAL 301-695-2351

FACSIMILE 301-695-2180
EMAIL AOPA PILOT pilot@aopa.org
ADDRESS CHANGES www.aopa.org/
myaccount

Copyright 2019, Aircraft Owners and Pilots

Association. All rights reserved. No part of
this monthly publication may be reproduced
or translated, stored in a database or retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form by elec-
tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or other means, except as expressly
permitted by the publisher; requests
should be directed to the editor.
PRINTED IN THE USA

8 | AOPA PILOT  April 2019

 AIRPORT 3D VIEW
Next-Generation Airport Familiarization.
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 Preserving the freedom to fly
AOPA BOARD OF TRUSTEES
CHAIRMAN William C. Trimble III
VICE CHAIRMAN Darrell W. Crate
TREASURER James N. Hauslein

William S. Ayer
Mark R. Baker
Lawrence D. Buhl III
Matthew J. Desch
Join ATP Flight School Amanda C. Farnsworth
Burgess H. Hamlet III

Become an Airline Pilot H. Neel Hipp Jr.

James G. Tuthill Jr.
Luke R. Wippler
TRUSTEES EMERITI Paul C. Heintz,
R. Anderson Pew

PRESIDENT/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Mark R. Baker

CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER

Tim Fortune

GENERAL COUNSEL AND SECRETARY

Ken Mead

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENTS

AVIATION STRATEGY AND PROGRAMS
Katie Pribyl
FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING Erica Saccoia
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS AND ADVOCACY
Jim Coon
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS, AND OUTREACH
Thomas B. Haines

VICE PRESIDENTS
ADVERTISING Carol Dodds
AIRPORTS AND STATE ADVOCACY
Mike Ginter
AVIATION PROGRAM OPERATIONS
Elizabeth Tennyson
DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL
Ronald D. Golden
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS Melissa Rudinger

Airline Career Pilot Program

HUMAN RESOURCES Greg Cohen
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
John Hamilton
PILOT INFORMATION SERVICES/FLIGHT
Airlines OPERATIONS Mike Filucci
PUBLICATIONS Kollin Stagnito
ATP is your fast track airline career solution – proven by thousands of graduates
now flying for regional and major airlines. AOPA AIR SAFETY INSTITUTE
ê Certification through Commercial and CFI (Multi, Single, Instrument) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Richard McSpadden
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AOPA FOUNDATION
ê Reach airline minimums in about 2 years with guaranteed CFI job
CEO AND PRESIDENT Mark R. Baker
CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF ADVISORS
Start with Credit for Private Pilot Lessing Stern
$63,995 6 Month
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Housing
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VICE PRESIDENT Jennifer Storm

AOPA HOLDINGS CORPORATION

Start from Zero Time PRESIDENT Jiri Marousek
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INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF AIRCRAFT
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SECRETARY GENERAL Craig Spence

Call or text (470) 231-2877 ATPFlightSchool.com/ACPP

All prices offered through April 30, 2019. Check ATPFlightSchool.com for details and eligibility requirements. 10 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
 Mühle-Glashütte Terrasport Flieger – Limited Edition of 100 pieces
Each Limited Edition Number will be engraved on the rotor of the watch.

Time flies with our Terrasport Flieger model, not only because it measures time like a classic pilot‘s watch
but also because it takes us back in time to the very beginnings of wristwatch production in Glashütte.
The German town has been a hub for the production of elegant timepieces since 1845,
but its main focus was initially placed on pocket watches. It wasn‘t until the end of the 1930s
that the production of wristwatches became more prominent in the form of precise and easy to
read pilot‘s watches. $1,099 with 2 year manufacturer’s warranty.

Please call +1-727-896-4278 to order.

Movement: SW 200-1, automatic; Mühle version with woodpecker neck regulation, own rotor and characteristic surface finishes. Stop-second.
Fast date correction. 38-hour power reserve.
Case: Brushed stainless steel. Anti-glare sapphire crystal. Transparent case back. Screw-in crown. Ø 40.0 mm; H 10.0 mm.
Water-resistant to 10 bars. Buffalo leather strap with a stainless steel pin buckle.
Dial: Black. Hour markers and hands coated in Super LumiNova.
AOPA ACTION 

AOPA advocates for TFR relief

$3.5 million in reimbursement for affected airports

A $328 BILLION spending package signed into law on February 15 includes a big win
for general aviation, with $3.5 million in reimbursement funding to three airports
affected by presidential temporary flight restrictions. AOPA has long pushed for
a solution for airports that have been negatively impacted by presidential TFRs
where the president is in residence for an extended period of time, most recently
at New Jersey’s Solberg and Somerset airports and Florida’s Palm Beach County BAKER ON
Park Airport, also known as Lantana. Combined, the airports suffered a net loss THE NEWS
of nearly $1 million in 2017 alone.
The newly passed legislation states: “Up to $3,500,000 shall be for necessary “TFRs have left airports finan-
expenses, including an independent verification regime, to provide reimburse- cially drained, as many businesses
ment to airport sponsors that do not provide gateway operations and providers of remain inoperable during the
general aviation support services located at those airports closed during a tempo- restrictions—from fixed-based
rary flight restriction (TFR) for any residence of the President that is designated operators to skydiving opera-
or identified to be secured by the United States Secret Service, and for direct and tions, flight schools, maintenance
incremental financial losses incurred while such airports are closed solely due to shops, and other aviation activities.
the actions of the Federal Government.” Our team here at AOPA worked
AOPA has been the leading advocate in Washington, D.C., to find a solution for hard on this solution and believe
presidential TFR impacts on airports. In addition to the efforts to secure the reim- it is a big win for those airports,
bursement funds, AOPA worked with members of Congress in 2018 to require the businesses, and communities.”
FAA to develop a report on methods for mitigating the impact of TFRs associated  —AOPA President Mark Baker
with future presidential travels.
www.aopa.org/pilot/airspace

Could Meigs Field make a comeback?

Longshot mayoral candidate supports reopening the Chicago airport

MEIGS FIELD once again had a moment in the spotlight dur-
ing the Chicago mayoral campaign, when candidate Willie
Wilson listed reopening the iconic general aviation airport
on his 10-point agenda.
In 2003, in what AOPA called a “reprehensible action,”
then-Mayor Richard Daley closed the airport overnight by
sending a demolition crew to bulldoze six large X’s in the air-
port’s single runway, making it unusable and stranding the
16 general aviation aircraft parked on the ramp. The devious
move caught the FAA, Meigs control tower, elected officials,
and pilots across the United States by surprise, and set a scary
precedent for the future of other GA airports.
In the years following the closing, the city spent $9.7
million to turn the space into a concert venue and nature
preserve, although it had been more profitable as an airport.
Today, the space only generates $55,000 to the city. When
it was opened as an airport, it contributed between $300
million and $500 million in income per year. And that’s some-
thing Wilson has said he believes would benefit Chicago.
www.aopa.org/pilot/airports

12 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

 Training Starts Here.

Piper AD too broad 2019

AOPA fights ‘intrusive and expensive action’
THE FAA SHOULD PULL BACK its proposed
airworthiness directive calling for log-
book reviews and possible wing-spar
inspections of up to 20,000 Piper PA–28
and PA–32 series airplanes and instead
gather safety data through alternative,
readily available, and less onerous means,
AOPA said in a regulatory filing. The scope
of the proposed AD is too broad, and the
“intrusive and expensive action” it would
mandate is inappropriate without proper
groundwork being laid, AOPA said.
AOPA reiterated the request that
the FAA grant 45 days additional time
for providing detailed comments. The
FARAIM
SERIES
association also challenged contentions
in the AD, including compliance cost esti-
mates and the formula owners would use
to calculate an aircraft’s factored time
in service—a key element in determin- FEDERAL AVIATION REGULATION
ing whether further steps must be taken
to inspect the aircraft and report find- REFERENCE BOOKS
ings. The additional time for the public
to comment also would give the National
Transportation Safety Board an oppor-
tunity to conclude its investigation into
a fatal accident that occurred on April 4,
2018, in Daytona Beach, Florida, involving
a Piper PA–28R-201.
www.aopa.org/advocacy/aircraft

ASN VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH |

Ron Orozco
WHEN PILOT RON OROZCO heard that the mayor of
Lordsburg, New Mexico, was floating ideas about clos-
ing Lordsburg Municipal Airport, he took action. Orozco
brought the issue to aviation advocates including AOPA
Central Southwest Regional Manager Tom Chandler, the
National Business Aviation Association, the New Mexico PILOT RON OROZCO with
Airport Managers Association, and the New Mexico Pilots his wife, Beth.
Association. He also worked with the New Mexico Aviation
Division to gather key airport facts for a pro-airport presentation. Orozco—AOPA’s Airport
Support Network volunteer for Lordsburg—appeared before the Hidalgo County Commission
to solicit support, leading to the mayor backing off his thought of closing the airport.
Orozco also became actively involved in the opposition of a rule change being pro-
posed by the New Mexico Game and Fish Commission, which would have put general
aviation pilots at risk of unknowingly violating rules and potentially suffering legal action.
With representatives of the New Mexico Pilots Association and the Recreational Aviation
Foundation, Orozco rallied support from area pilots and worked to educate New Mexico
Game and Fish commissioners on the issue from a pilot’s perspective. These efforts paid
off when the commission voted down the proposed rule change.
Since then, Orozco has launched an effort to create a video to educate both pilots and ACCURATE. RELIABLE.
hunters on the central issue the rule was intended to address: game spotting from aircraft.
Orozco exemplifies the attributes AOPA looks for in an Airport Support Network volunteer. TRUSTED.
www.aopa.org/pilot/airports

asa2fly.com/faraim
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 13
LETTERS FROM OUR FEBRUARY 2019 ISSUE
Driven to distraction
Are distraction-induced maintenance errors preventable?
I really enjoyed Mike Busch’s
“Errors of Distraction.” As a
former automotive shop owner,
pilot, aircraft owner, advanced
ground instructor, and grand-
parent, I can testify to the
abundance of distractions in life.
Having owned two aircraft
over the years, I experienced
sloppy work and potentially
dangerous oversights. The
most aggravating experience
was with my “new” Grumman
Tiger. The local FBO was asked
to do an oil change for me.
When I looked at my new shiny
airplane and saw oil all over the
nosewheel and cowling, I asked
what happened. I had a quick
drain on the engine, so they just
let it drain and did not clean it.
No hose was installed. Then I
did my preflight and smelled a
strong gas odor. On looking fur-
ther, they had broken a primer
line. Just forgot to tell me.
With calmness—hard to do—
I explained to the FBO owner
what had happened to my air-
plane. He apologized and said
he would get the corrections
made. I bought the airplane
through him, so he knew his
crew was responsible.
As a pilot, do you prefer to fly alone
or with one or more passengers?
One passenger 61%
Alone 23%
More than one passenger 15%
Aviation eBrief poll
14 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
PROFICIENCY & EFFICIENCY
PROFICIENCY |
There’s
a chart
for that
Can you make the climb?
B Y C AT H E R I N E C AVAG N A R O
84 | AOPA PILOT February 2019
Back to my automotive
shop. Our shop had one major
rule: No phone calls when you
were working. Our mechanics
had to finish the particular job
they were on before retriev-
ing their phone calls from our
receptionist. If an emergency
occurred, and our mechan-
ics had to be interrupted, they
were required to update me
on the exact status of the job.
When the work was finished,
it was my responsibility to road
test the vehicle, raise the hood,
double check all the work that
23%
87 MAINTENANCE 90 WX WATCH 93 ADS-B 95 OWNERSHIP 98 NEVER AGAIN
Obstacle departure procedures
generally take into account terrain
and obstructions within 25 nautical
miles of airports in nonmountainous
terrain and 46 nautical miles of
airports in mountainous terrain.
DANIEL HERTZBERG
15%
61%
I just wanted to thank you for Catherine
ONCE I SWITCHED FROM PAPER to electronic
navigational charts, I never looked back.
Cavagnaro’s article in February’s AOPA Pilot
For some, paper evokes feelings of nostal-
gia, but I remember too clearly the weight
and expense of all those unwieldy charts.
Hearing ATC say, “We have a rerouting for
you. Are you ready to copy?” would fill me
with a sense of dread. As the controller rat-
tled off a list of unfamiliar VORs and fixes,
(“Proficiency: There’s a Chart For That”). One
I had to locate them on my low-altitude en
route chart, fly the airplane with no auto-
pilot, and keep two kids in the back quiet
enough so I could do all of that. No fun. The
only thing I miss about paper charts is that
someday my supply of outdated versions
will run out and my pilot friends will no
result was I went4%online and added that FAA
longer get their presents wrapped in them.
Well, that and one more thing.
I am a designated examiner for the
Nashville Flight Standards District Office,
and although most private pilot candidates
still arrive for the practical exam with paper
charts, instrument rating candidates almost
resource to my ForeFlight documents to help
never do. That’s fine, but recently I gave a
practical exam that reminded me of a con-
venient reference in paper U.S. Terminal
Procedures Publications.
I asked my instrument rating candi-
date, John, to plan a flight from Tennessee’s
Winchester Municipal Airport to Asheville
my students and remind myself of the climb/
Regional Airport in North Carolina. The
scenario conditions at Winchester included
8 miles visibility, a 300-foot overcast cloud
layer, winds from 150 degrees at 4 knots, and
his aircraft was at maximum gross weight.
Although John said his personal weather
minimums for a ceiling were greater than
descent table. Thank you.
those, we continued with the scenario as a
thought experiment.
The Winchester Airport is at 978 feet
msl and Memphis Center often cannot
see an aircraft on radar in that area until it
has reached 3,500 feet msl, so the control-
lers cannot assist with terrain avoidance. I
asked John, “How can you guarantee that
you will avoid obstacles on your departure
from Winchester?” John wisely consulted
the obstacle departure procedure for the
airport. For Runway 18, the minimums are
standard with a climb of 330 feet per nauti-
cal mile to 2,400 feet msl. John said that on
such a day his airplane can easily climb 550
feet per minute so we should be fine. The
problem is that he was comparing a climb
was done. In my opinion, these
distractions can be reduced, but
it takes dedicated effort by all
involved in the service process.
James L. Hibbert
AOPA 647779
Walterboro, South Carolina
Generating change
“Turn and Face the Change”
was a nice article. My personal
belief is electric is where all this
will lead, including heavy jets.
If I look forward enough I see
electric-driven propulsion—not
by batteries but by small nuclear
generators. They already drive
various spacecraft, have energy
density that far exceeds so-called
fossil fuel, and should be able to
be designed to take up the space
of a few thermos bottles with
eventually little weight. Look at
the thrust of a high-bypass fan
jet. Eighty percent or so of the
thrust is produced by the turbine
blades accelerating air that never
sees the combustion chamber.
gradient (feet per nautical mile) to a climb
rate (feet per minute). My raised eyebrows
made John rethink his statement, and he
recognized the inconsistency.
New!
John had correctly determined that, TOP OFF YOUR PLANE
given the field elevation, local altimeter set-
ting, temperature, and aircraft weight, his & YOUR WALLET
aircraft was capable of a 550-fpm climb with the AOPA World Mastercard®,
rate. In order to see if this was sufficient, he
the best card for pilots.
needed to convert the 330-feet-per-nauti-
cal-mile climb gradient to a climb rate, and
for that he needed two other items: the true
airspeed during the climb as well as the
winds. In other words, he needed to know
the groundspeed during the climb to alti-
tude. John used a climb speed of 80 knots
but assumed it would be 90 knots to err on
the side of caution.
Now John was ready for the conversion.
He said, “Hmmm, now there is a chart for CASH BACK1
that,” and proceeded to search his iPad for
it. The paper approach plate books always Select AOPA purchases
• AOPA Membership
included this handy chart, and even though
• AOPA Pilot Protection Services
the approach plates were downloaded onto • AOPA Pilot Gear store purchases
his iPad, his search for the chart yielded no • AOPA Event Registration
• AOPA Flight Instructor Refresher
results. After fumbling with some mathemat- Clinics (in-person and online)
ical calculations, he finally estimated that he
would need a climb rate of about 495 fpm Visit
AOPA.org/creditcard
to achieve the desired climb gradient—he
was good to go but it was a lot closer than to learn more
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an impression on him. 1 Rewards points can be redeemed for Cash Back or other items pro-
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As an examiner, I am aware that earn- as a statement credit. The statement credit will reduce your balance
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of Tennessee means that you are legal to for non-cash back redemption items such as merchandise, gift cards,
depart an airport such as Steamboat Springs and travel may vary.
in instrument meteorological conditions.
There, the takeoff minimums on Runway
14 require a climb gradient of 610 feet per
nautical mile to over 2,000 feet above the
airport elevation of 6,882 feet msl. It would
be easy to find days for which this isn’t
possible in many general aviation aircraft.
Miles J. Barrett
Confusing climb gradient and climb rate in
this case could prove disastrous.
After the exam ended, I pointed out
to John that he can download the Digital
Terminal Procedures Supplement for free
from the FAA website and keep it on his
AOPA 687231
iPad. (The supplement also may be down-
North Cape May, New Jersey
loaded via some apps.) The last page of the
document features the climb/descent table.
Why spend time rediscovering a formula
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 85
It could just as well be driven
by some kind of electric motor
powered by a nuclear generator.
Let’s really start thinking out
into the future where, I’ll wager,
we’ll find no barriers—only the
ones we create ourselves.
Rob Bender
AOPA 1430506
Golden, Colorado
Top 10
I was dismayed to read in
Richard McSpaddens arti-
cle “Our Top 10” that AOPA
“experts” would include air-
frame parachutes on their list
of top 10 safety advances. The
other items listed no doubt have
dramatically increased safety
for a broad spectrum of hun-
dreds of thousands of pilots. If
you include passengers on trans-
port aircraft, the number of lives
saved is probably astronomical.
But the airframe parachute
has only been implemented in
a minute segment of aviation.
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LETTERS

McSpadden asserts in the article PROFICIENT PILOT Barry Schiff missed another important life-
that 400 lives have been saved Giving ’er the slip
saving use of a slip. Combat pilots of low and
BY BARRY SCHIFF

by airframe parachutes. I won-

A tried and true technique

slow airplanes were taught to fly in a sideslip

I RECENTLY WATCHED a rerun of Falling from the Sky: Inadvertent slipping most often occurs dur-
Flight 174, a made-for-TV movie that had me falling from ing normal flight when bank angle is too steep for

der where that statistic comes

my seat and rolling on the floor in a fit of sidesplitting
laughter. I have never seen an aviation movie so replete
with unintentional blunders and bloopers.
The 1995 docudrama attempted to detail the
events leading up to the safe landing of an Air Canada
the existing rate of turn. It usually is the result of
improper rudder usage during turn entry or recovery,
inadvertently applying top rudder while turning, or
flying one wing low while holding a constant head-
ing. The airplane simply flies somewhat sideways,

from? Is that the number of

Boeing 767 that experienced a double engine flameout
because of fuel exhaustion while at Flight Level 410
near Winnipeg, Canada. (The 767 had been loaded with
pounds of fuel instead of a like number of kilograms.)
because ground gunners invariably would aim
and those inside the airplane tend to lean toward the
low wing (as does the ball of a slip-skid indicator).
The drag produced during such “sideways” flight is
what helps to prevent airspeed from increasing while

inflight activations of airframe

The dead-stick landing at Gimli, Manitoba, on July descending in a normal slip.
23, 1983, was a masterful display of airmanship, result- It is not common knowledge, but some airline
ing in part from Capt. R.O. Pearson’s experience as a pilots—especially old-timers—use mild slipping to

ahead of the extended centerline of the aircraft

glider pilot. While powerless and on final approach to assist in gently descending their aluminum giants
the 8,000-foot-long runway of an abandoned air force onto the glideslope when caught high and after the

parachutes? He asserts in the

base (then used as a drag strip), he recognized that
the Boeing was too high and would likely overshoot.
Pearson responded almost instinctively by lowering a
wing, applying top rudder, and deftly slipping off the
excess altitude.
flaps have been deployed. (Using spoilers to lose alti-
tude often is prohibited following flap extension.)
Such slipping seldom involves lowering a wing more
than a few degrees, is remarkably effective, and is
rarely felt by those in the cabin.

same paragraph that “most off-

Slipping was developed because early airplanes did Pilots of yore used a more dramatic procedure to

rather than in the actual (slipping) direction of

not have wing flaps. A slip was the recommended way descend steeply without building excess airspeed. It
to steepen the descent without increasing airspeed. was called a falling leaf, a maneuver in which an air-
Although slipping is less emphasized today, it never- plane in a glide is made to swing from side to side and
theless must be demonstrated during some flight tests. settle like a leaf falling from the sky with little change

airport landings do not end in

Many of us, though, fail to subsequently maintain pro- in heading. It is performed by entering a power-off
ficiency in slipping, a maneuver that belongs in every stall and then applying sufficient rudder to cause the
pilot’s repertoire. airplane to barely begin an incipient spin. Opposite

travel. Saved a lot of lives.

Slips also can be used to further increase sink rate rudder is then applied before heading changes very
with flaps extended because flaps are not always as much and is held until an incipient spin barely begins

fatalities.” I’ve heard a figure of

effective as we might need them to be. They also are in the opposite direction. This cycle is repeated until
an effective way to reduce airspeed (especially prior to the desired amount of altitude has been lost. The
a forced or crash landing), to assist in closing an open descent profile seems more vertical than horizontal
door in flight, or to divert smoke and flames away from because the aircraft loses altitude rapidly and with

90 to 96 percent, but even if we Bill Ramos

the cockpit during an engine fire in a single-engine air- little forward speed.
plane. Slips should not be used, however, with a low fuel Once a pilot is proficient at slipping, he might
supply because this could unport a fuel pump or fuel find a CFI willing to instruct him in fishtailing.
line in a near-empty tank. This is an emergency maneuver that can be used

AOPA 4334022
I never allowed my students to solo until they to quickly dissipate airspeed during a potential

interpret the word “most” to

had mastered slipping, but not for the obvious rea- overrun during a forced landing. It is performed
sons. I discovered that those proficient at performing by applying rudder in one direction and then the
BARRY SCHIFF
slips (especially sideslips) made the best crosswind other while applying opposite aileron in each case

Las Vegas, Nevada

was presented with
the Aero Club of landings. This, I believe, is because learning to cross- to keep the wings level. It can be highly effective.
Northern Califor- control an airplane at altitude made them more This maneuver, however, should not be performed

mean 75 percent, that suggests

nia’s Crystal Eagle
Award in November comfortable with slipping near the ground while exe- in large, swept-wing aircraft. AOPA
2018. cuting crosswind landings. www.barryschiff.com

20 | AOPA PILOT February 2019

that only a hundred lives might

have been saved. While 100 lives
is impressive, it hardly quali-
fies to compete with the broad
safety impacts of the other nine
items on the list. And it doesn’t
account for the pilots that were
more comfortable pushing the
envelope because they had the
get-out-of-jail-free card.
I would have put AOPA’s
integrity above what comes
across as a thinly veiled plug
for BRS. Is there accurate data
to suggest otherwise?
Michael Mock
AOPA 911939
Townsend, Georgia
Landing tale
Barry Schiff’s “Give ‘er the Slip”
article in February’s AOPA Pilot
magazine reminded me about a
flight on a Boeing 727–2A. I was
flying with a first officer who was
a great stick and a lot of fun to fly said, “You got it!” I placed the left the flight.” She said, “At least you
with. On the last leg into DTW, wing down ever so slightly and made a nice landing out of it.”
I wanted to pull his leg a little. top rudder and we flew right into Kenneth Eckstein
AOPA 7684106
They asked me if we had the the glideslope. I pushed them up Simpsonville, South Carolina
field and without asking Mike at the outer marker and made a
I keyed the mic: “Yessir, we can grease job. “Flaps up after land- Clarification
take a visual.” Mike was strain- ing,” I intoned. Mike gave me a While many World War II air-
ing against his straps trying to dirty look, said, “I never would borne soldiers were drafted
get a view of the airport on my have believed it.” Schiff is right; into the service (“Re-Living
side. “OK, sir, you are cleared to if you’re smooth nobody knows History,” February 2019 AOPA
land on 3L.” Mike asked me how back in the cabin. But, one per- Pilot), airborne duty was volun-
it looked. “Oh, you’re fine, a lit- son did on that flight. I was last tary, and remains so today.
tle high, that’s all.” He banked the off the airplane, putting on my
airplane and exclaimed, “Are you coat and hat, and an elderly We welcome your comments.
nuts? I can’t make that!” I assured lady in her eighties stopped by Editor, AOPA Pilot, 421 Aviation
him he could, flaps 2, 5, 15, gear the door smiling. She asked, Way, Frederick, Maryland 21701
down, 30 degrees. Mike said he’d “Were we flying sideways?” or email (pilot@aopa.org). Let-
never make it. I said, “You wanna I smiled back and said, “Oh, ters may be edited for length
bet?” He threw his arms up and just a tiny bit, glad you enjoyed and style before publication.

“Flying in the jump seat was not my first time in a jumbo jet cockpit, but it sure was
my first time flying around with a state-of-the-art hospital in the trunk!” said Editor
in Chief TOM HAINES about his experience in the Orbis International MD–10 Flying Eye
Hospital. The 46-year-old airliner lives a leisurely life of 100 flight hours or so a year,
but hauls a big, life-changing load. It even has a cool call sign: Orbis One. Most impres-
sive, though, said Haines, is the commitment of the Orbis organization, the staff, and
the volunteers to stamping out debilitating eye conditions around the world. “Every
person I came in contact with was absolutely on point regarding the mission and the
HANGAR TALK

idea of service, including Nate Morrissey. Nate’s a GA pilot and an FAA inspector in real
life, but is a passionate volunteer determined to make pilots everywhere more aware
of the Orbis mission. Like others at Orbis, he’s all in to keep the program growing and
healthy. I came away with a great admiration for the organization and impressed, yet
again, by the difference aviation can make in the world.”

16 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

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WAYPOINTS
To minimums, really?
Tales from the glidepath
LIKE IMPATIENTLY PUNCHING THE elevator but-
ton multiple times hoping for a faster response, we
checked the METAR for Massachusetts’ Plymouth
Municipal Airport over and over again hoping for an
update—ideally, an update that the showed the ceiling
increasing from 200 feet to something closer to 500
feet. Minimums for the RNAV (GPS) 24 LPV approach
there are 446 feet. At nine miles, the visibility below the
clouds was not a factor on this midwinter day.
Meanwhile, the miles to go and the estimated
time enroute marched down smartly as a 30-knot tail-
wind propelled my Beechcraft Bonanza along at 200
knots groundspeed at 9,000 feet. AOPA Live Executive
Producer Warren Morningstar was in the left seat as we
considered options. We were on top in severe clear and a
smooth ride. Below were a few scattered clouds, but far-
ther northeast, tenacious low clouds hugged the coast.
Our circuitous routing around the New York City airspace
had us passing directly over Providence, Rhode Island,
which was reporting marginal VFR—a safe bet should
we miss on the approach to Plymouth. We both agreed
that at the reported 200 feet, there was no sense in try-
ing the approach.
The terminal aerodrome forecast (TAF) suggested
conditions at Plymouth would be marginal VFR by 11 a.m.
We had delayed our departure an hour already. With the
tailwind we would be arriving at Plymouth around 10:30
a.m. Yes, we could pull the throttle back, but, hey, how
often do you get a tailwind like that?
If we didn’t see an improvement at Plymouth, we
agreed to land at Providence and wait awhile. However,
updated weather from the Providence controller
reported the ceiling at 300 feet. Progress. We decided
to give it a shot at Plymouth.
During the descent, we briefed the approach and
talked through the missed approach procedure as well
as the immediate action items when going missed. I
loaded the approach in the Garmin GTN 750, overlay-
ing the approach procedure on the moving map, and
backed it up on the GNS 530. We both also had the
procedure displayed on our iPads. Morningstar set the
minimums reminder in the Garmin G500 at 450 feet,
Editor in Chief
TOM HAINES as close to 446 as we could get.
upgraded the panel Cleared for the approach, I activated the proce-
of his Beechcraft dure in the GTN as we progressed toward the initial
Bonanza to a
Garmin GTN 750 approach fix at 2,000 feet msl, just skimming the cloud
in 2014. tops. Morningstar requested one more check of the
18 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
BY THOMAS B. HAINES
Editor in Chief
automated weather at Plymouth. The ceiling was up to
400 feet. We just went from “unlikely” to “perhaps.”
The glidepath marker descended out of the top
of the display right on schedule as we approached
BURRK intersection, where Morningstar put in
approach flaps and lowered the gear—and down we
went into the murk. The winds at 2,000 feet were out
of the northwest at about 22 knots, but on the ground
they were out of the west at about 12 knots. We antic-
ipated some bumps on the way down and were not
disappointed. Morningstar did his best in the bumps to
anchor the green flightpath marker from the synthetic
vision to the end of the simulated runway while moni-
toring the HSI, speed, glidepath, and altitude.
I had found a frequency for the pilot-controlled
lighting in the U.S. chart supplement (airport/facil-
ity directory for us geezers) on my iPad, clicked the
mic more times than necessary to bring up the lights,
and then announced our position on the common traf-
fic advisory frequency. My eyes were locked out the
window with an occasional glance over at the primary
flight display to monitor our progress. I crosschecked
our altitude at the intermediate fix—right at 780 feet.
Soon out of the corner of my eye I began to see the
ground out the side window.
Pilots all the time say they broke out “right at min-
imums” and you can’t help but wonder—was it really
that low? Or, was it actually lower and perhaps they
cheated a little? With such a high decision altitude on
this approach—300 feet above the ground—one could
understand the temptation to cheat a little. I, however,
could not imagine descending below a more typical 200-
foot decision height without the airport in sight.
But on this day, no need to cheat. Just as the nice
Garmin lady said “Minimums, Minimums,” I saw the
runway end identifier lights and called “runway in
sight, continue” to Morningstar.
“I’ve got it now,” he said a couple of beats later, and a
few seconds after that we were on the runway, rolling past
an Eclipse jet waiting to take off at the nontowered airport.
As we exited the runway, I called Boston Approach
on the remote frequency and canceled our flight plan. A
minute later the Eclipse blasted off into the clag.
Just another day at a busy GA airport. AOPA
EMAIL thomas.haines@aopa.org
@tomhaines29
 MAY 10-11,2019
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E X P L O R E A L L T H I N G S AV I A T I O N .
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PROFICIENT PILOT
The possible turn
When unconventional wisdom goes mainstream
IT WAS APRIL 8, 1957. I was checking out my student,
Henry Meyers, in a Stinson 108-2 Voyager, N40156.
Shortly after liftoff from Santa Monica, California’s
Runway 21, the Franklin engine threw a piston rod
through the number 3 cylinder and brought our climb to
an explosive halt. We had just passed over the departure
end of the runway, and a densely populated residential
area discouraged me from attempting to land straight
ahead. It would have been ugly. I instead and almost
instinctively reversed course and landed on the runway
downwind and in the opposite direction.
It was this event—and the criticism I received for
turning around following an engine failure after take-
off—that triggered the beginning of what has been a
decades-long study of this controversial subject. The
literature of the day dogmatically insisted that a pilot
should always land straight ahead following an engine
failure that occurs shortly after liftoff. It became my
contention, however, that although landing straight
ahead almost always is the safest course of action, there
are exceptions to the rule—circumstances when turn-
ing around would be the preferred option.
My first article discussing this subject, “Engine
Failure after Takeoff,” was published in the November
1974 edition of this magazine. In it I described the
results of flight testing that led to what I considered to
be the safest manner in which to execute a turnaround
maneuver. It also discussed the conditions that would
be necessary to consider such a maneuver.
As my thoughts about this subject evolved and solid-
ified over the years, I continued to write about them in
subsequent articles as well as in my monthly column,
“The Proficient Pilot.” My most recent article about it,
“Unconventional Wisdom,” appeared on these pages in
April 2011.
These articles continued to attract criticism and
derision, although some conceded that turning 30 or so
degrees right or left following an engine failure would be
acceptable. My detractors even formed an informal coun-
terculture, authors and speakers whose mantra was that
a pilot should never turn around following an engine fail-
BARRY SCHIFF ure, labeling such a maneuver as “the impossible turn.”
has been a member
of the Society of These well-intended naysayers cited numerous fatal
Experimental Test accidents in which pilots attempted to return to the run-
Pilots as well as way following a low-altitude engine failure after takeoff.
a Fellow of the
Royal Aeronautical I’m willing to bet, however, that the majority of these
Society. ill-fated pilots had not had the benefit of the training
20 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
BY BARRY SCHIFF
needed to do this safely. On the other hand, many pilots
have performed the turnaround without incident. The
number of such uneventful landings, however, cannot
be determined because they obviously never became
accident statistics.
After 44 years of having to endure criticism for
publicly advocating that pilots need to recognize and
be prepared for those times and conditions when turn-
ing around is preferable to landing straight ahead, I was
ready to concede that I had been fighting a losing bat-
tle. I was stunned, therefore, to recently learn that I had
been vindicated by an unexpected ally. The FAA now
states matter-of-factly in paragraph A.11.4 of Advisory
Circular 61-83J dated September 13, 2018, that “flight
instructors should demonstrate and teach trainees
when and how to make a safe 180-degree turnback to
the field after an engine failure.”
Never in a million years did I expect that the FAA
would come to my rescue. The impossible turn is now
considered possible.
It is important for me to explain that it has never
been my goal to encourage anyone to execute a low-
altitude return to the runway. But let’s face it: An engine
failure shortly after takeoff places a pilot in extreme
jeopardy. We need to be aware of our options and when
they might be available.
My only concern about the FAA’s suggestion in
Appendix A of AC 61-83J is that it leaves to instruc-
tors to determine how best to demonstrate and teach
when and how to make a safe turnaround. It is critical,
I believe, for the FAA—perhaps with industry coopera-
tion—to develop and provide the necessary guidelines.
An improperly executed turnaround can just as easily
lead to the type of fatal accidents mentioned earlier.
As a start, the FAA might want to consider publish-
ing the principles involved in turning around safely
that will be presented during a live, hour-long broad-
cast by my son, Brian, a captain for a major airline and
an accomplished general aviation flight instructor. His
seminar is sponsored by the National Association of
Flight Instructors and will be based to a large extent
on my decades of study and research involving this
subject. The seminar will air May 15, at 8 p.m. Eastern
time. All interested pilots are invited to view this broad-
cast live (or an archived broadcast at a later date) at
www.nafinet.org/mentorlive. AOPA
www.barryschiff.com
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FLYING LIFE
Committed to memory
Do you know enough about your airplane?
“Never memorize something that you can look up.”
—Albert Einstein
IN AVIATION, we often pride ourselves on knowing every
detail of the flying world. We memorize specifics like
the model number of the engine or the optimal PSI of
the nosewheel tire. I have a friend we fondly call the
walking FAR/AIM. He can cite chapter and verse with
incredible powers of recall. I am always impressed by
pilots who can spout off these facts, but I must confess
that I am not one of them. Maybe in my past, when I
only flew one or two airplanes, I might have been able
to impress with my keen knowledge of a Cessna 172, but
I have slowly let those details slip. In the training world,
we call it the iceberg problem. There are only so many
penguins that can fit on a single iceberg. So it goes with
the capacity for information in our brains. When a new
concept arrives, another must leave to make room for
it. Whether or not the penguin analogy holds true (I
suspect some people’s icebergs, like mine, are just a bit
smaller than others), I’d like to make a case for limiting
the amount of memorization we subject ourselves to, if
only for sanity’s sake.
As an FAA designated pilot examiner, I’ve formed
some pretty serious opinions on the subject of what
should be committed to memory. Here’s how it works.
If the information is of a time critical nature—typically
information you would want to know in the air—that
should be a memory item. But, if the information is more
ground-based, such as reporting rules for an accident
versus incident, that’s something that could be looked
up in the leisure of an air-conditioned building. I’d like
to make a case for memorizing the following list of
essential items:
Immediate actions. If my airplane is on fire, I
want to know what to do about it, and fast. There are
three fire situations I always memorize for any air-
plane I fly: fire on engine start, in-flight engine fire,
and electrical fire. I’ve experienced two of the three
and will always be grateful I knew exactly what to
do before the fire was strong enough to harm me or
my airplane. I think most people would agree the
procedure for engine roughness or failure is also
NATALIE BINGHAM important. Most pilot’s operating handbooks have
HOOVER has logged certain checklist items printed in bold lettering. Do
more than 3,000
hours of dual flight yourself a favor and commit those to memory before
instruction given. you have to use them.
22 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
BY NATALIE BINGHAM HOOVER
Dangerous weather encounters. Although most of
us take great pains to avoid encountering bad weather,
there is always the possibility that it could happen. The
“that would never happen to me” mindset is naive at
best. If it’s a thunderstorm, slow down to maneuver-
ing speed and accept heading and altitude deviations to
prevent structural damage. If it’s icing, change altitudes
to get away from the freezing level and keep your speed
up on landing to compensate for the higher stall speed.
Airspace and weather minimums. I know there
are people groaning when they read this one, but I
really think these two are memory-worthy items. No
one wants to work hard to earn a rating only to get vio-
lated when you unintentionally bust the floor of Class
B airspace without the required clearance. Likewise,
knowing the proper distance to stay away from clouds
will keep you safe and reduce the risk of a midair
collision.
Spin/stall recovery procedure. Really, you do not
want to be rotating toward the ground at a rapid rate
and trying to read a checklist. Enough said.
Regulations that apply to in-the-air scenarios.
I’m talking about minimum safe altitudes, right-of-
way rules, lost radio procedures, and the like. But the
majority of regulations can be easily looked up as long
as you have a working knowledge of the FAR/AIM. If
I discover something broken on a preflight, I see no
shame in referring to FAR 91.213 and 91.205 to deter-
mine airworthiness.
Basic systems understanding. What are the
sources of power for the different systems on my air-
craft? If I lose all electrical power, what will stop
working? If I turn that fuel pump switch off, will my
engine quit? If I get ice on the static port, what sort of
problems will I have? The finer details, such as engine
horsepower or the amount of voltage to specific com-
ponents, are something that can be quickly looked up if
the information is needed.
I intentionally make this memory list short not so we
can let ourselves off the hook, but so that we can focus
on the things that matter. I consider it a valuable skill to
be able to effectively use our resources, whether that’s
the FAR, a checklist, or the legend on a sectional chart.
I realize some of you will disagree with me. Perhaps you
think there are additional items that should be added to
the list? I welcome the conversation.  AOPA
www.myaviation101.com
SAFETY SPOTLIGHT
Automation
Matching pilot intentions with aircraft performance
THE TRAGIC LION AIR CRASH in October 2018 off the
coast of Indonesia, which claimed 189 lives, sparked
debate throughout the industry centered around auto-
mation. How much do pilots need to know about the
complex systems working in the background to con-
trol the airplane? What is the obligation of the original
equipment manufacturers to explain the systems, and
what is the obligation of the FAA and airline companies
to mandate additional training? These are not easy ques-
tions to answer. Well, as my dad once coached me, “If it
were easy, they’d pay you minimum wage.”
I’m confident the FAA, manufacturers, and air-
lines will work through the issues and advance safety.
Look at the remarkable safety progress we’ve made in
every element of aviation—commercial, general avia-
tion, military—over the last several decades. We have an
independent arm (in the United States, the NTSB) that
investigates every fatal accident through a safety lens. All
elements of the industry comb through those investiga-
tions, gleaning lessons to improve knowledge, training,
proficiency, equipment, and decision making, the core ele-
ments of safety. Then we come together to discuss and
debate the lessons we learned—and we act on them.
The automation issue at the heart of the Lion Air
investigation isn’t limited to commercial aircraft and
pilots. Advances in automation inside GA cockpits offer
powerful navigation, communication, weather avoid-
ance, engine monitoring, and aircraft control support.
More—and more accurate—information is available to
pilots, enabling better decision making. Advanced and
increasingly less expensive autopilots, GPS units, and
coupling of those free pilots for more complex cogni-
tive tasks, minimizing stress and mental fatigue. And it
took us all awhile to admit it, but computers fly airplanes
much more precisely than humans. Exactly as directed.
As cockpits modernize, our approach to flying must
evolve. We must gain—and maintain—a thorough under-
standing of how the automated systems in the aircraft
operate and our human interaction. Upgrading to a
Cessna CitationJet CE–525S type rating required a par-
adigm shift in my cockpit task prioritization. Most of
RICHARD MCSPADDEN
is a commercial my flying is in light piston GA airplanes, specifically a
pilot, flight instruc- Piper Super Cub and a Navion. In these airplanes, the
tor, and remote pilot link between what I intend for the airplane to do, what
with a CitationJet
CE–525S type I instruct it to do, and what it is actually doing is accom-
rating. plished through hand-eye, stick-and-rudder coordination,
24 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
BY RICHARD MCSPADDEN
Executive Director
AOPA Air Safety Institute
and I monitor the basic flying instruments to ensure
desired performance. Even the F–15 wasn’t substantially
different from these light airplanes in terms of navigation
and autopilot automation; the link was primarily through
hand-eye coordination and a good instrument scan, with
a few basic features for altitude and attitude control.
In the CitationJet, I struggled for the first few hours
until I understood how vital it was to recalibrate my
mental approach to flying. The automation, while help-
ful, also could be confusing, and potentially critical errors
were easy to make. It took a great deal of effort to under-
stand the profound shift in the elements of interaction
between me and the aircraft: what I intend, what I direct,
what the airplane is doing, what it will do next and when.
The circumstances surrounding a few accidents in
2018 make me wonder if the pilots’ interaction with auto-
mation was involved. In one, a Cessna Citation crashed
shortly after takeoff in poor weather. In the CJ type
training simulator, I once took off with low weather, inad-
vertently engaged the wrong altitude function in the flight
management system, and the aircraft barreled ahead, not
climbing, while I got distracted by some minor malfunc-
tion. What I intended to do was not what I directed the
aircraft to do, and the aircraft was doing exactly what I
directed—flying straight toward rising terrain.
In another instance, a pilot fresh out of upgrade train-
ing to his new airplane, and new avionics package, headed
home, encountering low weather and poor visibility in
mountainous terrain. He lost control of the airplane after,
or perhaps during, a missed approach, crashed, and all
aboard perished. Fresh out of upgrade; new airplane; new,
more complex avionics package; single pilot into some of
the most demanding conditions. The pilot was asking a
lot of himself, regardless of what the NTSB finds.
Glass panels and avionics advancements coming
into our cockpits offer powerful support. The capabil-
ity also can quickly become overwhelming, confusing,
and degrade situational awareness. We must constantly
develop our knowledge, training, and proficiency to
exploit the advantages of automation, and realize that
it requires a different mindset when we fly.
Go fly—and make sure what you demand, what the
aircraft is doing, and what the aircraft is about to do are
exactly what you intend. AOPA
EMAIL richard.mcspadden@aopa.org
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FLY WELL
Celestial objects
How to not become one
OUMUAMUA, HAWAIIAN FOR “SCOUT,” arrived from
beyond our solar system and has now passed through
our neighborhood. Whether a dusty comet, a plane-
tary remnant—or, as astrophysicist Avi Loeb proposed,
an element of an alien spacecraft—we shall probably
never know. Everyone surely prefers to continue flying
powered by reciprocating engines rather than follow-
ing Oumuamua on angels’ wings. Inherited genes play
a major role defining your time keeping the dirty side
down, but there are many steps you can take to influ-
ence the length of your healthy years.
Keeping the fuel lines clear: Let’s start with tak-
ing steps. I wrote an article (“Fly Well: Off We Go Into
the Wild Blue Yonder,” October 2016 AOPA Pilot) that
focused on Blue Zones—locations where longevity and
Inherited genes play a major role defining your
healthy years, but there are many steps you can
take to influence your healthspan.
robust good health are the norm. I addressed similarities
between Sardinian highlands, Loma Linda, California,
and Okinawa, Japan. Although people in Okinawa live
longer than elsewhere, and tend to have less chronic dis-
ease, they do not exercise as is generally recommended
in America. Rather, they do frequent, low-impact work
such as walking regularly, and occasionally stretch their
physical limits. Grandmothers climb up and down stairs,
garden, and stroll with friends. Just stretch your legs reg-
ularly, and occasionally push the limits; that will help
keep your fuel lines (arteries) clear. Your airplane likes
to be used; so does your body.
Cleared for the option: My chosen option is to do
physical activity only on the days I eat—and, believing
in efficiency, I exercise my brain listening to podcasts
of TED Talks while keeping my aging airframe fit with
a routine of runs and other workouts. Here’s a checklist
for you: Document your daily activities and all you eat
DR. JONATHAN and drink, and then consider alternatives. One option
SACKIER is an expert is to walk while on phone calls, another is to choose
in aviation medical healthy snacks. We all know our emergency proce-
concerns and helps
members with their dures; follow this recommendation and minimize your
needs through the risks of being the subject of one.
AOPA Pilot Protec- Attitude: A bad attitude can lead to a deathly spi-
tion Services plan.
(www.aopa.org/ ral while flying. The same is true when not flying.
pps) Isabel Allende, the Chilean author, gave a wonderful
26 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
BY DR. JONATHAN M. SACKIER
TED Talk on living life with passion, pointing out that
our attitude is a potent influencer on how we feel and
whether we thrive. As my very wise 20-year-old son
recently reminded me, “Whether you think you will
fail, or succeed, you are right.”
Flaps: We know flaps increase lift or drag, and
that it’s a drag if you walk into one. But there are other
ways to get into a flap, an expression meaning bent out
of shape. (You, not the flap.) There is so much atten-
tion today on the word “working,” such as: “Are you
still working on that steak, sir?” I am not working, I
am eating. Working is a verb applied to the prosecu-
tion of one’s employment or avocation. Working out?
What’s going out? Don’t do things that might ensure
you are the best-looking corpse in the graveyard: tak-
ing steroids, unproven dietary supplements that might
carry cardiovascular risk, pushing the limits, and risk-
ing injuries and other negative consequences. You may
not want to look like a Sardinian granny, but you might
want to be as healthy as she is.
Undercarriage: A good landing that leaves air-
craft and occupants undamaged relies on a diligent
and attentive pilot, a headwind, smooth pavement,
and good tires. So it is with sneakers, the one exer-
cise item where expense is justified. Get fitted for good
shoes at a dedicated running shop, even if you only
use them to walk from car to hangar. Poor support can
induce painful and debilitating foot, calf, knee, and hip
issues. Tires need to be replaced regularly, so do shoes;
cracked rubber tricycle gear suggests a change, same
goes for your shoes.
Nextgen: Revolutionary avionics, more efficient
engines, and other advances will change flying for the
better and keep airplanes aloft longer. But what about
us? Biologist Cynthia Kenyon and others took a humble
worm, loftily named Caenorhabditis elegans, and fiddled
with its genes, first doubling its lifespan, then length-
ening it even further. And these senior worms were not
in the nursing home—if they were 300-year-old people,
they would be skiing. Could the fountain of youth be
that accessible? Aubrey de Grey, a colorful researcher
from Cambridge University, believes so and has sug-
gested that the first humans to live 1,000 years have
already been born. That’s a lot of flight time and, if true,
life insurance is going to be a dying business. AOPA
EMAIL DrJonathanSackier@gmail.com
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 PILOT BRIEFING  34 YOU CAN FLY 36 MUSINGS 40 PILOT PRODUCTS 43 DESTINATIONS 44 TEST PILOT

Milka Bamond
Factory worker in Detroit.
JOHN SLEMP

COMPILED BY JULIE SUMMERS WALKER

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 29
PILOT BRIEFING

The Rosies
FIRST LOOK |

Remembering
the ‘Rosies’
Photographer John Slemp’s images capture wartime
workers who became cultural icons
B Y J U L I E S U M M E R S WA L K E R
Dr. Frances Carter
Worked at Parsons Airplane
Modifications Center in
Birmingham, Alabama, as a
“HISTORY IS ETCHED on their faces,” said aviation photogra- riveter on the B–29.
pher John Slemp. He photographed surviving “Rosies”—the
women who worked in the factories, shipyards, aircraft
assembly plants, and defense offices during World War
II when most men were enlisted, and who became iconic
symbols of women in the second world war. Slemp photo-
graphed many of the women during the annual convention
of the American Rosie the Riveter Association.
“Rosie the Riveter” was a painting by Norman Rockwell
depicting a woman in the traditional working garb of a
female factory worker during the war. It was featured in the Saturday Evening Post in 1943.
Also produced at around the same time was a morale-building poster for Westinghouse by
Pittsburgh artist J. Howard Miller—the “We can do it” slogan. That poster became the cul-
tural icon in later years, while the Rockwell painting became less known. Since the women
were not employed after the war ended—and their roles not recognized by any official body—
the story of the women was lost for a time. Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) were Mae Krier
finally given veteran status by the U.S. government in 1977 (more than 1,000 women served Built B–17s and B–29s at
and 38 lost their lives in the war). The American Rosie the Riveter Association was formed Boeing in Seattle.
in 1998 by Dr. Frances Carter, who was a riveter on B–29 bombers built in Birmingham,
Alabama. A Senate resolution declared March 21 “Rosie the Riveter Day” in 2017. “I really
enjoyed meeting these women,” said Slemp. “They carry a certain honor, high quality that
really grabs me. And they’re a hoot, too.”

EMAIL julie.walker@aopa.org

The American Rosie the Riveter Association was founded December 7, 1998, to
honor the women who filled these jobs in World War II. It is a 501(c)(3) not-for-
profit corporation. Its purposes are to recognize and preserve the history and
legacy of working women, including volunteer women, during World War II; to
promote cooperation and fellowship among such members and their descen-
dants; and to further the advancement of patriotic ideals, excellence in the
workplace, and loyalty to the United States of America. Members are Rosies, Mabel Myrick
as well as their descendants, both women and men. Secretary in the Pentagon.
rosietheriveter.net

30 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

 HEADLINES THAT
AFFECT YOU
Recent news from the aviation world
BY THE NUMBERS NTSB REMOVES GA LOSS OF CONTROL
19 million FROM 'MOST WANTED' LIST
women worked during The National Transportation Safety
Board announced the “2019-2020
World War II
Most Wanted List of Transportation
and Safety Improvements” during a
80,000 February press conference in Wash-
landing craft made ington, D.C. In previous versions, the
list had specifically mentioned and
focused on reducing loss of control
100,000
accidents in general aviation. But, as
tanks built GA has witnessed record safety levels,
loss of control is no longer included in
300,000 the targeted list. —aopa.org
aircraft constructed
MUROYA WINS RED BULL
Iris Kleintop
OPENER BY INCHES
Riveter at Wright Field 15 million Japan’s Yoshihide Muroya won
in Ohio. guns made the 2019 Red Bull Air Race World
Championship opener, and U.S.
41 billion pilot Michael Goulian placed third.
 —aopa.org
rounds of ammunition
SUN FLYER NOTES SUCCESSFUL
FLIGHT WITH ELECTRIC MOTOR
The all-electric Sun Flyer 2 airplane
flew for its first official trial with a
Siemens electric propulsion motor
on February 8 as it pursues FAA
certification.  —aopa.org

CONGRESS CONSIDERS SHIELDING

FAA FROM SHUTDOWNS
The 35-day partial government
shutdown affected thousands of
federal workers across the United
States, but none likely bore the brunt
Constance Negrotto of its impact more than the aviation
Illustrated aircraft industry. Seventeen thousand FAA
maintenance manuals. employees were furloughed while
more than 14,000 air traffic controllers
DID YOU KNOW? worked without pay. The disruption
Marilyn Monroe (then has led lawmakers to introduce new
Norma Jeane Dougherty) legislation aimed at ensuring the FAA
was discovered at the remains operational in the event of
another government shutdown.
Radioplane Munitions
 —aopa.org
Factory in Van Nuys,
California, where she was
a factory worker during
the war.

Louise Unkrich
Riveter on the B–29 at
the Martin Bomber Plant
in Omaha.

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 31
PILOT BRIEFING
PILOT PRODUCTS |

Weather, traffic at your fingertips

Garmin GDL 51, 52 connect easily to ForeFlight
B Y A LY S S A J. C O B B

GARMIN, SIRIUSXM AVIATION, and ForeFlight have

been working together to create an easy way for
pilots to access weather and traffic information on
their mobile devices in flight. The portable options
they have developed worked seamlessly for me on
two flights. I use ForeFlight on an iPad Mini 4,
and when I launched the newest version of the
electronic flight bag, the SiriusXM Aviation sub-
scription appeared, and I connected to the GDL 51
and 52 (on separate flights) via Bluetooth.
Garmin’s portable GDL 51 and 52, launched in
July 2017, are small—4.9 inches wide by 1.3 inches
tall by 3.4 inches deep—and weigh less than a
pound. They can stow nicely in a flight bag and
don’t take up much room when sitting on top of
the instrument panel. The GDL 51 is a SiriusXM
receiver, so a subscription is required to pull weather information
into ForeFlight, Garmin Pilot, or other Garmin portable devices. I
tested the GDL 51 on a flight from Florida to Maryland in my Cessna
170B. The skies were perfectly clear, so I didn’t use the Nexrad
imagery, but the time-stamped METAR information proved use-
ful. I like to check the winds at my planned destination to see if they
remain as forecast or if they have changed in direction or velocity
so that I can find an alternate with more favorable winds. The GDL
51 does not provide traffic data.
I used the GDL 52 during a flight in the Cessna 170 from
Maryland to Tennessee. The GDL 52 pulled in free Automatic
Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) weather and traf-
fic as well as subscription-based SiriusXM Aviation weather, and
ForeFlight labeled the source of the information displayed. For
example, METAR data for airports near the airplane were pro-
vided by ADS-B In, while data for airports farther away on my route
were provided by SiriusXM Aviation. (ADS-B weather data relies
on ground-based stations that have limitations, including line of
sight, based on altitude and the aircraft’s location, but SiriusXM
Aviation’s data is delivered by satellite and can show data from loca-
tions farther away.) The weather information from both sources
was time-stamped.
I had planned a southerly route to Tennessee to have more
favorable surface winds, which I kept an eye on with the GDL 52.
The southerly route also kept the flight in clear skies. Marginal
VFR ceilings over the mountains just north of the route matched
what was shown on ForeFlight’s flight category overlay. Up-to-date
winds aloft information made altitude planning en route easy as I
crossed mountains and then descended over lower terrain.
Traffic information is helpful, as long as ForeFlight’s “hide dis-
tant traffic” function is enabled so that your screen isn’t covered by
black targets (airliners) that are tens of thousands of feet above you.
The flight to Tennessee took six hours, and the GDL 52 lasted
about five hours, matching the battery operating time listed on
Garmin’s website. A warning pops up on the ForeFlight screen when
the unit’s battery is down to 20 percent. It wasn’t a problem to con-
tinue without the GDL 52 because I was in VFR conditions, with no
weather between me and my destination near Nashville. However,
had I been deviating around weather, I would have needed to alter-
nate charging the GDL 52 and my iPad Mini 4 in my Cessna 170’s
one power port.
Both units provided a level of luxury in the Cessna 170 that I’m
not used to. Being able to check weather changes while en route,
plan alternatives, and spot traffic (with the GDL 52) provides more
time to make decisions and alter plans as needed. After flying with
the units, particularly on long routes, it’s hard to go back to a cock-
pit without that information.
The GDL 51 costs $699, and the GDL 52 costs $1,199. (SiriusXM
Entertainment subscriptions are sold separately but work with both
units.) In addition, AOPA members can enjoy a two-month trial of
SiriusXM Aviation Weather and Entertainment through December
31, 2019. Members who buy a new SiriusXM Aviation subscription
or eligible receiver can receive a free one-year AOPA membership;
that offer has been extended through December 31, 2019, as well.
PRICE: GDL 51 $699; GDL 52 $1,199
CONTACT: www.garmin.com
EMAIL alyssa.cobb@aopa.org

32 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

PILOT BRIEFING

YOU CAN FLY |

Can I still land an airplane?

A rusty pilot shares his comeback story
BY DAN NAMOWITZ

IT WAS AUGUST 1989 when private pilot George Gillett took time
out from his flying while he concentrated on graduating from col-
lege. The flying was going well. He was working on his instrument
rating, and was only five hours short of eligibility to take the practi-
cal test. But there wasn’t enough time or money for academia plus
aviation. Graduation day came in May 1990. A new job, relocation,
and family responsibilities came along, as did “life in general that
got in the way of returning to the cockpit.”
Fortunately, Gillett’s aviation story—which had begun in
December 1979 at North Carolina’s Sky Manor Airport while
he was in the military based at Camp Lejeune—didn’t end at the
college commencement ceremony. He still had his flight case,
plotter, flight computer, and old charts, and he would break them
out for a look now and then. But it wasn’t until September 2018,
after retirement from a law-enforcement career marked by eight
relocations in five states that Gillett, now a Knoxville, Tennessee,
resident, hit the internet to see what was going on in aviation.
The information he found online got the juices flowing. He
learned the FAA would mail him an updated pilot certificate and
he discovered AOPA offers a Rusty Pilots Online course, the web-
based version of the popular AOPA Rusty Pilots seminars that have
helped thousands of lapsed pilots get back to flying.

How he did it “There was much to learn, but I dis-

Tips for rusty pilots from George Gillett
Find a good teacher: “If I was going to
make any attempt at flying again, find-
ing the right CFI was important to me.
After searching around a bit, I found Matt
Prince, CFII at AvZ Aviation in Knoxville.
Matt was the calmest CFI that I had ever
interacted with and seemed to have endless
patience answering my questions, reassur-
ing me that I wouldn’t have any problems,
and investing his time with me before we
ever got into an airplane.”
Go back for more: “After a full week of
thinking about whether or not to return,
on October 25, 2018, I returned for another
flight. This time, I wasn’t quite as ner-
vous as the first time and one of the three
landings that day was acceptable by my
standards.”
Have a plan: “I thought long and hard
about my path forward as a pilot after the
October 25, 2018, lesson and decided that I
wanted to finish training for my instrument
rating, try to pass the written test, and then
a checkride. So, I committed myself to my
new goal, even though it was like I had
stepped through an aviation time warp.
covered that aviation had changed for the
better. GPS RNAV approaches were more
straightforward than the old nonpreci-
sion NDB approaches that I had trained
on. Electronic flight bags and iPads as knee
boards had made navigation so much easier
and safer. Cellphones allowed easy flight
plan filing and cancelling. There were no
more paper charts and plates to keep track
of in the cockpit, fewer holds and position
reports, so the pilot workload during flight
was eased.”
Good advice: “Absolutely do it. You won’t
regret it. Take it one maneuver, one flight,

34 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

 robinson_snowboarders_ad_aopa_pilot_april.pdf 1 2/15/2019 7:15:22 AM

AOPA’S YOU CAN FLY program supports

flying clubs, encourages best practices in
flight training, gets lapsed pilots back in
the air, brings AOPA’s resources and
expertise to pilot groups across the
country, and helps high school students
learn more about careers in aviation.
AOPA’s You Can Fly program and the
AOPA Air Safety Institute are funded by
charitable donations to the AOPA Foun-
dation, a 501(c)(3) organization.
www.aopafoundation.org/challenge

“Because it had been so long since I

flew, I figured that I would never pilot an
airplane again,” Gillett said. “I felt I was
too old and was out of currency for so long,
that it would be like starting all over as a
student pilot.”
Encouraged by connecting with flight
instructor Matt Prince—“the calmest CFI
that I had ever interacted with”—Gillett C

found that he could fly a Cessna 172 with M

no intervention. Gaining confidence, he

forged ahead, celebrating the 115th anni-
Y

versary of powered flight on December CM

17, 2018, by passing his instrument-rating MY

practical test. CY

“One of the proudest moments of my

WHAT DID
Photo by Francsco Fluxá, Courtesy Rotortec, Chile
life is when I was told that I had passed and
CMY

was a newly minted instrument pilot, 30 K

years after beginning that journey,” he said.

“For anyone that is considering a return to
the cockpit after any length of layoff from

YOU DO LAST
flying, I say go for it!”

EMAIL dan.namowitz@aopa.org

WEEKEND?
one lesson at a time, and don’t allow your-
self to get overwhelmed by your own mind.
Everyone, from your CFII to ATC to your
fellow students, is supporting you and
wants you to succeed. Don’t be intimidated
by changes in the system or technology.
Embrace it and learn from it. Even if you
don’t stick with flying this time around,
take something away from your experi-
R66 Turbine - Starting at $906,000.
ence that you can build on in the future.
But, mostly, enjoy yourself and have a
good time. There is nothing like flying solo
again; the combination of nervous energy
and exhilaration can’t be duplicated in any
other area in life.”

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 35
PILOT BRIEFING
MUSINGS |
On the thrill of inspiration
There’s nothing quite like an airshow
B Y W. S C O T T O L S E N
IT’S A WONDER NO ONE TRIPS.
Fifty thousand people walk the south ramp at Fargo’s Hector
International Airport during the airshow weekend, and not one of
them is looking at the ground: There’s a twin-engine Beechcraft
turning circles in the air.
I know why I’m here. I’m a pilot, a writer, a photographer.
This is a weekend of inspiration, opportunity, and thrill. But,
come on—50,000 people? I know there aren’t 50,000 pilots in
town. There’s a concert across the street tonight—Journey and
Def Leppard—and many more people are here than there.
If you’re not a pilot, why go to an airshow?
Leucas and Shantelle Heintzman have brought their twin boys,
Raylan and Dexter, both about 4 years old. I ask Dexter what he’s
looking forward to the most, and he looks at me like I’m an idiot.
“The airplanes!” he says. Are they cool? I ask. “Yeah!” he says.
36 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
Men and women of every age linger at the open doors of a
Cessna 182; a pilot from the Civil Air Patrol explaining what they
do. Boldly, children climb into the left seat. A bit more timidly,
their parents do the same a moment later. Everyone runs their
hands along an MQ–9 Reaper drone. A B–25 Mitchell bomber,
Miss Mitchell, flies by, bomb doors open, and the whole crowd
gasps when the simulated bombing run results in pyrotechnics
exploding on the ground.
“I love mechanical things. I love aircraft,” says airshow fan
Dan Carrell. He is not a pilot but has held a stick or yoke when up
with other people. “The Blue Angels are always a treat,” he says,
adding that he’s seen the group twice before. “They’re spectacular.
PETER HORVATH
They make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.”
I find myself thinking about a small figurine on my father’s
desk. A young boy holds a toy airplane over his head, running
along. It’s all about dreaming and hope. It’s
all about imagination and adventure and
mystery.
Stacey Timms and Chris Kehn wear
Top Gun T-shirts: Ice Man and Maverick.
“Actually,” Timms says, “you’re going to
love this: The commander of the Blue
Angels is a relative of mine. Like my third
cousin or something. Never met him. As
soon as my son graduates from high school
in two years, I’m going to get my pilot’s
license. This is my first time being here.
First time at any airshow.”
Timms gets to see a lot of family, too.
“They all came here, 20 some odd peo-
ple came here today. Some more coming
tomorrow. Coming for a reunion with

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A Pitts Special stops conversation with
cartwheels and loops and dives. Screamin’
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Nonetheless, he says, “I saw them when I
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Kaitlyn reaches out to touch a TBM
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www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 37

Ad_AOPA_USB Lifetime Warranty_April19.indd 1 2/18/19 10:53 AM

PILOT BRIEFING
AVIATION MYSTERIES |
ON DECEMBER 15, 1944, at the height of the
U.S. involvement in World War II, 38-year-old
Big Band performer Alton Glenn Miller was
flying in a Noorduyn UC–64 Norseman over
the English Channel to a performance in Paris
when the aircraft disappeared. It was never
found. Speculation ranged from bombs to
carburetor ice—even to Miller being a secret
agent—but the disappearance has remained
a mystery. Now, The International Group for
Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) claims
the story of an English fisherman recovering a
mangled airframe in the channel may be true.
In 1987, the Englishman said he discovered
an aircraft in his trawler’s fishing nets but
was advised to put it back by the Weymouth,
England, Coast Guard station as it could be
considered a “war grave.”
“Pulling up a wreck that might con-
tain human remains is considered very
38 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
Glenn Miller
aircraft found?
English fisherman’s 32-year-old story
may be true, TIGHAR says
B Y J U L I E S U M M E R S WA L K E R
bad luck,” said Richard Gillespie, exec-
utive director of TIGHAR. “Getting rid
of it without cutting the net was eas-
ier said than done and it took about two
hours, during which time the boat drifted.
Finally, one wing separated and floated
away, making it easier to free the aircraft.
He carefully noted the navigational coor-
dinates of where he dropped the wreck.”
TIGHAR attempted to contact the
Coast Guard station, but it has closed.
The fisherman, now long retired, told his
story to a museum in the United Kingdom
and sketched the aircraft he claims to have
caught in his net. The museum gave the
information to Gillespie.
“It’s what we do. We investigate
famous aviation historical mysteries as a
way to explore, demonstrate, and teach
the scientific method of inquiry,” Gillespie
said. “We think of people like Amelia
Earhart, Glenn Miller, and Nungesser
and Coli [the French transatlantic flyers
lost 10 days before Lindbergh’s flight] as
our clients. Our goal is to change mystery
to history.”
The aircraft—a steel tube fuselage
with a fabric covering and wood wings—
would be deteriorated beyond recognition
after 74 years in the sea. Gillespie says if
an airplane of that construction could be
identified as having a Wasp engine, it’s
Miller’s airplane. But money, research,
and looking at the seafloor 130 feet below
the surface in a busy shipping lane are just
several of the obstacles to any discovery.
“Once you say, ‘We’re going to go out
and find the Glenn Miller airplane,’ every-
one holds their breath,” Gillespie told
People magazine. “It’s a crapshoot. This
stuff is really hard and there’s a good
chance you’re going to get skunked. That’s
what this game is like. You can’t find some-
thing if you don’t try to find it, but that’s
the call we’re going to have to make.”
EMAIL julie.walker@aopa.org
tighar.org/Projects/GlennMiller
WE WROTE THE BOOK
ON GENERAL AVIATION.
Visionaries and advocates. Warriors and media darlings.
From the original everyman’s airplane to the jet set and beyond—
read the story of our first 80 years.

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Real Glass for
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grow with your needs. Easy and affordable
upgrades allow you to add additional
capabilities and take advantage of future
technologies with your existing display.
Presenting attitude information with altitude,
airspeed, vertical speed and a directional
gyro (DG)/course deviation indicator (CDI),
along with autopilot integration and GPSS roll
steering, the Evolution E5 Dual EFI combines
situational awareness and safety into a single,
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Don’t settle for a limited digital replica of your
existing mechanical gauges. Harness the true
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Copyright 2019 Aspen Avionics Inc. “Aspen Avionics,” “Evolution Flight
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additional patents pending.
PILOT BRIEFING
PILOT PRODUCTS |
Trim Aviation watches
Timepieces for solo status
B Y J I L L W. TA L L M A N
THE FIRST TIME you solo is when you can
really call yourself a pilot, and that’s an
emotion shared by many. Caroline Foss and
her brother, Charlie Hettinger, are pilots
and the owners of Trim Aviation, and they
have designed a wristwatch that celebrates
the milestone.
“That’s the moment a pilot is born,”
Foss said.
Each Solo watch can be engraved
with the pilot’s initials or N number,
plus an airport identifier and diagram. If
you look at the diagram with a jeweler’s
loupe, Hettinger said, you can read run-
way numbers, VASI/PAPI markings, and
displaced threshold markings. He’s right:
We have a jeweler’s loupe in the office, and
we were able to see the engraved airport
diagram complete with runway numbers
and more.
The Solo has a Swiss movement and
a sapphire crystal lens. It has nine jewels.
The outer bezel and blue Zulu hand dis-
play Zulu time. Foss and Hettinger said
they sought a Zulu conversion feature but
40 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
did not want a digital display that would
detract from the watch’s aviation heri-
tage. The luminosity on the dial is used on
dive watches and is exceptionally bright,
Hettinger said.
Constructed of 316 stainless steel, the
watch is meant to be durable as well as styl-
ish, Hettinger said. He and Foss designed
the linked wristband, which is adjustable.
The watch’s owner’s manual is
designed to look like a pilot’s operating
handbook.
The Solo is available in three styles:
black, silver and black, and silver and gray.
Each style is available in two sizes: 39 milli-
meter or 41 mm. “We had this idea to make
a watch that was proportionately made for
large or small pilots, [as opposed to] for
boys or girls,” Foss said.
Trim Aviation has produced a lim-
ited edition of 600 pilot watches. Each is
priced at $895. For more information, see
the website (www.trimaviation.com).
EMAIL jill.tallman@aopa.org
Past. Present. Future.
The Evolution Continues.
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The brand-new and affordable Evolution 1000 Pro MAX

brings the latest generation of display technology and
capabilities that bridge the avionics technology gap.
For Aspen customers old and new, your investment
retains its value, and will never be obsolete. Period.
New EFD1000 Pro MAX offers:
• Degraded back-up mode to eliminate
red “X” indications on pitot static failures
• Dual unit installation will no longer require
back-up indicators
• New, vibrant colors with the latest aviation glass
• Higher reliability and faster refresh rates with
latest generation processors
• Chart and countdown timers
• Height above ground level (AGL) on navigation
and terrain maps
• METAR Flags on navigation map
• 350 nm zoom levels EFD 1000 Pro Plus MAX PFD Evolution 1000 MAX MFD
• Altitude intersect based on climb rate with Synthetic Vision and with Synthetic Vision*
Angle of Attack*
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• Font and window enlargement

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with a new two-year warranty!
Now, all Evolution displays will be MAX-based to enhance
functionality and performance across our entire product line.
For Aspen customers old and new, get the most out of flying
by taking your displays to the MAX.
EFD 1000 Pro MAX PFD
showing enlarged altitude
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*Displays shows optional Angle of Attack and Synthetic Vision upgrades. With MAX migration, all existing software upgrades will be automatically transferred.
Copyright 2019 Aspen Avionics Inc. “Aspen Avionics,” “Evolution Flight Display System,” and the Aspen Avionics aircraft logo are trademarks of Aspen Avionics Inc. All rights reserved. U.S. Patent No. 8,085,168, and additional patents pending.
PILOT BRIEFING
DESTINATIONS |
Fly away
ideas
Tour Anchorage on a budget
B Y A LY S S A J. C O B B
THE LARGEST CITY in Alaska, Anchorage
offers something for everyone—and every
pilot. And you don’t have to break the bank
to have fun.
Helicopter and floatplane tours
Take to the air to explore Anchorage,
Denali, or Lake Clark National Park,
which is accessible only by airplane and
sometimes by boat. The scenery around
Anchorage itself is stunning, with the
Chugach Mountains filling the skyline
to the east and Cook Inlet to the west. If
you’re going to splurge, do it with an aer-
ial tour. Local tours start at $110.
Chugach State Park
and Chugach National Forest
These free, popular attractions are close to
Anchorage and on the road system. They
offer hiking, access to glaciers, and more.
Flattop Mountain and overlook are in the
Chugach, and Flattop is considered the
most-hiked mountain in the state.
Glacier grandeur
The Knik Glacier near Palmer, about a
one-hour drive northeast of Anchorage—
and Portage Glacier, about one hour to the
southeast—are two of the closest glaciers. To
tour the Knik Glacier, you’ll need to take a
tour, which will cost you. It’s free to hike on
the Portage Glacier, but cruises start at $39.
Wet your whistle with a free sip of pure
glacier water. Alaska 1 South takes you
from Anchorage to Portage Glacier. Along
the way, you’ll spot a small pipe sticking
out of one of the cliffs on the side of the
road. It’s a popular place to stop and fill
your water bottle with glacier water.
The Alaska Wildlife
Conservation Center
This nonprofit sanctuary cares for animals
that have been injured or orphaned, or are
ill. Enjoy a self-guided tour to see bison,
brown and black bears, bald eagles, fox, lynx,
moose, musk ox, owls, reindeer, and wolves.
The modest entry fee not only lets you get
up close with Alaska’s wild animals, but it
also supports their care and preservation.
Coastal Trail
To explore and stretch your legs in
Anchorage, walk or bike the Coastal Trail
that runs along the city’s edges and pro-
vides views of Cook Inlet. In the summer,
visit the salmon viewing platform at Ship
Creek, where you can watch or fish for
salmon.
Alaska Aviation Museum
and Great Alaska Gathering
The Alaska Aviation Museum is located at
Lake Hood and is open any time of year.
Browse vintage aircraft and rare birds like
the 1943 Noorduyn Norseman, a classic
northern bush airplane. General admission
prices are modest. If you are in Anchorage
in early May, stop by the Great Alaska
Aviation Gathering. It’s free to attend and
features seminars, exhibits, and aircraft
displays.
Gweenie’s Old Alaska Restaurant
Located near Ted Stevens Anchorage
International Airport, the restaurant
comes highly recommended by numerous
locals, including Mark Bly, known as The
Flying Chef. The portions are enormous.
If you are there for breakfast, try the rein-
deer sausage.
EMAIL alyssa.cobb@aopa.org
www.aopa.org/destinations
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 43
 PILOT BRIEFING
HAVE YOU
DOWNLOADED THE

AOPA APP?
TEST PILOT | BY BARRY SCHIFF

1. True or false? Howard Hughes

worked as a co-pilot for American
Airways (a predecessor of American
Airlines) in 1932.

2. Which of the following does not

belong?
A. interference drag
B. form drag
C. parasite drag
D. skin friction
3. The Boeing B–29 Superfortress that
dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima,
Japan, the Enola Gay, is on display at the
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an annex
of the Smithsonian National Air and
Space Museum at Washington Dulles
International Airport. Why does the clock
on the pilot’s instrument panel indicate the
time that it does?
4. A flamboyant and famous race pilot of the
1930s, _______ frequently took along as “co-
pilot” his pet _______. The pet’s name was
_______.
5. What place on Earth receives the great-
est annual rainfall?
6. A pilot encounters a visibility restriction
identified as VOG. In which state is he most
likely flying?
7. Who is responsible for the following quo-
tation? “Let’s get one thing straight. There’s
a big difference between a pilot and an avia-
tor. One is a technician; the other is an artist
in love with flight.”
8. Everything else being equal, a properly
inflated tire wears evenly across its tread.
The tread wears more toward its center
when the tire is _______ and more toward its
shoulders when _______.
A. overinflated, overinflated
B. overinflated, underinflated
C. underinflated, overinflated
D. underinflated, underinflated

The perfect pilot ANSWERS on page 48

companion for aviation
enthusiasts on the go!
Stay up to date on the
latest aviation news, watch
videos, listen to podcasts,
and search events right
from your mobile device.
The AOPA App is available free
for download in the iTunes and
Google Play stores.
TRIPLE TREE YOUNG AVIATORS
COUNCIL FORMS
Following on the success of their Young Aviators Fly-In in 2018, founders Cayla
McLeod and Ryan Hunt and the Triple Tree Aerodrome in Woodruff, South Caro-
lina, have formed the Young Aviators Council. The purpose of the council is to
bring awareness to the factors that are affecting young aviators in their attempt
to further their aviation careers. “The Triple Tree Young Aviators Council is a great
representation of young aviators across the Southeast,” said Robb Williams, direc-
tor of Triple Tree Aerodrome. “We look forward to expanding this council in the
upcoming years to include more states.” For more information, contact McLeod,
JOHN HOLMS

who is serving as communications coordinator, at (678) 590-7677 or cmcleod@

tripletreeaerodrome.com.

44 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

ADVERTISEMENT
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ALTHOUGH THE WRIGHT BROTHERS had proved manned flight more than 20 years before,
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• Attaches to the control yoke with a to propose to New York hotelier Raymond Orteig the awarding of a prize for an American
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• Available versions: but none successfully. Orteig reinstated the prize in 1927, and 25-year-old Lindbergh con-
PTT-HS Use with headset vinced Ryan Airlines to build him a monoplane for $10,580 (the lowest bidder).
alone or with a portable
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“People were behaving as though Lindbergh had walked on water, not flown over it,”
of headsets, intercoms, and accessories.
biographer A. Scott Berg would write some 70 years later.
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Sigtronics Corporation published by AOPA on the occasion of its eightieth anniversary. You can buy the book here:
909 305-9399 • www.sigtronics.com www.aopa.org/freedomtoflybook
178 East Arrow Highway, San Dimas, CA 91773

46 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

 AVIONICS
for every cockpit
C e r t i f i e d a n d E x p e r i m e n t a l A i rc r a f t

033

AeroFlight
attitude indicator
AeroPoint
engine monitor

KMA 30
audio panel
KT 74
ads-b transponder

www.bendixking.com

For more information about these products:

AeroVue Touch: www.bendixking.com/en/products/aerovue-touch AeroPoint: www.bendixking.com/en/products/aeropoint-200
AeroFlight: www.bendixking.com/en/products/aeroflight KMA 30: www.bendixking.com/en/products/productitems/kma-30
AeroCruze: www.bendixking.com/en/products/aerocruze-100 KT 74: www.bendixking.com/en/products/kt-74
 PILOT BRIEFING

E#4#4
.# "L
LE#4#4

TEST PILOT ANSWERS
from page 44

1. True. Age 27 and already a famous

multimillionaire, he used the alias
Charles Howard while working incog-
nito. He held the job for two months “to
satisfy the same aviation itch that later
induced him to buy TWA,” he said.

2. The correct answer is C. The other

three items are forms of parasite drag.

3. No, it does not indicate 0915, the

local time at which the bomb was
dropped. The time shown on the clock
is the precise time at which the clock
eventually and naturally stopped run-
ning on its own. (Sorry about that.)
Š‹€|„‰‚~ŠŽŽ~‡ŠŽ€
4. Roscoe Turner’s pet lion was named
Š¦˜›|‰ƒŠ Gilmore. Turner’s sponsor at that time
was the Gilmore Oil Company, the logo
of which was a lion.

5. Mawsynram, India, receives an aver-

age annual rainfall of 467 inches (13
'BOUBTUJD
'MJHIU
$IBSBDUFSJTUJDT
'BOUBTUJD 'MJHIU $IBSBDUFSJTUJDT times as much as Seattle).

6. The contraction VOG—volcanic

4BGF
BOE
%VSBCMF
"JSQMBOF “fog”—is heard mostly in Hawaii and
was coined there to describe a visibility
restriction caused by volcanic pollut-
&YUSFNFMZ
-PX
0QFSBUJOH
$PTUT ants in the atmosphere.

-PX
"DRVJTJUJPO
$PTU 7. Capt. Elrey B. Jeppesen, founder of

the charting and flight data company
that bears his name.

5FDIOPMPHJDBMMZ
"EWBODFE
"JSDSBGU 8. The correct answer is B. With respect

to wear alone, a tire should be replaced
#FBVUJGVM
%FTJHO
"UUSBDUT
4UVEFOUT when any of its internal fabric is visible
or when any groove is worn to its base
at any spot on the tire.

5SBJO
1SJWBUF
*OTUSVNFOU
7.$
0OMZ

BOE
$PNNFSDJBM
d„Ž€c„~| ~Šˆu|„‰b€€
œœ—ž–—™—
 d|‡‡gŠnŠ€e€|„‡Ž

48 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

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 F R E D E R I C K
MARYLAND

HOME OF THE BRAVE

MAY 10-11, 2019

T W O D AY S T O E X P E R I E N C E , L E A R N , A N D E X P L O R E
A L L T H I N G S AV I AT I O N .

50 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

 From the national anthem to National Harbor,
battlefields, memorials, and cherry blossoms—if you
love history, FDK is the place to be this May.

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 51
 F R E D E R I C K
MARYLAND

BIRTHDAY PARTIES ARE THE BEST. WE’RE CELEBRATING AOPA’S

EIGHTIETH WITH A WEEKEND YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS.

THE KICKOFF FLY-IN OF THE SEASON takes place at the head-

quarters of your association. AOPA is situated on the ramp
at Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK) in Maryland, just
a short drive from the nation’s capital, historic Civil War
battlefields, wine country, and the famous Chesapeake Bay
and Baltimore Harbor. There’s a lot happening at Frederick
Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11, so we’re suggesting
you make a weekend out of our birthday. There’s so much
to keep you busy that you’ll discover why the DMV (that’s
District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia) is one of the
most-visited destinations in the country.
Let’s start with Frederick. AOPA began as a big idea out-
side Philadelphia (also just a little more than an hour away
and an easy GA flight) but eventually settled on Frederick
as its base. Frederick is located within close proximity to
the nation’s capital (protecting GA rights is a number one
priority for your association), and the airport in Maryland’s
second-largest city has a mix of aircraft from gyrocopters to
jets. Frederick also is where the author of The Star-Spangled association museum. There will be events up and down the
Banner, Francis Scott Key, is buried. Its historic downtown airport grounds, with aircraft, food trucks, displays, exhibi-
is vibrant, and the restaurants are epic—Bryan Voltaggio of tors, a short takeoff and landing (STOL) invitational, a night
Top Chef fame has two restaurants in his hometown. drone show, Flightline Cookout, C–47 flyover, World War
For the fly-in, we’re going all out with educational sem- II reenactment parachute jumps, and so much more on
inars, workshops, parties, meet and greets, displays, and the field.
tours. Free seminars and paid ground school workshops If you’d like to spend the weekend in the area after the
will be offered both Friday and Saturday; come for one day Frederick fly-in, drive down to Joint Base Andrews for the
or mix it up with two. AOPA President Mark Baker and all nation’s capital airshow. Enterprise, Hertz, and others will
senior staff will be on hand to welcome you to headquar- be ready to assist.
ters; a Pilot Town Hall will be presented both mornings. Please fly in if you can. A 5,200-foot runway and well-
Tour AOPA headquarters, including the newly created maintained taxiways are open and available all weekend
(Runway 30/12 is closed for the event), and beginning
Thursday, AOPA employees and volunteers will be available
to help get your aircraft parked. You can even camp with your
FREDERICK IS LOCATED WITHIN aircraft if you’d like. Notams and airport information will be
CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE NATION’S available on the website (www.aopa.org/fly-ins/fdk).
CAPITAL (PROTECTING GA RIGHTS IS Grab a burger and a beer and watch the STOL invita-
A NUMBER ONE PRIORITY FOR YOUR tional Friday night, then enjoy dinner in town Saturday
COURTESY OF VISIT FREDERICK

ASSOCIATION), AND THE AIRPORT night. “We really enjoy each event we’ve hosted for the past
IN MARYLAND’S SECOND-LARGEST five years and look forward to creating new experiences to
CITY HAS A MIX OF AIRCRAFT FROM commemorate such a monumental milestone,” said Chris
Eads, AOPA senior director of outreach and events. “And we
GYROCOPTERS TO JETS.
look forward to all our members, along with the next gener-
ation of pilots, joining us during this exciting time. This will
be another fly-in season to remember.”

52 | AOPA PILOT April 2019


AT THE AIRPORT
RICK JOHNSON, Frederick Municipal
Airport (FDK) manager
“We are very excited to help
AOPA host this event. It’s huge. It
gets people involved in aviation,
shows them the airport environ-
ment. I’m very excited person-
ally—the STOL demo, the drone
show at night. The fly-in will really
showcase FDK.”
“THE CLUSTERED SPIRES OF FREDERICK STAND,
green-walled by the hills of Maryland.” —a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier
www.visitfrederick.org
MEET MARK.
AOPA PRESIDENT MARK BAKER
JOIN US each morning for a Pilot Town Hall featuring
AOPA President Mark Baker and AOPA senior staff, who
will update members on the work of your association and the
state of general aviation today. Friday and Saturday at 11 a.m.
STEVE SOUTHWORTH, general manager
of Signature Flight Support at FDK
“Signature Flight Support is
extremely pleased to be
sponsoring the C–47 flyover and
parachute reenactment. This is
an exciting time to be at FDK
and Signature is honored to
be a part of AOPA’s eightieth
anniversary celebration.”
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 53
25 THINGS TO DO
1
Fly in to Frederick Municipal
Airport (FDK) for AOPA’s 80th
anniversary event May 10 and 11.
5 Eat. Pancakes, burgers, food
trucks, ice cream, and Top
Chef restaurants (and that’s
15 The Hope diamond at the
Smithsonian National Museum
of Natural History.
just in Frederick).

2 Tour the association’s head-

quarters and see the You Can
Fly Academy and the newly
created museum.
6 Watch a fly-by of C–47s on
their way to Normandy for the
16 Dorothy’s ruby slippers at the
Smithsonian National Museum
of American History.
seventy-fifth anniversary of

3 Take in two days of seminars

and workshops to help you be
D-Day, see parachute demon-
strations, and get a closer look
on the ground.
17 Tour Harper’s Ferry, beauti-
fully situated on the Potomac
and Shenandoah rivers.
a safer, smarter pilot.

4 Enjoy a short takeoff and

landing demonstration and
7 Immerse yourself in history:
drone show on Friday.
the National Museum of Civil
War Medicine; Mount Olivet
Cemetery; nearby Monocacy,
Antietam, and Gettysburg
national battlefields.
18 The U.S. Naval Academy in
Annapolis, Maryland. John Paul
Jones is buried here.
19 The Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley
Memorial on the Annapolis
waterfront.

8 Tour the National Air and

Space Museum and Udvar-Hazy
Center—an amazing collection
of aircraft from the beginning of
flight to space exploration.
20
The National World War II
Memorial and the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial are
both on the National Mall in
Washington and worth a visit.

9
See the airshow at Joint Base
Andrews, one of the most-
visited airshows in the world. 21 Baltimore Harbor, where
Francis Scott Key penned The
Star-Spangled Banner in 1814.

10
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The most-famous address in the
country; your state representa-
tive can help arrange a tour.
22 Maryland blue crabs. We’ve
got great restaurants in
Frederick or, for a true
Maryland experience, pick them

11
The U.S. Capitol, Kennedy on the Baltimore waterfront.
Center, and Library of Congress

23
are must-see locations. Mount Vernon, home
to George and Martha

12
Visit Arlington National Washington, on the Potomac
xi XI i Cemetery, 624 acres where our River.
i ii ii
vi i ix x

v vi vi nation’s heroes are buried.

13
Pandas at the National Zoo—
you know you want to see
24 East Coast wine country.
Dozens of wineries in Maryland
and Virginia are close to
those furry babies. Frederick.

14
Monuments and memorials on
the Tidal Basin. The trees and
monuments are lit at night and
it’s gorgeous.
25
Baseball—catch the Baltimore
Orioles or the Frederick Keys,
the Class A-Advanced minor
league team.

NEED MORE GREAT IDEAS? The AOPA staff live in the area and can offer
you great advice on what to see and do.
 F R E D E R I C K
MARYLAND

HAVE WE STOL-EN YOUR HEART?

FDK’s first-ever STOL Invitational is everything you
learned in private pilot training—taken to the max!
See what these pilots and their aircraft can do Friday
evening and Saturday at noon in demostrations on
the flightline.

QUALITY EDUCATION
BECOMING BETTER, SAFER PILOTS
AFTER ADOPTING THE TWO-DAY FORMAT IN 2017, and continuing into 2018 and
2019, AOPA is building out each day’s events with more seminars and ground
school workshops. At the fly-in, you’ll find plenty of focused workshops
and dynamic seminars led by some of the greatest experts and voices in
aviation. AOPA is expanding its educational content with the AOPA Air
Safety Institute’s Ground School Workshops, which are focused learn-
ing opportunities with endorsements that apply to the Focused Flight
Review (fees apply). Not to be confused with our free seminars, these
in-depth learning experiences provide a professional level of education,
offered in two, three-hour sessions both Friday and Saturday. You receive
logbook endorsement for three hours of ground training, as well as Wings
credit. Our free 45-minute seminars are the core of the AOPA Fly-In experi-
ence. Choose from more than two dozen topics sure to help add new experiences
to your logbook with confidence and competency. Leave the fly-in a safer, better
pilot while you connect and develop friendships with other aviators.
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 55
 F R E D E R I C K
MARYLAND

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

SPECIAL EVENTS ARE BEING PLANNED to include a nighttime drone show, a short takeoff and landing (STOL) demonstration
showcasing the skills and aircraft of backcountry flying, and an engaging Friday night Flightline Cookout. The D-Day Squadron’s
C–47s will make a special appearance before they depart for Normandy, France, for the seventy-fifth anniversary of D-Day.
The Frederick event takes place just days before AOPA’s eightieth anniversary on May 15. “In honor of AOPA’s eightieth anni-
versary, the 2019 fly-ins are sure to be an unforgettable experience for all aviators, family, and friends,” said Chris Eads, AOPA
senior director of outreach and events. “We hope pilots and nonpilots from all over the United States join us as we celebrate
80 years of protecting the freedom to fly. There will definitely be something for everyone to enjoy.”

GOING COUNTRY. FIRST-EVER FDK STOL INVITATIONAL

HEY, WE HAVE MOUNTAINS IN FREDERICK COUNTY, and we can get a little bit coun-
try. Well, OK, it may not be the Rocky Mountains, but we can replicate the fun
backcountry sport of short takeoff and landing contests, especially with the
assistance of Texas wrangler Jimmy Gist. The first-ever STOL Invitational
at Frederick Municipal Airport will take place Friday evening and Saturday
afternoon with Gist masterminding the activity. Gist, a former U.S. Air Force
fighter pilot, calls STOL demonstrations “the aviation equivalent of four-
wheeling.” Tailwheel aircraft with big tires and pilots with big ideas take off
and land in short distances, just like they have to do in rugged places like Alaska
and the backcountry. The shorter the hop, the better. It’s all in friendly compe-
tition, and it showcases lightweight, fun aircraft such as Cubs and Experimental
types. Bleachers will be set up for viewing the demonstration, and we’ll fire up the
grill and serve hot dogs and burgers and some local craft beer (Frederick makes some
great beer!).

THE SIGHT OF FREEDOM. C–47s TO NORMANDY

IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS OF JUNE 6, 1944, 925 C–47 aircraft dropped more
than 13,000 paratroopers behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France. Those
troops prepared for the launch of what would be the D-Day invasion, the begin-
ning of the end of World War II and the liberation of Europe. On June 6, 2019,
C–47s will once again blanket the skies over Normandy. An American fleet of
nearly 20 vintage C–47s will cross the Atlantic and then join up with other
C–47s from around the world for the Daks Over Normandy event to com-
memorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the crossing of the English Channel
into France. Several of those vintage C–47s will stop by Frederick, Maryland,
during AOPA’s eightieth anniversary celebration fly-in. Presented by Signature
Flight Support, two special flyover events and reenactment parachute jumps will
be a highlight of the Frederick fly-in. CAP’s recently restored That’s All, Brother was
the lead C–47 on D-Day.

56 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

 WINGS FIELD (LOM) The birthplace
of AOPA is just a short 30-minute flight from
FDK.

GO FURTHER. GREAT EXCURSIONS PLANNED

GET OUT AND SEE SOME OF THE AMAZING SIGHTS and experiences in the national
capital region. Excursions planned include a behind-the-scenes tour of the
National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center and a behind-
the-scenes tour of Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD). Guests
will have the exclusive opportunity to see historic artifacts not on display
at Udvar-Hazy; see what it takes to collect, preserve, and display these avi-
ation treasures; and tour the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar. At the
hangar, restoration work is being completed on the Lincoln-Standard H.S.
and Martin B–26 Marauder Flak-Bait aircraft. Guests will also tour the Emil
Buehler Conservation Laboratory, exploring the science behind artifact preser-
vation and care, see current projects, and learn how 3-D digital microscopes are
used in conservation. Plans are coming together so check online for more details as
they emerge (www.aopa.org/fly-ins).

THE NATION’S AIRSHOW. JOINT BASE ANDREWS

THE THUNDERBIRDS. THE BLUE ANGELS. THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS. Each branch of
the service is represented at the Joint Base Andrews airshow, one of the larg-
est airshows in the world. Just minutes from the nation’s capital, this military
base is legendary for its service in transporting government and military lead-
ers. It is from here that Air Force One takes off in the service of the president
of the United States. On May 11 and 12, the joint base will be open to the pub-
lic featuring hundreds of aircraft on display and amazing airshows by the top
military teams and civilian airshow acts. Finish up your weekend in the area
at Joint Base Andrews. AOPA coordinated our event to co-exist on the same
weekend so that our attendees could take in this world-renowned airshow. GA
celebrities—and AOPA friends—Michael Goulian and Patty Wagstaff join the per-
formers at Joint Base Andrews that weekend.

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 57
New lease on life

| SWEEPSTAKES SUPER CUB |

Transforming airplanes and pilots

B Y A LY S S A J. C O B B
P H OT O G R A P H Y B Y M I K E F I Z E R

WITH WING AND TAIL SURFACES DETACHED AND FABRIC RIPPED TO

SHREDS, THE 1954 SUPER CUB HADN’T TAKEN TO THE SKY FOR MORE
THAN 20 YEARS. ITS FLYING LIFE, IT SEEMED, WAS OVER.

58 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 59
 TOP: MIKE COLLINS

60 | AOPA PILOT April 2019


Meanwhile, I was in a rut. I hadn’t earned a new cer-
tificate or rating since my CFI in 2011, and I was content
to fly my Cessna 170B within a two-hour radius of home base.
We both got a new lease on our aviation lives when AOPA
hatched its idea for an over-the-top sweepstakes airplane give-
away—a modernized Super Cub that would come with tundra
tires, amphibious floats, and hydraulic skis. The completely
transformed Super Cub is ready to jumpstart the lucky winner’s
aviation adventurers—it could be yours this summer.
In the hands of Roger and Darin Meggers, the father-son
craftsmen of Baker Air Service in Baker, Montana, the Piper
PA–18 would become not only an airworthy Super Cub, but a true
work of art. Roger had purchased the Super Cub from a mechanic
a few years after it had been wrecked in 1997, and it sat in his han-
gar until they started the sweepstakes project in 2017.
Roger has restored more than 40 Super Cubs, and he and his
son had previously earned top awards at EAA AirVenture and
Sentimental Journey for restoring Super Cub number 1 to origi-
nal condition. The two refurbished the Sweepstakes Super Cub
to fit like a custom-made glove; it’s impeccably rigged and bal-
anced, and as sleek and shiny as a composite aircraft. No detail
was overlooked. After more than 2,000 hours of restoration, the
Super Cub flew perfectly on its first test flight April 6, 2018, a
bone-chilling 18-degree Fahrenheit day in eastern Montana.
PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING MODS
With more than 30 supplemental type certificated modifica-
tions, this PA–18 blends the best of the classic Super Cub with
top performance-enhancing upgrades.
The Super Cub rolled out of the Piper factory in 1954 with
a 135-horsepower engine, but now features a Lycoming O-320
160-horsepower engine with an electronic ignition system from
YOU COULD WIN this Super
Cub on floats this summer. The
entry period ends May 31. Facing
page: AOPA Sweepstakes Super Cub
project manager Alyssa J. Cobb debuts
the airplane at Sun ’n Fun 2018; unique
tail art turns the lovable Piper Cub icon
into a bear prowling the backcountry;
seats feel like those in a luxury car, and
airbag seatbelts increase safety.
Electroair. The
extra horsepower
increases the Super
Cub’s performance on
land and water, and gives it
more hauling power to accom-
modate the heavier loads it can carry,
thanks to Wipaire’s gross weight increase
to 2,000 pounds. The electronic ignition system
keeps the Super Cub starting and running smoothly at all alti-
tudes with just the push of a button (I love the keyless start).
To further enhance performance, we turned to companies
that specialize in modifications of the popular legacy airplane.
With sturdier and in some cases lighter replacement airframe
parts from Univair and F. Atlee Dodge, the airplane came in about
150 pounds heavier than original. CubCrafters, long known as a
manufacturer of high-performance Super Cub variants, provided
several modifications to increase the sweepstakes airplane’s
safety margin, including a vortex generator kit with tail strake to
improve controllability at slow speeds and reduce stall speeds in
the aircraft (when properly rigged and loaded).
The Super Cub also has excellent range—it might be able
to stay aloft longer than you! Dakota Cub Aircraft’s two 24-gal-
lon fuel tanks carry 46 gallons of usable fuel. At an average fuel
burn of about 8.5 gallons per hour, that’s just under five hours of
flight time with day-VFR reserves.
MODERN COCKPIT
With a glass panel, carbon-fiber interior, and luxury leather
seats, this isn’t a typical Cub cockpit.
The panel features the touch-screen Garmin aera 660, two
G5 electronic flight instruments, the GTR 225 com radio, and
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 61
GTX 345 transponder that provides Automatic Dependent
Surveillance-Broadcast In and Out. The GTX 345 provides
weather and traffic information that is displayed on the aera
660, improving situational awareness.
The engine instruments and fuel gauges are combined into J.P.
Instruments’ EDM 900 all-in-one digital engine monitor. CiES
electronic fuel sending units transmit precise fuel levels from the
fuel tanks to the EDM 900, so that with a glance at the panel, the
pilot can quickly see fuel quantity, fuel burn, and endurance.
PS Engineering’s PM3000A, combined with two Bose A20
active noise reduction headsets, ensure clear communications
in the noisy cockpit. Play music off a smartphone or tablet and
listen to it through the headsets’ Bluetooth function—and when
the electronic devices’ batteries fade, charge them with any of
the six USB charging ports from Mid-Continent Instruments
Co.’s True Blue Power division (two of the ports are integrated
with a digital clock in the left wing root).
If you’re thinking, “That’s a lot to pack in a Super Cub panel,”
you’re right, and it wasn’t easy. After more than 300 hours of design
and labor, the professionals at Aerotronics created a panel that lays
out the modern avionics in a six-pack instrument scan. Look at the
instruments when needed but otherwise enjoy the largely unob-
structed view outside—that’s what Super Cub flying is about!
We also brought the latest safety features to the cockpit with
AmSafe’s airbag seat belts that deploy away from the pilot and
passenger. In addition, LP Aero Plastics’ tinted windscreen, sky-
light, and windows are filter UV light to help prevent sunburns.
The panel and throttle quadrant are aluminum overlaid with
carbon fiber to match the black carbon fiber floor and gray side
panels from Carbon Concepts. Add in the black perforated leather
from Perrone Aerospace Performance Leathers & Textiles cover-
ing the seats, and the interior looks more like a luxury car than a
62 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
two-place bush plane. It feels like one, too. Airtex Interiors pad-
ded the seats to provide back support so that during long flights
(think eight hours), the bum and back remain comfortable.
TAIL FEATHERS
Consolidated Aircraft Coating’s poly-fiber fabric with high-
gloss finish on the sweepstakes Super Cub is a magnet for
pilots, most of whom can’t help but give what they hope will
be their airplane a love pat.
The Lock Haven Yellow airplane with signature black Piper
lightning bolt is easy to spot in the air, not only because of the col-
ors but because of AeroLEDS wig-wag landing lights in each wing.
On the ground, the Sweepstakes Super Cub can be easily singled
out with its unique tail art. Designed by Cris Lacognata of Scheme
Designers, the tail art features a rustic scene with a mountain, lake,
and bear—all a nod to this model’s backcountry roots.
GEAR GALORE
For the first time in AOPA’s sweepstakes history, the airplane
will come with three sets of landing gear: It will be given away
on Wipaire’s Wipline 2100 amphibious floats and come with
their Wipline AirGlide hydraulic skis and 26-inch tundra tires
from Alaskan Bushwheels.
With amphibious floats, the Super Cub becomes more versa-
tile and able to land on water or at airports, making trips across
the country easier from a fuel-planning standpoint. Along with
the floats, the Super Cub is equipped with Wipaire’s laser gear
advisory system. The system activates about 400 feet above the
ground, and the laser checks the landing surface (land or water)
and gear position to see if they match. If they don’t, about 50
feet above the ground, the system will remind the pilot to “check
gear.” The laser system is an added safety benefit because gear
THIS IS NOT your typical Super Cub panel (facing
page). These modern instruments provide outstand-
ing situational awareness; if you’re a traditionalist, just
look outside. Name your adventure: The Sweepstakes
Super Cub comes with amphibious floats (top left),
hydraulic skis (left), and tundra tires (lower left). A
160-horsepower Lycoming O-320 delivers plenty of
power for operations on these gear configurations
(below). No bungees, no hydraulic fluid, no oil—no
problem for the Alpha-Omega Suspension System
that features deformable polymers (above).

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 63
position with amphibious floats is critical: Landing on water
with the wheels extended could be catastrophic. (If you win the
airplane but don’t have a seaplane rating, ProMark Aviation in
Texas will provide training.)
The tundra tires and skis attach to CubCrafters’ three-
inch extended landing gear and Burl’s Aircraft’s Alpha-Omega
Suspension System. Developed and tested in Alaska, AOSS has
been flown in weather as cold as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
The suspension system doesn’t use bungees, hydraulics, or oil.
Instead, solid yet deformable polymers in the cylinders help
eliminate bouncing upon landing and provide cushioning for
the airframe when operating on rough terrain.
Because the Super Cub is designed with the backcountry in
mind, we wanted to provide extra gear to make sure you could
get out of those off-the-grid locations should a mechanical
problem arise. A portable Snap-on toolkit that fits perfectly in
the baggage compartment is filled with wrenches, screwdrivers
and flatheads, pliers, sockets, miniature pick set, mirror, light,
hammer, safety wire twisting pliers, and more.
AVIATION ADVENTURES
When the Super Cub started its transformation in 2017, I began my
own aviation makeover to gain the experience I needed to ferry
the sweepstakes airplane to events around and the country and to
experience the different kinds of flying and remote locations that
are hallmarks of Super Cub operations. Because the sweepstakes
aircraft’s restoration would take a full year, I turned to stand-in
Super Cubs and Cub variants like the PA–12 and PA–22 to com-
plete some of the training before hopping in N954PC.
Lunch fly-outs took on new meaning during my seaplane
training with ProMark Aviation: Land on a river, dock, and
then walk up a hill to eat at a restaurant while overlooking the
Piper PA–12 amphibious trainer. Puttering around on water
64 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
after landing is simply more relaxing than any other type of avi-
ation I’ve experienced, even soaring. Splashing down on the
Mississippi River and cruising 200 feet above the Atlantic Ocean,
just below John F. Kennedy International’s Class B airspace along
Long Island, are experiences that wouldn’t have happened with-
out training for the seaplane rating or ferrying a Super Cub on
floats around the country.
To experience hard-core winter flying, I headed to Michigan
and Alaska. Landing a Super Cub on tundra tires on Michigan’s
frozen lakes Mitchell and Cadillac was nerve-wracking, but the
feelings quickly turned to excitement with each touch and go.
Still in search of snow and skiplane flying, I flew a tailwheel-
converted PA–22 on hydraulic skis around Alaska’s Talkeetna
Mountains and Glacier. An overcast sky created flat light con-
ditions, altering our depth perception and making it unsafe for
glacier landings. However, I learned firsthand that manually
pumping hydraulic skis up and down is difficult (thankfully the
Sweepstakes Super Cub’s hydraulic skis are electrically actuated).
After scrapping glacier landings, I turned to a favorite pilot pas-
time in The Last Frontier: gravel bar hopping. A PA–22 on tundra
tires performs well, but my instructor and I passed up several
gravel bars perfect for a Super Cub but too short for the PA–22.
The Sweepstakes Super Cub’s restoration was finished in time
for me to enjoy training in it through a fundamentals of mountain
flying course with McCall
Mountain/Canyon Flying
Seminars in Idaho. I could The AOPA Super Cub
feel the temperature Sweepstakes ends at 11:59
drop while approach- p.m. Eastern time on May 31.
ing and crossing jagged, Read the official rules and
snow-capped mountain
DAVID TULIS
make sure you are entered
peaks and then rise again for a chance to win at
as I approached a short www.aopa.org/sweeps.
SUPER CUBS (and close variants) are extremely versatile. Ski flying,
gravel bar hopping, mountain flying, and water operations come
naturally for this airplane. You’ll love exploring all the aviation
adventures it offers.

backcountry grass strip deep in a valley near the Hells Canyon

Wilderness Area. The confidence boost in the Super Cub allowed
me to tackle gusty winds and long ferry flights, while the new skills
opened opportunities to land my Cessna 170B at tricky grass strips
tucked in valleys back East that I wouldn’t have attempted before.
The biggest reward of stretching my wings through the
sweepstakes project has been all of you: chatting at shows and
events, hearing your past Super Cub flying experiences and
future dreams (once you win it), and taking part in practical
jokes with you at fuel stops as I crisscrossed the country. I still
chuckle about helping an AOPA member prank his son (also
a pilot and member) in October. During a fuel stop in Tupelo,
Mississippi, I took the father’s picture with the Super Cub,
so that he could text it to his son with the message that I was
delivering the airplane to the winner. His son called imme-
diately. Laughing, the father declined the call and let his son
wait in anticipation a bit before telling him the truth.
I will miss flying the Super Cub a couple thousand feet
above the ground with the window open, my ponytail blow-
ing in the breeze. But, my aviation exploring will continue in
other airplanes. Now, it’s time for your Sweepstakes Super Cub
adventures to begin. Whether you already have thousands of
hours in Super Cubs or are a newbie, this transformed airplane
has the power to transform your flying.
Enjoy it! AOPA

EMAIL alyssa.cobb@aopa.org

SWEEPS CONTRIBUTORS
Restoration Mid-Continent Instruments
Baker Air Service and Avionics
PS Engineering
Airframe and parts True Blue Power
ACK Technologies
AeroLEDS Engine and accessories
Aircraft Spruce & Airforms
Specialty Co. B&C Specialty Products
Airframes Alaska Electroair
Burl’s Aircraft Lycoming
Consolidated Aircraft Tanis Aircraft
Coatings
CubCrafters Interior
Dakota Cub Aircraft Airtex Interiors
F. Atlee Dodge AmSafe
LP Aero Plastics Inc. Carbon Concepts
Moody Aero-Graphics Perrone Aerospace
Scheme Designers Performance Leathers
Univair & Textiles
Wipaire
Accessories
Avionics and instruments Bose
Aerotronics ProMark Aviation
CiES Corp. SlideDown
Garmin Snap-on
J.P. Instruments

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 65
 One
glorious
vision How an airplane brings
life-changing procedures to the world
BY THOMAS B. HAINES
P H OT O G R A P H Y B Y C H R I S R O S E

66 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 67
The white and blue paint on our ride for the day
dazzles so bright in the Arizona sun that it hurts to look at it. Were it not
for the shiny paint, one might think this is just another tired, old DC–10 on
a desert ramp being shoved into eternal storage. But this is a life-changing
MD–10—an accredited teaching hospital ready to sprint around the world,
carrying the most advanced gear available to perform eye surgeries and teach
others the skills to do the same. The enormous airplane does it all—carries
the hospital itself, creates hospital-grade oxygen on demand, purifies water,
even uses its own Jet A fuel to power generators tucked into the hold, allowing
it to go to work anywhere there’s a runway long enough to handle the trijet.
The lumbering airliner-turned-cargo-jet-turned-eye-hospital is the most
visible presence of Orbis International, a global force bent on stamping out
diseases of the eye that otherwise leave the most vulnerable without hope.
“Blindness is so devastating, especially in developing countries, because
there are no support services there and without sight in places like that a
person is helpless. You can’t work. You can’t get an education. You are reliant
on someone else—often ostracized. People lose hope,” says Bruce Johnson,
director of aircraft operations for Orbis. “And what’s so frustrating is that so
much of it is preventable.”
A retired instructor in the FedEx flight training department and a Piper
Twin Comanche owner, Johnson treks around the world in the airplane with
a crew of volunteer FedEx pilots, maintenance technicians, doctors, nurses,
anesthesiologists, IT and AV experts, accountants, and volunteers from just
about any other discipline you’d find in a hospital in a major city—66 projects
in 18 countries in 2017 alone. The crew on the airplane—plus those at some
15 offices around the world—performed more than 15.7 million eye exams
and screenings between 2013 and 2017, and nearly 400,000 eye surgeries and
THE BRILLIANT white and blue paint scheme
laser treatments—a quarter of them on children. And yet there is so much sets off the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital from
more to be done. any other airplane in the world. Director of
Orbis reports that the number of people expected to go blind will tri- Aircraft Operations Bruce Johnson (below,
left) makes sure the entire Orbis flight
ple by 2050. Seventy-five percent of the impairments can be prevented operation stays safe and efficient. Volun-
teer FedEx pilot Gary Dyson (right) has
flown many missions, but still gets inspira-
tion from the patients Orbis serves.
 or treated. Three quarters of the
world’s blind children live in low-
and middle-income countries.
For some, a knight in shining
aluminum comes hurtling over the
horizon to a nearby airport. Within
a matter of hours, generators are
unloaded, massive environmental
systems are fired up, fuel and power
lines are run, beds are unfolded,
cameras come to life, a steady
stream of passengers come onboard
for exams, and for a few—usually
ones screened months in advance
by ground crews—life-changing
surgeries are performed. Doctors
experienced in a broad variety of
TOP: RICHARD JORGENSON

eye disciplines come in from all over

the world to donate their time, meet-
ing the airplane wherever it is and

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 69
 VALERI SUBERG, senior manager of aircraft
staying for about a week at a time. As one discipline
maintenance, oversees the unloading
moves out, another is ready to step in. The state-of- of pallet after pallet of gear and equip-
the-art surgical suite is over the main landing gear, the ment at Palm Beach International Airport,
most solid part of the airplane and least likely to move converting the MD–10 from airplane to
working eye hospital (right). The onboard
when strong winds blow—a potential hazard during operating room rivals those in the most
delicate laser surgeries conducted under powerful advanced hospitals (below). An impressive
microscopes. tool collection donated by Snap-on allows
maintenance crews to keep the airplane
While the surgeries are under way—observed in and all its system up and running any-
person by local doctors learning the techniques—other where in the world. (below, right).
doctors observe via high-resolution 3-D monitors in the
airplane’s front compartment, with airline seating for 46. During our visit, the team was
experimenting with virtual reality glasses to give the observers an even more in-depth experi-
ence. The surgeries are also streamed worldwide for doctors anywhere to observe and learn.
“It’s all about ‘train the trainers’—it has to be sustainable training,” says Johnson, also
a former U.S. Air Force mechanic, who started at Orbis as a volunteer in 2005 and later
became a staff member. Orbis provides follow-up visits for months after the airplane leaves
to ensure the local doctors are comfortable with their new skills. The organization trained
some 62,380 doctors, nurses, teachers, and others in 2017—their most ever.
While doctors and nurses are busy in the operating room, other volunteers are train-
ing local technicians on best practices for hygiene and equipment sterilization. And more
doctors are in another room using an eye surgical simulator to coach local doctors on new
techniques. The aft end of the airplane is the recovery room, which, like the operating suite
and sterilization center, looks as if it could be in any big hospital.
Making all of this possible in remote—and not so remote—parts of the world is what
Johnson calls the “Queen of the Sky.” The Orbis MD–10 started out life as a DC–10-30CF in
1973, spending its early life flying for Trans International Airlines/Transamerica. In 1984, it
became a freighter for FedEx and in 2001 was converted to an MD–10-30F, which includes
a host of avionics and systems upgrades developed by McDonnell Douglas when it created
the MD–11 airplane—including removal of the flight engineer station, making it a two-
pilot airplane. The mammoth upgrade takes months to complete, according to Johnson.
Meanwhile, the DC–10-10 that Orbis had been flying was wearing out and its hospital
system needed replacing. The hospital was built into the airframe, and every change or
modification to the airframe required FAA approval—a big challenge given the constant

70 | AOPA PILOT April 2019


advancements in medical equipment. Orbis retired the DC–10-10 in
the fall of 2016 and donated it to the Pima Air and Space Museum
in Tucson, Arizona.
Learning of Orbis’ plan to retire the old airplane, FedEx donated
the MD–10-30 in 2010 and helped convert it back to passenger con-
figuration, opening up windows and doors long since covered over.
And then Johnson set out with a team of engineers to create a pallet-
ized hospital that could be slid in via the yawning cargo door.
A global vision
The birth of a flying eye hospital
Orbis International was born of an idea in the
1960s by Dr. David Paton, an ophthalmologist at
the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity. He saw the devastation caused by prevent-
able eye diseases in developing nations. Doctors
in those countries couldn’t afford to come to the
United States for training, thus the idea for a mo-
bile teaching hospital emerged. Paton engaged
many others—including Betsy Trippe DeVecchi,
oldest child of Juan Trippe, founder of Pan Ameri-
can Airways; and A.L. Ueltschi, personal pilot for
Trippe and founder of FlightSafety International—
to put together a plan. The group, along with
a grant from the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID), oversaw the project to
create the first Flying Eye Hospital inside a DC–8
donated by United Airlines.
Today, supported by offices in 15 countries, the
group performs thousands of procedures and
exams a year. The launch of a global telemedicine
initiative, Cybersight, in 2003 greatly increased
the footprint of knowledge the medical teams
can share, including the worldwide streaming of
surgical procedures from the MD–10, registration
number N330AU—for A.L. Ueltschi.  —TBH
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 71

THE HAPPY FACE of an infant patient helps
explain why the staff and volunteers do
what they do (above). Pilot Gary Dyson’s
guitar carries the signatures of many
patients and dignitaries who have visited
the airplane (left). On surgery days, he
strums away and sings to calm patients
waiting for their procedures. His theme
song: I Can See Clearly Now. The massive
cockpit view reminds that this is a jumbo
jet. Dyson (below left) and FedEx pilot
Eric Van Court volunteer for their chance
to pilot the Flying Eye Hospital to points
across the globe.
72 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
The result is a stow-and-go hospital that
is disconnected from the airplane except
for a couple of easily managed electrical
circuits. Each major section of the hospi-
tal is built into a jumbo cargo container,
which can be removed—although not eas-
ily. Because it is now just cargo as far as the
FAA is concerned, there is no need for the
agency to approve every little change that
occurs to the hospital equipment.
Climbing the airstairs, you first walk into
the passenger compartment just behind the
cockpit. Behind the passenger compartment
begins a hallway along the left side of the fuse-
lage. Doors from the A/V room, laser room,
operating suite, and sterilization center along
the right side open into the hallway. The hall-
way ends in the recovery room at the back.
None of the hospital space can be occu-
pied in the air. A heavy bulkhead door just
behind the passenger compartment is
closed during flight.
We visited the MD–10 in early March
2018 just as it was finishing months of win-
ter maintenance at AerSale at Phoenix
Goodyear Airport. With several major work
projects complete, Johnson and other paid
Orbis staff were finishing final checks, an
engine run, and loads of logbook entries.
Meanwhile, volunteer FedEx pilots Gary
Dyson, who is the Orbis chief pilot, and Eric
Van Court, technical pilot, showed up right
on schedule and began their own duties
of flight planning and preparing for their
morning flight to Palm Beach, Florida.
The airplane operates under Part 125
of the federal aviation regulations, which
is designed for large aircraft not used for
“common carriage.” In addition to provid-
ing access to parts, shipping, and scores of
other resources, FedEx provides the recur-
rent training for the 19 volunteer pilots.
“For pilots, the aircraft provides a
unique experience,” says Dyson. “With
this mission we see kids who can’t see
on Monday and on Wednesday they can.
Wow! Where else can you do that?”
By late morning, with all the checks
done, the crew piles on board for the quick
trip to Florida.
TOP: GEOFF OLIVER BUGBEE
I climb into one of the two jump seats
in the wide cockpit. Readying the old bird
for flight is more akin to launching an
ocean liner than an airplane. There are a
few last-minute delays and many system
checks after all of the work and downtime.
 But soon, weighing some 456,000 pounds and carrying 100,000
pounds of fuel, we trundle down Runway 3—nearly the full length
because the taxiway doesn’t provide the needed turning radius
for the jumbo jet. At the end a tug is required to turn us around
on the runway, positioning us for takeoff. Dyson slowly advances
the thrust levers as the three massive GE CF6-50C2 engines spool
up, turning a river of fuel first to noise and then into some 54,000
pounds of thrust each. Soon we’re barreling down the pavement,
streaking past dozens of retired airliners, relics in the desert sun.
Gear and flaps up, Orbis One arcs around to an easterly
course and we’re off, climbing to a cruise altitude of 35,000
feet. It is the airplane’s first flight of the year. It averages about
110 hours a year and 18 flights.
In this case, the flight to Palm Beach International Airport
(PBI) is for training and fundraising before launching on mis-
sions to Peru and parts of the world later in the year.
We arrive at PBI just before sunset, parking on ramp space
donated by Signature Flight Support.
The next morning, the flight crew gathers to solve a problem
as the volunteer medical staff shows up. It seems the Orbis One
tail is so tall that it is creating an official obstacle on the airport.
They reposition it, moving the tail farther away from the runway.
Problem solved, medical, flight, and maintenance crews go
to work transforming the former wide-body airliner into a hos-
pital. Portals on the right side are opened up and FedEx-donated
cargo loaders roll onto the ramp, ready to remove pallet after pal-
let of equipment and generators. Airstairs and ladders donated by
Atlantic Aviation slide into place. Crews inside the fuselage begin
the Tetris-like operation of unpacking gear in the laser room, oper-
ating suite, and recovery room. Soon, doctors are experimenting
with a new child-sized medical mannequin on a gurney. It is the
latest and greatest for teaching anesthesiology techniques.
A steep set of stairs in the aft end of the airplane leads down to a cargo hold ORBIS CARRIES a seemingly endless supply of teddy
bears for child patients. The medical teams patch up
that doubles as an office for the maintenance crews. A computer tracks parts and
the bear’s eyes to reflect the child’s bandages and
costs, work tables for making repairs, and many linear feet of the finest tools and they go through the “healing” process together (top).
tool chests that Snap-on has to offer—all donated. Medical staff practice anesthesiology techniques with
a new child-sized mannequin during a training session
Valerie Suberg, an A&P mechanic and Piper Arrow owner, is the senior man-
at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida (above).
ager of aircraft maintenance at Orbis, one of the paid staff. She has traveled with
the airplane for years and seen many parts of the world. Her challenge is to
make sure she has the parts and expertise on board—wherever they are—to keep
the hospital and the airplane working. Some countries aren’t very welcoming.
Officials at some stops see the bright shiny airplane as a way to extract money for
every little thing. She has become an expert negotiator and a great observer of
the impact that Orbis can have. She tells me remarkable stories about her expe-
riences seeing lives changed through the work that happens on the airplane. She
chokes up a bit in remembering a visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where two lit-
tle girls—both blind from cataracts—had played together for years. They both
went in for surgery and the next day they “met” for the first time as they sat face
to face as their bandages were removed—they had never seen each other. The
crew gave them each mirrors so they could look at themselves—again, a first. “It
brought tears to everyone in the room,” she says.
“To be able to see the miracles and lives that are changed each day on the
plane is what is important. Everything else seems to fall by the wayside.”
Just another day’s work for a lumbering old airplane. AOPA

EMAIL thomas.haines@aopa.org

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 73
 A new
A/Ttitude
Cirrus adds autothrottle and altitude
to the new version of the Vision Jet

A TOUCH OF THE TO/GA BUTTON on the thrust

lever pops up the flight director command bars
to the takeoff/go-around position. I hit the
Heading button on the autopilot mode con-
troller and spin the heading bug around to 90
degrees—our left turn after takeoff from Runway
23 at Maryland’s Frederick Municipal Airport. I
shove the thrust lever forward and we’re quickly
racing down the pavement; a little tug on the
sidestick and the runway drops away. Gear and
flaps up and at about 400 feet agl, I push the AT
button just ahead of the thrust lever and the AP
button on the mode controller to activate the

BY THOMAS B. HAINES
P H OT O G R A P H Y B Y C H R I S R O S E

74 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 75
AMONG THE AERODYNAMIC clean-ups was
the removal of the fences inboard of each
aileron (right). Beringer wheels and brakes
provide the stopping power and now—as
part of the Generation 2 changes—owners
can select colors other than just red.

autothrottles and autopilot. About then, the flight director

commands the left turn and away we go, the Cirrus Vison
Jet Generation 2 accelerating quickly. Inside the Class D air-
space, the new autothrottle system slides the thrust lever
aft to keep us below the 200-knot speed limit. Popping out
the top, the thrust lever moves forward again, allowing us to
accelerate to up to 250 knots below 10,000 feet. That hap-
pens quickly as we level off at 3,000 feet msl. Then the thrust
lever moves aft at a good clip to keep us below the limit as
we await further climb clearance from Potomac Approach.
Already I see the advantage of such a sophisticated
autothrottle (A/T) system in a single-pilot speedy jet.
Busy in the terminal environment, any worries about
speed evaporate. The profile stored in the Garmin flight
management system keeps the airplane from exceeding
any airspace speed limits and flies the airplane at estab-
lished speeds during climbs and descents. Arriving back
in the terminal area after a descent, it slows at about 10
miles out to 189 knots, one knot below the limitation for
approach flap deployment, helping the pilot set up for
an uneventful arrival. Of course, the pilot can override

76 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 77
 THE SF50’S GENERATION 2 cock-
pit is as simple and elegant as
the first generation, but with
even more capabilities (right).
In addition to more altitude
options, the upgrade includes
autothrottles. The A/T discon-
nect button is on the left side
of the thrust lever (below). The
A/Ts have two modes: Manual
and Flight Management Sys-
tem (below, right). The thumb
wheel allows for setting speeds
for the A/Ts to follow in Manual
mode.

78 | AOPA PILOT April
PILOT January
2019
2012
the system at any time, should ATC ask to
“keep the speed up,” for example.
The sophisticated new A/T system
is essentially the same as those installed
on much larger business jets, such as the
Cessna Citation Latitude and Longitude,
which cost about 10 times as much as the
single-engine Vision Jet.
Selecting the MAN button just ahead
of the thrust lever (as opposed to the
FMS button) puts the A/Ts into Manual
mode, allowing the pilot to adjust the
desired speed using a thumbwheel; the
selected speed shows up in the window
above the airspeed tape on the primary
flight display. In FMS mode, the sys-
tem follows commands in the flight plan
for different phases of flight, automati-
cally setting speeds for climbs, descents,
and approaches. It also prevents over-
and under-speeds and interacts with the
Garmin ESP flight envelope protection
system to keep the airplane safe.
Once leveled off it will allow the air-
plane to accelerate to just below MMO or
to the pilot’s chosen speed.
The standard A/T system is but one
example of upgrades found on the new
Generation 2 edition of the Vision Jet. Just
two years after first delivery of the single-
engine jet, Cirrus has incorporated a host
of enhancements and upgrades.
Another significant one is the certi-
fication for flight up to Flight Level 310,
3,000 feet higher than the original model.
New certification includes approval for
flight in reduced vertical separation min-
imum (RVSM) airspace, which starts at
FL290. To maintain a minimum cruise
true airspeed of 300 knots at the higher
altitude, Cirrus worked with Williams
International to modify the full authority
digital engine control (FADEC) system
thrust schedule for the FJ33-5A engine,
providing more thrust between FL230 and
FL310. To keep the same 8,000-foot cabin
altitude at the higher flight altitude the dif-
ferential in the pressurization system has
also been increased, from 6.4 psi to 7.1.
The higher altitude allows for a lower
fuel burn and the ability to top more
weather systems. As an alternative, the
pilot can choose to take advantage of the
higher thrust to go faster at a lower alti-
tude, but at a higher fuel burn.
As a result of the lower fuel burn at
FL310 and slight decreases in weight
throughout the airframe, the Gen2 model
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 79

GEN2 CUSTOMERS can opt for
a center console with fold-out
tables between the first row
of passenger seats (above).
The pilot can easily remove the
console when not needed, eas-
ing access to the rear seats. The
large flip-down screen keeps
the passengers occupied while
the front seaters enjoy the view
through the impressively sized
windshield. The once-optional
extended baggage compart-
ment is now standard (right).
Of course the Gen2 carries the
signature Cirrus whole airframe
parachute system, although
designing a system for such a
large and heavy airplane proved
challenging (far right).
80 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
can carry about an additional 150 pounds
in either more fuel—for about 100 extra
nautical miles of range—or another pas-
senger or more gear.
“It’s about versatility,” said Matt
Bergwall, Cirrus director of the Vision Jet
product line. “We wanted to give the pilots
more flexibility and choices.” Much of
the weight decrease—about 50 pounds—
comes from replacing the dual lead acid
batteries with True Blue Power lithium
ion batteries, which allow for faster and
cooler engine starts.
The panel includes new, faster, and
higher-resolution Garmin displays—what
Cirrus calls Perspective Plus by Garmin—
and the Flight Stream 510 Wi-Fi system
that allows communication between the
panel and portable devices in the cockpit.
An upgraded Garmin voice and data sys-
tem also allows pilots to text and make calls
from their own handheld device.
In improving on the original design,
the company also turned to creature com-
forts. The Gen2 takes the already versatile
seating configuration and makes it even
more capable with the introduction of a
center console between the middle two
seats, which also are wider in the new Elite
configuration. The console includes work
tables for left and right passengers, and
storage. The pilot can install and remove
the console and any of the seats without a
signoff by a mechanic. The once-optional
extended baggage compartment is now
standard on the Gen2 models.
On the exterior, the company has
removed the fence between the aileron
and flap on each wing. That, combined
with the removal of the boundary layer
energizers (BLE) just ahead of the aile-
rons, makes for lighter roll forces and
improved handling. And, not surprisingly,
the model includes a host of new paint
schemes and color choices.
Also not surprising, the new features
and upgrades command a higher price.
When we reported on the original Vision
Jet in July 2017 the price was about $2
million. The Gen2 airplanes start at $2.38
million, with a fully loaded model at about
$2.75 million.
Bergwall noted that many of the
interior upgrades and some panel improve-
ments, but not autothrottles, are available
as upgrades to the original models. AOPA
EMAIL thomas.haines@aopa.org
 SPEC SHEET
Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet Generation 2
BASE PRICE: ABOUT $2.38 MILLION

SPECIFICATIONS Takeoff distance over 50-ft obstacle | Retract | 150 KIAS

Powerplant | Williams International 3,192 ft VMO (max operating) | 250 KIAS
FJ33-5A turbofan, 1,846 lbst Max demonstrated crosswind MMO (max operating Mach) | 0.53 Mach
Length | 30 ft 8 in component, flaps 100% | 16 kt VR (rotation) | 90 KIAS
Height | 10 ft 11 in Max cruise speed @ max weight, FL270 | VS1 (stall, clean) | 86 KIAS
Wingspan | 38 ft 8 in 313 KTAS, 76 gph VSO (stall, in landing configuration) |
Seats | 4-7 Max cruise speed @ max weight, @ max 67 KIAS
Cabin length | 11 ft 6 in altitude FL310 | 305 KTAS, 64 gph
Cabin width | 5 ft 1 in Range at max cruise, approx. | FOR MORE INFORMATION
Cabin height | 4 ft 1 in 1,100 nm Contact Cirrus Aircraft,
Empty weight | 3,450 lb Range at economy cruise, approx. | www.cirrusaircraft.com
Max ramp weight | 6,040 lb 1,275 nm
Max gross weight | 6,000 lb Max operating altitude | 31,000 ft All specifications are based on manu-
Useful load | 2,550 lb Landing distance over 50-ft obstacle | facturer’s calculations. All performance
Payload w/full fuel | 546 lb 3,011 ft figures are based on standard day,
Max takeoff weight | 6,000 lb Landing distance, ground roll | 1,628 ft standard atmosphere, sea level, gross
Max landing weight | 5,550 lb weight conditions unless otherwise
Zero-fuel weight | 4,900 lb LIMITING AND RECOMMENDED noted.
Fuel capacity | 298.5 gal (296 gal AIRSPEEDS
usable), 2,018 lb (2,001 lb usable) VX (best angle of climb) | 91 KIAS EXTRA Higher maximum operating

Oil capacity | 3 qt VO (operating maneuvering) | 150 KIAS altitude of 31,000 feet provides new

Baggage capacity | 300 lb, 23.5 cu ft VFE (max flap extended) | 190 KIAS options for fuel efficiency, ATC rout-

VLE (max gear extended) | 210 KIAS ings, and weather avoidance.

PERFORMANCE VLO (max gear operating)

Takeoff distance, ground roll | 2,036 ft Extend | 210 KIAS

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 81
82 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
 7
The percent
Female pilots still account for only a small portion of the pilot
population, despite decades of attempts to fix the problem

B Y I A N J. T W O M B LY | I L LU S T R AT I O N B Y M AT T H E R R I N G

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 83
 WHEN ABINGDON MULLIN was starting
the Abingdon Watch Company, she met a
man who said he would be happy to help
fund her ambitious venture. But there was
a catch. Mullin had to “make him feel like
a kid again” while his wife wasn’t at home.
At the time of the harassment, Mullin
was a customer service representative
at a prominent flight school at the Santa
Monica airport and had just finished her
private pilot certificate. The man who
propositioned Mullin was a regular cus-
ABINGDON MULLIN
tomer at the business, which also had an
FBO. To help her feel safe at work after
rejecting the advance, Mullin’s boss helped
hide her every time the man came in. She
said the corporate office didn’t seem con-
cerned since the incident took place off the
property.
Since then Mullin has gone on to a
successful career ferrying airplanes and
as an airline pilot, along with running
the Abingdon Watch Company. However,
she has been told her success is because
she slept her way to jobs and other
opportunities.
Mullin’s story isn’t unique. Women
PEGGY CHABRIAN
involved in aviation have countless stories
of facing some form of harassment or dis-
crimination during their training, at the
airport, or as part of their career. Yet the
women interviewed for this story said that
although harassment can be part of the job,
they don’t dwell on it.
Female pilots make up about 7 per-
cent of all certificated pilots. Just 10 years
ago the number was closer to 6.2 per-
cent. Professional pilot ranks are even
less diverse, with women holding 4.3 per-
cent of airline transport pilot certificates.
Depending on how you look at it, these
numbers are either a stark improvement
after years of stagnation, or a dismal record
that is being outstripped by dozens of indus-
tries that are historically male dominated.
Peggy Chabrian thinks we should be
looking at the positives, including an increase
in the number of female pilots. Chabrian is
the president and founder of Women in
Aviation International (WAI), one of a few
84 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
groups that advocate for a greater represen-
tation of women throughout the industry,
especially in professional settings. Chabrian
said the fact that women have gone from
around 1.9 percent of ATPs in 1990 to more
than 4 percent is proof that the trend is at
least headed in the right direction.
Yet the gender barrier was broken at
a U.S. airline in 1973 when Emily Howell
Warner was hired at Frontier Airlines.
That means it’s taken 46 years to get to
a point where there are still fewer than
7,000 active female ATPs. Other statistics
are even more troubling. The United States
lags the world in female airline pilots as a
percentage. Worldwide, women make up
more than 5 percent of all airline pilots, and
an Indian airline fills the cockpit with more
than 13 percent women. Hawaiian Airlines
leads airlines in the United States at just
less than 10 percent. All this is according to
data released by the International Society
of Women Airline Pilots.
Similarly, in recent years, women
made major gains in the labor market; the
female pilot population remained virtu-
ally unchanged. It may be easy to say that
these things take time, there are big cul-
tural shifts that need to occur, and things
will improve. Yet other industries saw
massive increases in female employment.
In the past 15 years, at least 20 industries
have seen the percentage of women in the
workforce increase by more than 6 percent,
including careers as diverse as pharmacists,
writers, bakers, public relations executives,
and veterinarians. Veterinarians went from
34 percent female in 2000 to 59 percent
female in 2016. The parallels are strong:
Being a vet takes significant schooling and
training, is a major investment, and has a
long payoff.
In fact, even in many careers most
would consider male dominated, women
make up a larger percentage of the work-
OPPOSITE: JOHN UELAND
force than they do in professional piloting.
Nearly 7 percent of truck drivers are
women, 12.5 percent of police officers, 30
percent of farmers, and 9 percent of the
construction industry.
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 85

BETTER TOGETHER
Many groups have formed to support female pilots
Dozens of organizations, both formal and informal, have
formed to bring female pilots together to provide support,
mentorship, and scholarships.
Women in Aviation International. Probably the larg-
est and best-known of the groups, Women in Aviation
International provides scholarships, organizes Girls in
Aviation Day, convenes a yearly conference, and has more
than a hundred local chapters for support, camaraderie,
and networking. Almost 50 are on college campuses.
www.wai.org
The Ninety-Nines. The biggest women pioneers in avi-
ation started The Ninety-Nines in 1929, and the group
remains very active today. Also known as the International
Organization of Women Pilots, the Ninety-Nines have
more than 150 chapters all over the world for support, net-
working, and service.
www.ninety-nines.org
The Whirly Girls International. Founded in 1955 to sup-
port women helicopter pilots, today Whirly Girls has more
than 2,000 members around the world. The organization
gives out hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships
and supports active helicopter pilots through networking
and mentorship.
www.whirlygirls.org
Sisters of the Skies. An organization of minority women,
Sisters of the Skies promotes aviation participation
through community activities, social media support, schol-
arships, and more. Check the group’s website for ways
to help support the next generation of minority female
aviators.
www.sistersoftheskies.org
Ladies Love Taildraggers. One of the many social
groups organized to support female pilots, Ladies Love
Taildraggers is as founder Judy Birchler describes it, “A
loosely bound group of dynamic women pilots drawn
together by one shared love” (see “Pilots: Judy Birchler,”
p. 128).
www.ladieslovetaildraggers.com
F.A.S.T. The name says it all: Female Aviators Sticking
Together is a community of women pilots with the sim-
ple goal of inspiring and unifying female pilots. The group
holds one-day summits and provides scholarships, net-
working opportunities, and career advice.
www.femaleaviators.org
86 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
Defining the problem is easy. Figuring out why aviation con-
tinues to be this way and what must be done to change it is hard.
STUBBORN PROBLEM
Ask any female pilot about the slights or harassment they’ve faced,
and each one has a story. Sometimes it’s as harmless as being mis-
taken for a customer service representative or flight attendant. In
other cases it’s aggressive or even criminal. Then there’s the inher-
ent sexism. GA News published a positive story earlier this year
about a young single mom who was enrolled at an aviation uni-
versity and planned to become a professional pilot. The online
comments centered on how her ex-husband must be footing the bill.
Despite the headwinds, the women interviewed for this
story brought up harassment only when questioned. Most said
it wasn’t a deterrent, but rather something to work through or
simply ignore.
A lack of mentoring and positive role models came forward
as a significantly bigger challenge. It’s easy for men to imagine
themselves in the cockpit as they see male pilots in movies, at the
airport, and on an airliner, but for women those sightings aren’t
frequent. “Many men falsely assume women don’t want to do
it. They mentor boys instead,” said airline pilot and CFI Sarina
Houston. “Personally, I wouldn’t have gotten into flying had some-
one not stepped out and given me a free airplane ride.”
“MANY MEN FALSELY
ASSUME WOMEN DON’T
WANT TO [FLY]. THEY
MENTOR BOYS INSTEAD.”
An AOPA staff member recounted how she has seen many
times at EAA Young Eagles rallies where parents will push the
boy to ride first, or make sure the boy sits up front and the girl sits
in back. The impression is that the boy is there to learn while the
girl is there to take an airplane ride and enjoy the view.
“Society dictates that story,” Mullin said. “They’ve created the
story that either women don’t fly, can’t fly, don’t want to fly, do
want kids and can’t fly, et cetera. The story is permutated by soci-
ety for however many decades that airplanes have been around.
It’s only until we get people outside the circle that people will
change mindsets and think flying as a woman is an option.”
Even for dads who are engaged in aviation and think they
are projecting positive aviation role models to all their children,
challenges abound. Eric Crump is the
head of Polk State College’s aviation pro-
gram in Lakeland, Florida. Crump said he
once asked his daughter as they were get-
ting on an airline whether she would like
to be a pilot someday. “No, that’s a boy
job,” she told him. “Her mother and I are
both pilots; she’s been exposed to aviation
in every imaginable respect since birth. I
couldn’t believe she still didn’t think avia-
tion was open to her,” he said. “That made
it real to me that we have work to do as an
industry and as a community.”
Some pilots speculate that because avi-
ation sometimes makes it difficult to have
a career and a family that women are nat-
urally not as drawn to it as men. “My wife
made a choice to focus on our family as
her primary driver,” Crump said. “But she
is still incredibly active in aviation in other
ways that fit her desired lifestyle. It’s not
an either/or question.”
Houston said she’s able to make avi-
ation work as a career in part because of
a strong support network and because
she waited to fly for the airlines until her
kids got older. She was a full-time flight
instructor prior to flying for the airlines.
“My delayed entry to the airline industry
was because I wanted to be home with my
kids,” she said. “It would have been very
difficult to have small children and fly for
a career.”
In many ways that fact is changing,
in part because the airlines are hiring so
quickly. “People have been able to progress
quickly, which has allowed them to have
more control over their schedules,” said
Sarah Rovner, an airline pilot and owner
of an aircraft ferrying company. “You gain
seniority and that’s been attractive to hav-
ing a career and family” for women.
On the recreational flying side, other
factors are potentially at work, including
less free time, lower amounts of discre-
tionary income, and difficulties in flight
training. Nationwide the unadjusted
gender pay gap for women is roughly 20
percent, meaning women have signifi-
cantly less discretionary money for flight
training. They may also have less time, two
of the major impediments to learning to
fly. A survey by Britain’s Office of National
Statistics found that women spend about
two hours and 38 minutes a week on
hobbies, compared to four hours and 39
minutes for men. The study speculated
that despite a growing equality at home,
women continue to spend more time on
family and chores than men, and that when
not in leisure, “women were more likely to
be performing unpaid work.”
Getting out of the aviation bubble is
SARINA HOUSTON
critical to attracting more pilots, and a
more diverse group of pilots. Technology
can help. “I think we’re seeing a small
uptick in females because of social media,”
Houston said. “Because we don’t have
mentors from the top we’re mentoring
each other from social media and email.”
Fixing gender bias and other failures in
flight training may also help diversify the
pilot population, said Mullin. “I remember
sitting behind the owner of a flight school
at a conference and he just started going off
about how he doesn’t know how to talk to
women, why they keep leaving the school,
how to make them stay. When you think SARAH ROVNER
that women students are an obstacle, they
will be an obstacle.”
There seems to be no agreement on
how best to ensure women complete train-
ing at the same rate as men (more than
12 percent of students are women, but
only about 10 percent of new pilots), but approaches and keeping it in front of peo-
acknowledging there is a problem could be ple,” Chabrian said. “Mentoring is key to
the first step. There is a disagreement in helping people, particularly if they are new
current educational research as to whether to aviation.”
boys and girls learn differently or whether WAI also helps to administer schol-
we set up the environment differently, and arship funds that are open to both men
thus affect the outcome. One thing is clear: and women, a point of debate within the
The antiquated idea that women simply community. The program started in 1996
can’t understand technical matters as well with two $500 awards. This year WAI
as men has long since been disproven. passed the $12 million mark. In 2019, the
Many organizations, such as Women organization was planning to award 130
in Aviation, are doing their part to provide scholarships valued at $780,000.
mentoring paths for women. The group It ’s clear, however, that solv-
holds a Girls in Aviation Day every year that ing the problem will take more than
brings girls to the airport to expose them money. Sometimes all that’s needed is
to aviation. When the effort began just a an invitation, a bit of support, and an
few years ago 3,000 kids and 40 chapters acknowledgement that for aviation to
participated. Last year 15,000 young peo- thrive, all are encouraged to join. AOPA
ple were exposed to aviation through 100
chapters worldwide. “It takes a myriad of EMAIL ian.twombly@aopa.org
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 87
PROFICIENCY & EFFICIENCY 91 WEATHER 94 OWNERSHIP 99 ADS-B 107 MAINTENANCE 113 NEVER AGAIN

The five hazardous attitudes and

antidotes appearing in current
FAA publications can be found—
verbatim—as early as 1983, in a
judgment training manual developed
by the FAA, Transport Canada, and
the General Aviation Manufacturers
Association.

PROFICIENCY |

Bad behavior
PETER AND MARIA HOEY

Tools to save us from ourselves

B Y VA L É R I E T H I B O D A U X

88 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

IN 1991, the FAA issued Advisory Circular
60-22, “Aeronautical Decision Making.” It
presented 12 years of study and testing, and
brought concepts such as risk management,
systematic decision making, and cockpit
resource management to general aviation.
It also identified five attitudes found over
and over again in poor judgment chains
and accidents, described as anti-authority
(Don’t tell me), impulsivity (Do something
quickly), invulnerability (It won’t happen
to me), macho (I can do it), and resignation
(What’s the use?). For each dangerous atti-
tude, pilots were instructed to think or say a
specific sentence to themselves, as an “anti-
dote.” The study found that this procedure
improved pilot performance over time, and
reduced hazardous patterns that led to bad
decisions. It was triumphantly published,
became part of the human factors curricu-
lum, and the FAA left it at that.
In two and a half decades, nothing about
it has changed, not even the words. The AC
material is printed in the Pilot’s Handbook of
Aeronautical Knowledge, in every pilot text-
book from student to CFI, and in airman
certification standards—in many of these,
the original language is copied verbatim.
Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t
work for general aviation. Once read, it is
usually pushed aside while pilots pursue
more tangible skills. Even if a vigilant pilot
wanted to research the complexities of atti-
tude further, where can you go for greater
understanding when our training hasn’t
advanced since the 1990s? Two problems
have to be solved before knowledge of haz-
ardous attitudes can make us safer pilots:
The prescribed procedure doesn’t work
well in the GA cockpit, and standard teach-
ing of hazardous attitudes is ineffective.
“Identify the thought as hazardous
and apply the appropriate antidote” is the
core of attitude training, and one reason it
isn’t used much in GA could be the key to
improving it. Reading the original advisory
circular, there is a strong implication that
this procedure was developed and proven
in the learning environment. Human per-
formance researchers are identifying a
“learning zone” and a “performance zone,”
and showing how they have different goals,
different requirements, and different appli-
cations in life.
In flying, they are fairly easy to grasp—
when we are getting initial training or a
flight review, the circumstances and goals
of the flight usually are very different than
our everyday flying will be post-certifi- WORLD
LEADER IN
cate. In flying’s learning zone—primarily
dual instruction—the focus is on improv-
ing skills, going out of comfort zones, and
AVIATION
simulating rare and unexpected events, all
with the benefit of another experienced
aviator providing backup and perspective.
In the performance zone we are focused
on executing plans, demonstrating skills,
and minimizing mistakes, such as quickly
RESTRAINT
getting to the next airport for the $100 ham-
burger and touching down on the numbers.
The hazardous attitude assessment
procedure demands that we step back
TECHNOLOGY
The new SOARS (State Of
from ourselves and consider our thoughts,
the Art Restraint System)
critically asking if we are unconsciously
showing a bias toward bad decisions. There from AmSafe is the next
are so many reasons why a pilot would fail generation system designed
to use this procedure: Self-reflection can to target a broader range
be uncomfortable and demanding; few of applications, to include
people want to identify something about LSA, Experimental and
themselves or their behavior as wrong; many of the older aircraft
objectivity about yourself is extremely hard not originally certified to
to achieve; and we may simply be too busy the latest safety standards.
flying the airplane. In a multi-pilot cock-
SOARS is a universal airbag
pit, one pilot could provide feedback to the
system for Part 23 Normal
other if questionable attitudes and decisions
start developing, but asking the single pilot Category & Experimental
to be both the actor and the evaluator seems Airplanes with existing 2-3
like an unrealistic burden. The thought- Point Restraint Systems.
antidote procedure could work well with an The system provides
objective observer acting as a coach, but the the additional safety
only way it could translate outside the learn- and improved occupant
ing zone is if it were so deeply integrated protection needed in a
and practiced as to become automatic. If the survivable impact.
majority of our flying hours happen in the
performance zone, then the flights when we
would most need this procedure would be
OUR INTRODUC
FOR THIS KIT (P TORY PRICE
the times we would be least likely to use it.
So, if the procedure for handling haz-
ILO
SEATS) WILL BET/CO-PILOT
ardous attitudes isn’t really being used, and
the tools available don’t really adapt to who
you are, what do we do? The uncomfortable
answer is that there may not be one perfect
$2580.
solution. There may not be one procedure
that we can teach, and test, and apply, and
go forth confident that we will always get it
right. Human factors are messy, and don’t
www.amsafe.com/
lend themselves to assessment and improve-
ment as easily as concrete skills. It is easier airbag-systems/soars/
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 89
P&E  PROFICIENCY
to know if your landings have improved over
time more than your judgment, so it is no
wonder that pilots choose to focus on things
they can grasp and measure.
Psychological concepts such as person-
ality, attitude, and self-awareness are hard
enough to grasp on the ground, let alone in
the air, so our best approach to hazardous
attitudes is to revisit what the information
was intended to do and why it is impor-
tant. The most measurable gauge of any
new development will be to see how well it
accomplishes the original goal.
Hazardous attitudes were made part
of the aviation lexicon the same way we
identified not using checklists and captains
silencing junior officers: We figured out
they were crashing airplanes. Attitude is
only one part of the decision-making study,
with the point that factors such as attitude
have a major impact on judgment—espe-
cially when they remain unconscious,
and especially when under stress. The
five identified attitudes consistently led
to poorer decisions that could accumu-
late into accidents, and the pilots involved
never saw it happening. Attitude training
was intended to give us the tools to save us
from ourselves. So many procedures were
developed because of the requirements of
the aircraft and the flight environment;
this may be one of the few times in avia-
tion where the optimal procedure is not
standardized, but customized.
Each pilot has different desires in fly-
ing, brings different skills to the table,
and develops differently over their flying
career. Even in one individual, the com-
plex interaction of attitude (which can
change) with personality (which prob-
ably won’t) is likely to vary with time
and experience. But the one thing that
remains consistent is that attitude mani-
fests in behavior. It is the why behind the
what—something the original study got
dead right. So, each of us can gain deeper
insight into our own flying: We don’t have
to start with probing who we are, or what
lurks in the unconscious; we just have to
look at what we do and start to consider
why. Attitude will either make you a better
pilot or it will stop you from advancing,
and what it takes to move from one to the
other may be completely unique to you.
90 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
If the last time you thought about haz-
ardous attitudes was prepping for an exam,
then any amount of time spent reflecting
on what kind of pilot you are will be bene-
ficial, even the time you have taken to read
this. What, for example, would be a good
attitude in flying? We have seen how bad
attitudes lead to wrong decisions, and we
focus a lot on a culture of safety, but we
haven’t yet identified if there is a consistent
attitude among the best pilots that we could
all learn from. Could we overcome hazard-
ous attitudes altogether by identifying an
attitude, set of beliefs, or approach that is
optimal for flight?
Here is an idea to get started: Go back to
the origin of attitude training—the learning
zone—and develop your own ways to incor-
porate it into your flying. For example:
• Make it part of your debrief, or even
briefing. Instructors say that the best learn-
ing happens on the drive home, when the
pilot thinks back over the flight in a relaxed
setting and integrates his or her experi-
ences. Think about the good decisions you
made, the decisions you were less comfort-
able with, and ask yourself what reasons
you had for each.
• Enrich your hangar flying. Assess other
pilots’ stories or NTSB reports in terms of
motivation, and look for attitudes revealing
themselves in behavior. Is there anyone at
the airport you aren’t comfortable letting
your family fly with? Why? It probably runs
deeper than their flying technique.
• Get a coach. Everyone gets some kind of
recurrent training—a flight review at min-
imum. The best pilots get more frequent
sessions with a CFI, or even the perspective
of another trusted aviator riding along. Ask
for a candid assessment—do they see some-
thing that you don’t, patterns or habits that
you are overlooking? And be prepared for an
answer you don’t like; improving isn’t easy.
If attitude is important enough to teach
in the first place, it is important enough to
improve. And the advisory circular that gave
us aeronautical decision making made us
better instructors and better pilots. Let’s
keep advancing it. AOPA
VALÉRIE THIBODAUX is an art crime
researcher, private pilot, and advanced
ground instructor living in Oregon.
P&E  WX WATCH
Polar power
For bad weather down low, check the winds up high.
BY THOMAS A. HORNE
THIS VIEW, centered on the North Pole, shows four upper-level lows and their troughs
circulating around a central low. The circumpolar vortex follows the perimeter of the
troughs, carrying jet stream winds with them.
THIS PAST WINTER, it seemed like hardly a
day passed without dire warnings about the
dreaded polar vortex. Reports of its vicious
cold—coupled with its sudden, unan-
nounced arrival—made sure that Americans
lived under the fear of suddenly freezing
mid-stride. Its billing as a singular phenom-
enon, as if it were a lone, angry, rogue vortex,
only amped up the uncertainty.
But I have news. There is no single, free-
roaming polar vortex. Instead, there is a huge
high-altitude (approximately 30,000 feet msl
in the winter, 50,000 feet msl in summer)
circumpolar vortex that encircles the entire
mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere,
and it typically consists of three to six troughs
of low pressure. The troughs extend to the
south like lobes and the air beneath them
is indeed cold—or at least colder than the
warmer air south of them. What’s more, this
circumpolar vortex is present year-round. Its
boundary—where cold, northern air meets
warmer air from the south—moves north and
south with the seasons.
The entire works—the polar air and its
troughs within the boundary—move west
to east in the northern hemisphere, their
movement slowly following the rotation
of the Earth beneath it. And it’s what goes
on within the boundary, otherwise known
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 91
APPLY NOW FOR
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a better trained, more proficient pilot.
 AOPA P&E  WX WATCH

PILOT
TROUGHS ALOFT
are reflected in
surface temperature
charts. The chart
at left shows the
surface effects of
of a trough’s cold

GUIDES
air dipping into
the western and
midwestern states.

THE ONLY COMPLETE RESOURCE

FOR FLYING THE ISLANDS

THIS 300-MILLIBAR
constant-pressure
chart shows a
trough aloft and its
jet stream winds
at 30,000 feet.
Wind speeds as
high as 130 knots
are within one core
of strong winds
located just east of
the trough’s axis
over the western
states. Moderate to
severe turbulence
was reported east of
the trough as winds
blew across the
Rockies.

as the jet stream, that causes much of our
airmet and sigmet weather.
Here’s a simplified description of how
this often works: Where warmer air from
the south meets one of those cold troughs
CAPE SANTA MARIA from the north, right-turning Coriolis
LONG ISLAND, BAHAMAS forces team up to generate high-altitude
westerly winds around the bend in the
LAND IN ANOTHER WORLD.
upper-level trough’s axis. They blow the
EXPLORE WHERE EVEN THE fastest at the apex of the trough, where
AIRLINES DON’T GO.
the battle between pressure gradient forces
(which draw air toward the trough’s parent
Buy Now low-pressure center) and Coriolis forces
aopa.org/pilotguides (which move to the right, away from low
pressure) are in balance. But once this fast-
moving air rounds the bend it often slows
down as the pressure gradient slackens.
This in turn can cause a divergence of air
aloft. To compensate for this, air at the sur-
face converges, which in turn causes rising
air, low pressure centers, and their atten-
dant cold and warm fronts.
In the colder months, warm fronts cause
plenty of trouble because they cover a large
area, often producing instrument meteoro-
logical conditions in snow farther ahead of
the front’s surface position, snow and ice
pellets (sleet) closer to the front, and freez-
ing rain immediately ahead of the front.
Sometimes, when the pressure gradi-
ent remains tight after emerging from a
trough’s boundary, wind speeds of up to
200 knots can form in jet stream cores.
But the tug of war between pressure gra-
dient and Coriolis forces still hangs in
there, because if there’s any decrease in
wind speed, pressure gradient begins to
exert itself and in so doing creates lifting
forces. But not for long, because Coriolis
force quickly responds in the other

92 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

 Leave a
THE AREAS east of
a trough are known Legacy
for General
for producing
regions of diverging
air (red circle)
and slackening
wind speeds.
This promotes
convergence, rising
Aviation
air, low pressure, and
frontal systems at The love of flying—and
the surface.
the freedom it brings—is
a legacy worth passing on
to future generations. The
AOPA Foundation Legacy
Society is a group of the most
committed AOPA members
who are providing future gifts
through theirs wills, trusts,
retirement accounts or other
arrangements.
HIGH-LEVEL
significant weather Including the AOPA Foundation
charts identify jet in your long-range plans can be
stream flows with a simple, yet powerful, way to
green arrows. This make a truly significant impact
chart describes the on general aviation.
situation between
FL250 and FL630.
Areas of turbulence To find out more about how
are outlined with you can leave your legacy,
dashed yellow
lines. The height of call 301.695.2320
the tropopause is or visit www.aopa.org/legacy.
abbreviated with
three digits within
the small outlined
boxes. For example,
“270” indicates a
height of FL270, or
about 27,000 feet.

direction. The result is the formation of
more intense, localized areas of lift aloft
and low pressure at the surface—and the
heaviest snowfalls and ice storms.
Want to graphically identify the cir-
cumpolar vortex’s location? One way
would be to call up a constant pressure
chart for the 300-millibar pressure surface.
This roughly corresponds to an altitude of
30,000 feet—a good altitude to start with
for winter weather. A constant pressure
level of 200 millibars, or about 40,000 feet,
would be a typical altitude for the summer
months. The National Weather Service’s
Storm Prediction Center (www.spc.noaa.
gov/obswx/maps) has nice charts, com-
plete with wind barbs and color-coded
areas showing jet cores. Select the pres-
sure level and time—or video loop.
Another way is to use a surface
temperature chart. Try the University of
Illinois website (http://ww2010.atmos.
uiuc.edu/(Gh)/wx/surface.rxml). See
the boundary between the blue and
green areas? There’s your polar vortex—
er, circumpolar vortex—boundary.
Pilots enduring the drudgery of their
first aviation weather courses may say,
“Why in the world are we studying the
weather at 30,000 feet? I’ll be flying at more
like 5,000 feet.” True, but high-altitude
dynamics dictate the worst flying weather
at lower altitudes. Winter or summer, that
polar boundary and its high-speed winds
can put you in turbulence, icing conditions,
or thunderstorms, and top it all off by giv-
ing you instrument conditions for your
takeoffs or landings.  AOPA
301.695.2320
AOPALegacy@aopa.org
EMAIL tom.horne@aopa.org

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 93
P&E  OWNERSHIP
Get your gloss on
Putting science to work on your paint
BY THOMAS B. HAINES
DILIGENT BUFFING BY MEHRDAD ZARIFKAR, owner of Aviana Aircraft Detailing, puts new life in a Bonanza’s old paint job. Washing and paint
restoration are the first steps in the three-part process; the ceramic coating is last.
A DEAFENING RAIN THUNDERS DOWN on
the hangar’s metal roof as Mehrdad Zarifkar
scoots his rolling stool closer to the Bonanza’s
empennage. He moves the bright, handheld
LED up, down, and sideways, examining the
fuselage the way a dermatologist might study
a patient’s skin. “See here. Swirls in the paint.
We can get most of these out,” he says, never
looking up. “This scratch, though. Too deep.
We’d remove so much paint that the cure
would be worse than if we just left it alone.”
And so began our two-day exercise to
restore the paint on my 1972 Beechcraft
Bonanza A36, last painted in 1989. While it
has mostly been hangared, two years of sit-
ting outside when I first got it in 1999 really
did a number on the finish. That, plus many
hours of flying through rain—eroding the
94 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
paint on the leading edges—has left it look-
ing more like a 5 than the 10 I wish it were.
Although not a lot can be done about
the rain erosion, much can be done to bring
back the luster, restore the gloss, and pro-
vide UV protection.
And, indeed, the 1.5 days of effort on
the Bonanza made an incredible differ-
ence. Zarifkar spent another half day
sprucing up my newly acquired 2014 Van’s
RV–12 Light Sport aircraft. It was four
years old when I bought it, but it had only
seen daylight for 33 hours, having been in
a hangar for years. So although that new
paint looked good, Zarifkar’s efforts made
it even glossier—and, more important, the
ceramic coating he applied will keep it that
way for a long time to come.
Bored with his job as a chemical engi-
neer, Zarifkar began tinkering around
with car detailing projects and soon dis-
covered that most of the products he was
using were not very effective, especially
over the long term. Putting his education
to work, he began to seek products that
chemically work with the paint to make
long-term improvement to the finish. He
ultimately found a line of products that
include a ceramic coating that literally
binds with the surface paint to provide a
high level of UV protection, which makes
cleaning a lot easier. That, combined with
a paint-restoration process completed
MIKE COLLINS
before the ceramic is applied, provides
a better-than-new finish, as long as the
paint is intact to start.

A CLOSE INSPECTION identifies archival swirls from previous polishing of the Vans RV-12—
all of which can be eliminated by the paint restoration process.
“People are skeptical,” he admits. “It
sounds snake-oily, but it works. It lowers
maintenance time and provides protec-
tion. Even new paint can be improved
because we can remove much of the light
swirling that you get when polishing new
paint.” The process is not a solution for
deep scratches or eroded paint.
A pilot and classic Bonanza owner,
Zarifkar eventually formed a company,
The coating deepens the gloss even more and
makes the surface unbelievably smooth and
slippery—and adds UV protection.
Aviana Aircraft Detailing, and began
detailing airplanes full time. A typical
job for a four-place single starts at about
$2,900. Single-engine turboprops are in
the low $3,000 range. The coating makes
easy work of removing exhaust stains, a
common problem on turboprops. The
price doesn’t include his travel and
related expenses. Travel costs can be
split if there’s more than one airplane on
a field. There is no travel cost for airplanes
coming to him at any of the Minneapolis
reliever airports.
After studying the chemical properties
of numerous products, Zarifkar settled on a
product line from Gtechniq, which is avail-
able only to professional detailers.
The process begins with paint resto-
ration, which includes a low-water wash.
The no-rinse solution is diluted 256-to-1
and uses only a few ounces to clean a whole
airplane. A citrus-based degreaser worked
wonders on the Bonanza’s belly. Next up is
paint correction, where Zarifkar uses a low-
speed buffer and a light polish to remove
oxidation—again a tiny amount of solution
is needed, one spritz of polish on the buf-
fer every few minutes. The restoration does
an amazing job of bringing back the gloss.
Stubborn areas may need a somewhat more
aggressive approach. On my Bonanza, the
paint around the lower windshield frame
was particularly flat and took a lot of extra
work. The belly also presented its own chal-
lenges, especially just aft of the exhaust
stacks. Three decades and thousands of
flight hours of hot exhaust really does a
number on the paint finish. The results,
however, were impressive. Those two spots
didn’t end up with the same depth of gloss
as the rest of the airframe, but there was sig-
nificant and noticeable improvement.
Each step is followed by a careful rub-
down and further examination using the
high-intensity light to ferret out any swirls,
especially those left over from previous
polishings.
The final step is application of the
ceramic coating, which comes in a very
small bottle. In total, an airplane the size of a
Bonanza will need only about 75 to 100 mil-
liliters—less than three ounces. The coating
is wiped on, allowed to dry for a few min-
utes, and then wiped off.
The coating deepens the gloss even
more and makes the surface unbeliev-
ably smooth and slippery—and adds UV
protection. I’ve had to rethink some pre-
flight procedures: carefully putting the fuel
strainer down on the wing; same with the oil
dipstick when adding oil. Otherwise, they’d
slide right off.
The RV–12 is similarly slippery and
remarkably glossy.
Six months later and 75 or so flight
hours after the work, both airplanes still
look terrific. I’ve ditched all the other clean-
ers and polishes I used before, especially to
remove bugs from the leading edges. After
flights, I use a spray bottle with water or
the highly diluted no-rinse spray to wipe
the bugs off. Occasionally I need a spritz of
the citrus cleaner for a tough spot and to
remove the belly grease.
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 95
 P&E  OWNERSHIP

Zarifkar says the ceramic coating

will remain intact and effective for years,
assuming it is well cared for. An occa-
sional wash, avoiding aggressive rubbing,
and keeping other chemicals off the sur-
faces are about all that is required to
maintain the finish.
The result is a deep gloss and smooth
surface that I thought not possible, espe-
cially on the Bonanza’s 30-year-old paint.
The deep blue and red stripes look stun-
ning. I had been thinking the airplane
needed a new paint job. I’m now putting
that off for years. AOPA

EMAIL thomas.haines@aopa.org

For more information, visit aviana-

detailing.com. And visit Zarifkar’s
YouTube channel for helpful videos
A BEFORE (top, right side) and after (top, left side) section of the Bonanza’s deep blue and
about the process.
stripes demonstrate the impact of the restoration process (top). The RV-12’s metallic finish
dazzles after the ceramic application—and simplifies cleaning (above). www.loveyourplaneagain.com
96 | 

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 Chicago Doctor Shakes Up Hearing Aid Industry
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 AOPA SUPER CUB
Grand Prize

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CUB FINAL CALL
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This is your FINAL CALL for ENTRY in AOPA’s Super Cub Sweepstakes. We’re giving away a
fully restored Super Cub – on wheels, floats, and skis – plus 70 more great aviation prizes. It’s our
way of saying thanks to our members who help AOPA fight for our freedom to fly!
Join AOPA, renew, or give a gift to our Aviation Advocacy Fund, and you’ll help win critical battles
that will shape general aviation for years to come. And, you’ll be automatically entered in our
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Visit aopa.org/sweeps to find out more!
 P&E  ADS-B
Going global
Satellite ADS-B might require equipment changes
BY MIKE COLLINS
BLACK AIRCRAFT SYMBOLS represent many of the ADS-B mandates worldwide. The white
symbol indicates Canada’s proposed mandate.
AS OF APRIL 1, nine months remain to
equip for aircraft owners who must com-
ply with the FAA’s Automatic Dependent
Surveillance-Broadcast Out mandate. The
FAA will require ADS-B Out for most flights
after January 1, 2020, in airspace where a
transponder is required today.
And the technology is not coming only to
the United States. In many countries around
the world, mandates have been announced
or are working their way through the reg-
ulatory process. ADS-B mandates have
nearly doubled since we last looked at the
topic (“ADS-B: International and Diversity,”
January 2016 AOPA Pilot). And an innova-
STEPHANIE DALTON COWAN
tion way over our heads—literally—might
cause complications for aircraft that have to
fly in some of this emerging ADS-B airspace.
In early January a SpaceX Falcon 9
rocket launched from Vandenberg Air
Force Base, California, delivered the final 10
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Iridium NEXT satellites to low Earth orbit. as a statement credit. The statement credit will reduce your balance
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minimum of 2,500 points is needed to redeem for Cash Back. Values
constellation, with 66 operational satellites for non-cash back redemption items such as merchandise, gift cards,
in orbit. Each carries an Aireon ADS-B pay- and travel may vary.
load. Aireon is a joint space-based ADS-B
venture between Iridium Communications,
Nav Canada, the Irish Aviation Authority,
Italian air navigation service provider Enav,
and Naviair—which provides air navigation
services in Denmark, Greenland, and the
Faroe Islands. Nav Canada is the partner-
ship’s lead air navigation service provider.
On February 7, Aireon formally received
control of the final six payloads from Iridium.
Aireon’s system was scheduled to go live in
the first quarter of 2019, beginning with oper-
ational trials over the North Atlantic.
Those satellites are a potential rub. Nav
Canada’s proposed mandate requires antenna
diversity—ADS-B antennas on both the bot-
tom and top of the aircraft—to support
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 99
 P&E  ADS-B
5-nautical-mile aircraft separation using
space-based ADS-B. Nav Canada will require
1090 MHz extended squitter (1090ES)
ADS-B (the international standard; only
the United States allows 978MHz univer-
sal access transceivers, and then only below
Flight Level 180) compliant with RTCA
DO-260B after January 1, 2024, although
DO-260 or DO-260A can be used until then.
Nav Canada’s Phase 1 would include all
airspace above 18,000 feet msl, beginning
January 1, 2021. On January 1, 2022, Phase
2 would add Class B airspace. (Canada’s
Class B extends from 12,500 feet msl up to
but not including 18,000 feet msl.) Phase 3
is less defined, expanding ADS-B as needed
to “specific controlled airspace, en route or
at an airport, starting no sooner than 2023.”
A significant challenge for lighter GA
aircraft is that only three ADS-B tran-
sponders currently support antenna
diversity—the Garmin GTX 33D ES and
GTX 330D ES, and the L3 Commercial
Aviation Lynx NGT-9000. (Non-diversity
100 |  GTX 33ES and GTX330 ES models can be
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modified at the factory to include antenna
diversity; a software unlock adds the capa-
bility to non-diversity NGT-9000s.)
Nav Canada said the ADS-B Out per-
formance requirements were determined
after assessing issues and concerns raised by
stakeholders, and that the proposed mandate
would harmonize with U.S. and European
ADS-B Out mandates. However, only the rel-
atively small fleet of aircraft equipped with
traffic alert and collision avoidance systems
(TCAS II) have antenna diversity; neither the
United States nor Europe has mandated the
diversity capability as part of ADS-B.
Rune Duke, AOPA senior director of air-
space and air traffic, was quick to point out
that Transport Canada has not yet approved
Nav Canada’s request. “AOPA is continuing
to work with COPA, the Canadian Owners
and Pilots Association, to advocate for only
justifiable airspace and equipage mandates.
The diversity requirement would be sig-
nificant if it was approved by Transport
Canada. And as Nav Canada expands its
mandate to lower airspace, around 2023,
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we can expect a diversity requirement to
affect more U.S. and Canadian GA.”
Few small GA aircraft are equipped with
TCAS II, Duke said. No current Canadian or
U.S. regulation requires private operators to
equip with it, although International Civil
Aviation Organization rules require that
all turbine-powered airplanes with a max-
imum certificated takeoff weight of more
than 33,000 pounds (15,000 kg) or autho-
rized to carry more than 30 passengers, with
an individual airworthiness certificate first
issued after Jan. 1, 2007, be equipped with
an airborne collision avoidance system.
“Nav Canada is still analyzing whether
a low-altitude diversity requirement is war-
ranted, and Transport Canada has yet to
approve the initial phases of the rule that
would govern the higher altitudes,” Duke said.
“We are staying closely involved in this effort.”
COPA expects further validation
of bottom-only signal reception, said
Bernard Gervais, COPA president and
CEO. “There haven’t been enough tests to
determine if the bottom-mounted antenna
Come viNsit’ uFs un
at SunM‘ D23B
Booth il 2-7
Apr
is enough for the required accuracy.
“We are a little concerned because at
this point, there’s no ground-based ADS-B
[planned for Canada]. My transponder
antenna points at the ground. I’m thinking
the industry should be looking at something
different,” he said. “If I got a top-mounted
antenna on my aircraft, would I still be picked
up by antennas on the ground?” Gervais
thinks that for VFR aircraft not requiring IFR
separation, a belly-mounted antenna could be
enough. “There is still a lot to determine.”
When Nav Canada expands ADS-B into
Phase 3, which could include terminal air-
space, he expects the agency to conduct a
formal aeronautical study—normal any time
a service is changed—and that COPA would
be part of its stakeholder group.
In late 2017, with only the first 15 ADS-B
payloads in orbit, Aireon was busy evaluat-
ing preliminary satellite ADS-B data (see
“ADS-B: Taking the High View,” January 2018
AOPA Pilot). The company saw a lot more air-
craft than it expected. While noting that the
system was designed to receive signals from
top-mounted transponder antennas, Aireon
said that it can receive bottom-antenna-only
1090ES signals, depending on the angles and
position of the satellite.
For now, aircraft owners based in
Canada—or American owners who have not
equipped, and who want to ensure compli-
ance with Canadian requirements—might
want to hold off until the requirements are
finalized. Unfortunately, the rapid approach
of the FAA mandate might make this diffi-
cult. And owners interested in the FAA’s
$500 ADS-B rebate (www.faa.gov/go/rebate)
should not wait; in mid-February only 4,400
reservations remained. AOPA is not aware
of any other national air service providers in
the Aireon partnership that have announced
ADS-B mandates requiring antenna diversity.
THE REST OF THE WORLD
In Mexico, 1090ES ADS-B Out will be
required beginning January 1, 2020, in
Class A, B, and C airspace, and Class E
above 10,000 feet msl. It is required now
in Class E airspace over the Gulf of Mexico,
at and above 3,000 feet msl within 12 nm of
the Mexican coast.
The European Union will require
1090ES ADS-B Out by June 7, 2020, for
IFR aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight
heavier than 12,566 pounds (5,700 kg) or a
maximum cruise airspeed faster than 250
KTAS. ADS-B coverage will be spotty in
areas, and not fully integrated with air traf-
fic management, in June 2020, but coverage
will be nearly complete—and completely
integrated—by December 2023. However,
there currently is no clear and harmonized
pan-European direction for GA surveillance
equipage, which risks continued and even
increasing GA equipment diversification
across the European countries.
Australia , China, Colombia, Hong
Kong, India, Indonesia, New Zealand,
Singapore, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and
Taiwan—among other countries—also
require 1090 ES. AOPA
EMAIL mike.collins@aopa.org
www.aopa.org/adsb  | 101

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P&E  TECHNIQUE
Taming the stall
Slips, skids, and centering the ball
B Y C AT H E R I N E C AVAG N A R O
UNCOORDINATED FLIGHT OCCURS when the relative wind is not aligned with the
longitudinal axis (as seen from above).
“I WAS CHECKING OUT IN THE CLUB’S Piper
Cherokee and whenever we stalled, the
left wing dropped and it scared me. What
happened?” As a flight instructor who
specializes in spin training, I am often con-
tacted with questions such as this. I have
learned that what pilots fear most about a
stall is the spin that results if the dance on
the rudder pedals to keep wings level isn’t
perfect. After all, we know that a spin results
from uncoordinated flight and stalled wings,
and inadvertent spins often don’t end well.
Let’s consider this equation and ensure that
our stalls are tame.
Uncoordinated flight occurs when the
relative wind, viewed from above the air-
plane, is not parallel to the longitudinal axis
(see above). The result is an increase in drag
and a decrease in cruise speed, so pilots typ-
ically strive for efficient, coordinated flight.
Although a well-placed yaw string can be
best at detecting a lack of coordination (see
“Detecting Uncoordinated Flight,” p. 105,
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the inclinometer inside the turn coordinator Terms and Conditions for full details at AOPA.org/creditcard.
usually does the job. For coordinated flight, 1 Rewards points can be redeemed for Cash Back or other items pro-
vided through AOPA Pilot Rewards. A Cash Back redemption is applied
keep the ball centered. as a statement credit. The statement credit will reduce your balance
While turning stalls might induce greater but you are still required to make at least your minimum payment. A
minimum of 2,500 points is needed to redeem for Cash Back. Values
anxiety than those in level flight, there is no for non-cash back redemption items such as merchandise, gift cards,
good reason for that as long as the flight stays and travel may vary.
coordinated. A banked turn with insufficient
rudder deflection sends the inclinometer ball
toward the inside of the turn and indicates a
slip. Too much rudder input sends the ball to
the outside of the turn and results in a skid.
Stay coordinated by “stepping on the ball”—
pressing on the rudder pedal corresponding
to the direction the ball is deflected. That
may sound easy, but remember that there
are infinitely many ways to slip and skid but
there is only one way to be coordinated. The
slightest deflection of the ball from center
means a lack of coordination.
So what happens when a turning stall
lacks coordination? In a slipping turn, the
raised wing has a higher angle of attack; in
a stall during a slipping turn, the raised wing
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 103
 P&E  TECHNIQUE

D.C.
D.C.
D.C.

ELECTRIC ELECTRIC ELECTRIC

L R L R L R
2 MIN. 2 MIN. 2 MIN.
SLIP SKID
NO PITCH
NO PITCH

NO PITCH

INFORMATION INFORMATION
INFORMATION

Figure 4. During a skid, the lowered wing has a higher angle of attack
THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY to be perfectly DURING
Figure A SLIP,
3. During the
a slip, the raised
raised wing has wing hasofaattack
a higher angle higher
and DURING
and stalls first SKID,inthe
A resulting lowered
an “under wing
the bottom” has a
spin entry.
Figure 2. There is only one way to be perfectly coordinated but infinitely many ways tostalls first resulting in an “over the top” spin entry.
coordinated
slip (yellow) but
or skid (red). For infinitely
many more
general aviation ways
airplanes, pushing forward on theangle of attack and stalls first resulting in higher angle of attack and stalls first
to slip (yellow) or skid (red). For many
yoke/stick is at least as important as the rudder input.
an “over the top” spin entry. resulting in an “under the bottom” spin
general aviation airplanes, pushing entry.
forward on the yoke/stick is at least as
important as the rudder input.

stalls first, and the airplane may enter an

“over the top” spin (see above). Slipping
is an effective technique to combat a
crosswind on landing or to lose altitude
without picking up unwanted airspeed on
final. But stalling during a slip can result
in a spin, so take care to ensure that the
angle of attack stays low when close to the
ground.
During a skidding turn, the lowered
wing has a higher angle of attack; it stalls
first and the result is an “under the bot-
tom” spin entry (see above). Your body
can detect this lack of coordination as
well since, in a skid, it’s pushed to the
outside of the turn. The same is true in
a car: make a left turn on unbanked road
IN THE CLASSIC BASE-TO-FINAL SPIN ENTRY, the lower wing stalls first and the aircraft is and your body, just like the inclinome-
upside down immediately. No one should see this view turning onto the final approach ter ball in a skid, slides toward the right.
segment.
What feels natural in a car, though, should
never feel so in an airplane. While a slip
is a valuable flight maneuver, there is no
virtue in a skid.
Coordination forms the razor-thin dividing line Still, accident reports show that
between slipping and skidding flight. pilots skid with disappointing regularity.
The classic scenario is the traffic pattern
base-to-final turn in which, possibly exac-
erbated by a tailwind on base, the aircraft
is about to overshoot the extended runway
centerline. Using excessive inside rudder
See how a skidding stall quickly inverts the aircraft and how the yaw
to swing the nose of the aircraft toward
string and the inclinometer in the turn coordinator often give the same
information, in two online videos. the runway results in a dangerous skid
www.aceaerobaticschool.com/videos in which the low wing stalls first. A skid-
ding stall means the airplane is quickly

104 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

DETECTING UNCOORDINATED
FLIGHT
Between slipping and skidding

Uncoordinated flight happens

when the airflow, viewed from
above, is not parallel to the
aircraft longitudinal axis. A “yaw
string” or “slip string” fixed to
the airplane’s fuselage in view
of the pilot can be an effective
way to maintain coordinated
flight by keeping the string
parallel to the longitudinal axis of
the airplane. Glider pilots often
use yaw strings to stay coordi-
nated in flight. The trouble with
powered airplanes, especially
the single-engine variety, is that
it can be difficult to place the
string so that it is unaffected by
the engine slipstream. Fortu-
nately, in most cases, the yaw
string and the inclinometer in the
The Right Approach
turn coordinator give the same
information.
Multiengine pilots know that
To Aircraft Financing
the inclinometer is not always a
perfect way to detect uncoordi- WITH AOPA’S EXPERTS IN
nated flight. In an engine-failure
emergency, a lack of coordina- PURCHASING AIRCRAFT YOU GET
tion guarantees inefficiency in
maintaining altitude or, worse, Access to more aviation lenders
entering a spin if the angle of at-
tack of the wings is high enough. The most comprehensive options and
During my training for the
multiengine certificate, we taped competitive rates
a yaw string to the windscreen
to achieve efficient, coordinated Trusted advice and guidance from AOPA
flight when one engine stopped
running. We banked slightly
toward the working engine and
Finance with AOPA
applied enough rudder to center
the yaw string. The inclinometer
ball was deflected about half-
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way out toward the working
engine even though the centered 844.674.2761 | AOPAFINANCE.ORG
yaw string confirmed coordi-
nated flight. We noted both the
bank angle and the extent of
the ball deflection for practice
or emergencies when the yaw
string was not available. —CC

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 105

Real hearing protection.
TSO certified.
The Pro Plus.
Clarity Aloft Aviation Headsets
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P&E  TECHNIQUE
inverted. At 400 feet above the ground, all
the aerobatic prowess in the world won’t
help, as anyone needs at least several hun-
dred for the recovery.
Here is an exercise that demonstrates
the efficacy of rudder inputs near a stall.
From slow flight, use back-pressure on
the yoke to raise the angle of attack of
the wings and hold the aircraft close to
a stall. Use the rudder pedals to keep the
wings level. This stall exercise shows that
it can take some quick and extreme rudder
deflections to keep the wings from drop-
ping. After all, coordination forms the
razor-thin dividing line between slipping
and skidding flight. Of the two antidotes
for a spin, coordinated flight and unstalled
wings, the latter is far easier to achieve.
Just push on the yoke and the spin is eas-
ily averted. No stall, no spin.
we stall the airplane in both slipping and
skidding configurations. The first time, we
let the airplane turn upside down and wit-
ness the full effect. Next up is a powerful
and encouraging demonstration. We set
up a slipping (or skidding) stall once more
and as soon as the airplane is departing
into the spin, apply a quick burst of for-
ward yoke and note that the spin stops
immediately. You can be on your way into
the spin and it is never too late to stop it.
Pushing forward on the yoke is key.
Why not use your next flight review as
an opportunity to increase your own confi-
dence with stalls? For stall recovery in many
general aviation airplanes, push forward
on the yoke to lower the angle of attack of
the wings, use rudder inputs to control roll
tendencies, apply power to minimize alti-
tude loss, and keep ailerons neutral as their
effects can be unexpected. Be sure to check
your own operating handbook to get the
technique just right. Remember, although
it’s always great to hone your rudder skills,
the elevator is king when taming the stall
and avoiding the unwanted spin. AOPA
CATHERINE CAVAGNARO owns Ace Aero-
batic School in Sewanee, Tennessee (www.
aceaerobaticschool.com), and is professor
of mathematics at Sewanee: The University
of the South.
106 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
P&E  SAVVY MAINTENANCE
OPINION |
Crimes and
misdemeanors
Cold starts are a culprit in engine damage
BY MIKE BUSCH
INSULATED ENGINE covers help keep heat from escaping the engine compartment.
PREHEATING IS IMPORTANT. A single cold
start without proper preheating can pro-
duce more wear on your engine in less
than a minute than 500 hours of normal
cruise operation.
I’m often asked how cold it has to be
before preheating is necessary. There’s no
hard and fast answer, because the damage
done by an unpreheated cold start depends
on a variety of things, including the type
of engine, its age and condition, and what
kind of oil is being used. A brand-new or
freshly rebuilt or overhauled engine is
more vulnerable to cold-start damage than
a tired old engine at TBO.
Generally, I consider any start in which
the engine is cold-soaked to a temperature
below freezing (32 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0
degrees Celsius) to be a misdemeanor and
any start below about 20 degrees F (minus
7 degrees C) to be a felony. The colder the
temperature, the worse the crime (and the
ensuing punishment).
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A common misconception is that cold 1 Rewards points can be redeemed for Cash Back or other items pro-
vided through AOPA Pilot Rewards. A Cash Back redemption is applied
starts are bad for engines because the as a statement credit. The statement credit will reduce your balance
engine oil is thick and viscous and doesn’t but you are still required to make at least your minimum payment. A
minimum of 2,500 points is needed to redeem for Cash Back. Values
flow well. Since it takes longer for oil pres- for non-cash back redemption items such as merchandise, gift cards,
sure to come up when the oil is cold, the and travel may vary.
engine sustains excess wear in the early
seconds after start because of inadequate
lubrication.
While this may be true of single-weight
oils, it’s not true of the modern multivis-
cosity oils that are universally used today
for cold-weather operations. Multivis oils
such as 15W-50 or 20W-50 flow extremely
well even at 0 degrees F (minus 18 degrees
C) or less. Pilots who use multivis oils see
their oil pressure come up quickly after
starting in cold weather, and figure that
everything’s OK. Wrong.
IT’S THE CLEARANCE, CLARENCE
Actually, the biggest culprit in cold-start
damage is that our engines are made of
dissimilar metals with different expansion
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 107
P&E  SAVVY MAINTENANCE
It’s not that the oil
is thick—if you use
multivis oil, it’s not—
but rather that the
clearance between
the crankshaft and
bearings is tighter
than normal.
coefficients. The crankcase, pistons, and
cylinder heads are made from aluminum
alloy, while the crankshaft, connecting rods,
piston pins, and cylinder barrels are made
from steel. Aluminum expands about twice
as much as steel when heated, and con-
tracts about twice as much when cooled.
Consider your steel crankshaft, which is
suspended by thin bearing shells supported
by a cast aluminum crankcase. As the engine
gets colder, all its parts shrink in size, but the
aluminum crankcase shrinks twice as much
as the steel crankshaft running through it. As
temperature goes down, so does the clear-
ance between the bearing shells and the
crankshaft—and that clearance is where the
oil goes to lubricate the bearings and pre-
vent metal-to-metal contact. If there’s not
enough clearance, then there’s no room for
the oil, regardless of oil pressure.
The overhaul manual for Continental
470/520/550 engines lists the minimum
crankshaft bearing clearance as 0.0018
inch (that’s 1.8 thousandths) at room tem-
perature. What happens to this clearance in
cold temperatures? Tests performed in 1984
by Tanis Aircraft Products in Glenwood,
Minnesota (where it gets mighty cold),
showed that the crankshaft bearing clear-
ance at minus 20 degrees F is reduced by
0.002 inch. In other words, a tight new
engine built to Continental’s minimum
specified bearing fit at room temperature
would have a slightly negative bearing
clearance at minus 20 degrees F. The crank-
shaft would be seized tight.
You’ve probably noticed how difficult
it is to pull the propeller through by hand
before starting in cold weather. Now you
know why. It’s not that the oil is thick—if
you use multivis oil, it’s not—but rather that
108 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
TANIS TSP6 electric preheating system.
the clearance between the crankshaft and
bearings is tighter than normal. If it’s cold
enough, you might not be able to pull the
prop through at all.
Start an engine in this condition and
you’re likely to experience accelerated
bearing wear and possible scuffing of the
crankshaft journals in the first minute or two
of engine operation. In the extreme, it’s even
possible for the bearing shells to shift in their
saddles (a so-called “spun bearing”), starv-
ing the bearing of lubricating oil.
This problem is at its worst with a fresh-
from-the-factory engine built to the tightest
new-engine tolerances. A tired, loose, high-
time engine with worn bearings might well
have plenty of clearance even at subzero
temperatures. But, even if your engine is
approaching TBO, you can’t afford to be
complacent about cold starts. Inadequate
bearing clearance is only one of the evils
associated with cold starting.
PISTON CLEARANCE IS A BIG DEAL
Consider what happens to your pistons and
cylinders when you cold start an engine.
Here, instead of a steel crank inside an
aluminum case, we have an aluminum pis-
ton inside of a steel cylinder barrel. The
clearance situation is reversed: Piston-to-
cylinder fit is loose when the engine is cold,
and tightens up as the engine comes up to
full operating temperature.
The piston has relatively low thermal
mass, so it heats up quickly. The cylinder is
massive and bristles with cooling fins bathed
in frigid air, so it warms up slowly. The result
is that the piston expands to its full operat-
ing dimension quickly after start, while the
cylinder takes a lot more time to expand to
its full operating diameter. The fit of the pis-
ton in the cylinder bore may become tighter
than normal shortly after cold-starting when
the piston has come up to temperature, but
the cylinder still has a way to go. If it’s cold
enough, the piston-to-cylinder clearance can
go to zero, resulting in metal-to-metal scuff-
ing between the piston and cylinder barrel.
All the warm oil in the world won’t help
if the crank-to-bearing or piston-to-cylin-
der clearances go to zero. To avoid this, it’s
essential for a preheat to warm up the both
crankcase and the cylinder barrels.
THE WORLD’S BEST PREHEAT
The best way to accomplish this is to put
the airplane in a heated hangar overnight.
After eight to 12 hours in a 40-degrees-F
hangar, every part of the airplane is at 40
degrees F: the oil, the crankcase, the cyl-
inders, the gyro instruments (gyros have
their own cold-start issues), the wind-
shield (so it won’t fog up the minute you
breathe), and even the pilot’s seat (solving
yet another problem).
I’m based on the California coast where
the weather rarely gets below freezing, but
when I travel to the cold country, I always
try to use the overnight-in-a-heated-hangar
method of preheating. Most FBOs charge
between $25 and $100 to store my twin in
their heated hangar overnight. Even at $100,
it’s a bargain compared to the alternative
(accelerated wear of two expensive engines).
If I’ll be staying at a cold-weather air-
port awhile, I’ll arrange with the FBO to
pull the airplane into the heated hangar
the night before my scheduled depar-
ture. If it’s really, really cold out on the
morning of departure, I’ve been known
to preflight the airplane in the hangar,
climb into the cockpit, secure the door,
copy my clearance, and then have the line
crew open the hangar door and tow the
airplane out onto the ramp with me in it.
As soon as they unhook the tug, I start
the engines before they’ve had a chance
to get cold-soaked.

MULTIPOINT ELECTRIC HEATERS

Short of overnight in a heated hangar, the
best preheating method is a multipoint
electric heating system that has individual
heating elements attached to the oil pan,
the crankcase, and each cylinder. By plug-
ging such a system into AC power about six
hours before departure, you can be assured
of warm cylinders, a warm case, and warm
oil when you start up.
Tanis first introduced these systems
in 1974. Tanis systems consist of multi-
ple electric heating elements connected
by a wiring harness—one for each cylin-
der, one for the crankcase, and one for the
oil pan. The original Tanis cylinder heat-
ing elements screwed into the threaded
cylinder head temperature probe boss on
the bottom of the cylinder head, but this
created a conflict when an engine moni-
tor was also installed, so the current Tanis
TSP-series systems utilize a heated bolt
that can substitute for either a rocker
cover screw or an intake manifold bolt. • ROTAX 912IS
The crankcase and oil pan heaters are FUEL-INJECTED ENGINE
flat silicone rubber heating pads that are
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sion cord out to the airplane, plug in the
preheating system, and let it cook for six
hours or so prior to departure.

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 109
 P&E  SAVVY MAINTENANCE

New!
TOP OFF YOUR PLANE
& YOUR WALLET
with the AOPA World Mastercard®,
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1% REIFF HOTBAND electric preheating system.

CASH BACK1
• All other purchases
Visit
AOPA.org/creditcard
to learn more
*Certain points and purchases restrictions apply, see full Rewards
Terms and Conditions for full details at AOPA.org/creditcard.
1 Rewards points can be redeemed for Cash Back or other items pro-
vided through AOPA Pilot Rewards. A Cash Back redemption is applied
as a statement credit. The statement credit will reduce your balance
but you are still required to make at least your minimum payment. A
minimum of 2,500 points is needed to redeem for Cash Back. Values
for non-cash back redemption items such as merchandise, gift cards,
and travel may vary.
Reiff Preheat Systems of Atkinson,
Wisconsin, offers a similar product called
the HotBand system. In lieu of cylinder-head
heaters, the Reiff system uses 50- or 100-watt
heating elements on large stainless-steel
clamps that mount on the non-finned portion
of each cylinder barrel. The Reiff system also
includes an oil pan heater, but not a crank-
case heater—the cylinder barrel HotBands do
a pretty good job of heating the crankcase,
too. The Reiff system is less expensive to buy
and easier to install than the Tanis.
My A&P colleagues who live up in the
cold country tell me they like the Reiff system
for use in typical cold climates, but prefer the
Tanis for aircraft based where it’s truly frigid.
ENGINE AND PROP COVERS
If the temperature is not too cold and the air-
craft is being preheated in a hangar, then a
multipoint electric heating system may be all
you need. If it’s really frigid or if you have to
preheat outside on the ramp (particularly if
it’s windy), then you also need some means of
insulating the engine compartment and keep-
ing most of the heat from escaping.
At minimum, you’ll need an insulated
engine cover. Although you may be able to
make do with a quilted blanket, custom-fitted
insulated covers are available from Bruce’s
Custom Covers and other firms. In intense
cold or windy conditions, the propeller
becomes a major source of heat loss during
preheating. Bruce’s offers insulated propel-
ler and spinner covers to solve this problem.
If you’re making a quick turn, insulated
engine and prop covers may eliminate the
need for a preheat altogether. By installing
the covers promptly after shutting down,
engine heat can be retained for three or four
hours even when the airplane is parked out-
side on a cold, windy tiedown.
PLUG IN 24/7?
I’m frequently asked whether it’s OK to
leave an engine-mounted electric preheater
plugged in continuously. Both Continental
and Shell have published warnings against
leaving such preheaters on for more than 24
hours prior to flight. Their concern is that
heating the oil pan will cause moisture to
evaporate from the oil sump and then con-
dense on cool engine components such as
the camshaft, crankshaft, or cylinder walls,
resulting in accelerated corrosion of those
parts. In Continental engines, the starter
drive adapter is particularly vulnerable.
Tanis did a study on this some years
back, and published a white paper that said,
in essence, it’s OK to run an electric pre-
heater 24/7 provided the engine is hooked
up to an electric dehydrator system (e.g.,
Engine Saver, Black Max, EICU), but that if
the crankcase contains moist air then it’s best
not to plug in the preheater until six hours or
so before you plan to go flying. AOPA
MIKE BUSCH is an A&P/IA.
EMAIL mike.busch@savvyaviator.com
www.savvyaviation.com

110 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

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 P&E  NEVER AGAIN
Wild card
A checkride derailed by one simple requirement
B Y K A R E N AT K I N S
THE WORLD OF AVIATION is full of thou-
sands of rules and regulations. Some of
these are more critical than others, but all
are important to follow closely. I encoun-
tered one such regulation when I took my
instrument rating checkride.
I had been diligently practicing and
studying for the checkride for more than
a year. I had passed the knowledge test
in February, and completed the hours
requirements in March. I couldn’t wait
for my checkride with the FAA examiner.
He is near Chattanooga, Tennessee, at an
airport nestled between two ridges and
well-concealed by tall trees. You are almost
on top of it before you see it. I’d been ner-
vous for several weeks, but this spring
morning I was in the zone. I left Dekalb-
Peachtree Airport in Atlanta, wheels up at
8 a.m., heading northwest under a broken
cloud layer at about 6,000 feet. I cruised
SARAH JONES
northwest in the Cessna 182 at 4,500 feet,
happily anticipating a successful outcome
to the checkride.
I had told the FAA examiner to expect me
at 8:45 a.m., and the wheels touched down at
that small hidden airport at 8:45:09. Couldn’t
have nailed that any better. It was a good
omen. The examiner had tested me for my
private pilot certificate almost two years ear-
lier, and although he tests hundreds of pilots,
he said he remembered me.
He started the oral portion of the check-
ride by asking me what I needed, as pilot, to
be legal and safe, what my airplane needed
to be legal and safe. We reviewed the long
instrument cross-country flight he had me
plan ahead of time (from Chattanooga to
Nashville), what I would do if I lost commu-
nications, chart symbols, weight and balance,
and weather questions that typically only a
meteorologist on Channel 2 action news
would know. After a little more than two
hours, he declared I knew my stuff. We
headed out to the airplane to fly. I was start-
ing to feel pretty confident.
The examiner wanted to see a few things
as he followed me around while I was doing
the preflight inspection. Is the registration on
my airplane current (yes), did I have an iden-
tifier plate on the airplane (yes), did I have
the pilot’s operating handbook in the airplane
(yes), and on and on. All was good, until we
got to one thing.
My airplane has a Garmin GPS. When all
else fails, you can always navigate by the mag-
netic compass. An airplane’s compass always
needs to show any deviations caused by mag-
netic influences within the airplane—it’s a
requirement for a compass correction card
to be in the airplane, typically located on or
by the compass. There are 12 cardinal com-
pass directions that should be tested, and the
deviations should be easily locatable on the
compass in the airplane.
My airplane is a 1978 model. I did not
know if the magnetic compass was original to
the airplane, but I have certainly seen the com-
pass correction sticker attached to it. Honestly,
I never paid much attention. On this day, the
FAA examiner pointed out that the sticker
only showed six of the 12 required compass
headings. Half of the compass card sticker
was missing. This old faded sticker looked
like something from my grandpa’s toolshed.
Sometimes you can’t “see” what is right
in front of you. I have photographic and video
evidence dating back to when I first bought
the airplane that shows the bottom half of the
sticker was never there, and neither me, nor
my instructors, nor anyone who flew with me
ever noticed. Until the FAA examiner noticed
on checkride day. So, we couldn’t fly legally.
What happened next is called a discon-
tinuance—meaning, after I got this darn
compass thing corrected, I could go back
and complete the flight portion of the exam.
And I have been happily (and safely) flying
in the clouds ever since. AOPA
KAREN ATKINS is an instrument-rated pri-
vate pilot who lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
HEAR THIS and other original
“Never Again” stories as pod-
casts every month on iTunes.
“Never Again” is presented to enhance
safety by providing a forum for pilots
to learn from each others’ experiences.
Email “Never Again” submissions to
pilot@aopa.org.
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 113
 40,000+
News & Notes
MEMBERSHIP
DETAILS

The number of people

who have downloaded the
AOPA app.

the on-airport restaurant), and even assign a

rating (I’m putting this on my top 10). Pilots
will be able to earn digital badges, encour-
aging some competition—let’s see who can
visit the most airports this month!
The app, which is free from iTunes and
Google Play stores, also gives users news
stories and features from AOPA Pilot and
Flight Training magazines, shows AOPA
Live video segments, and includes four
different podcast series. Users can add
or search events in the aviation calendar,
which is searchable by event type, loca-
tion, and date range. In addition, members
can manage their memberships through
the app, and nonmembers can access the
content as a guest or sign up to become a
member. Pilots receive alerts through the
Introducing Pilot Passport app about nearby temporary flight restric-
tions. Based on the phone’s geographic
New feature for the AOPA app encourages you to get out and fly location, pilots will be notified of TFRs
within their vicinity.

ONE OF THE BEST PARTS OF FLYING is dis-
covering the amazing places you can go.
Wouldn’t it be great to share your flying
adventures with friends, family, and other
pilots? Now you can, with AOPA’s Pilot
Passport—a new feature within the AOPA
app to encourage you to take to the skies
and share your love of flying.
The AOPA App, the award-winning
mobile application that allows members
and aviators to stay up to date on the latest
AOPA news, videos, podcasts, and events,
will soon feature a check-in functionality.
Going flying today? Check in on the app.
Stopping at an airport for a $100 hamburger
or to play a round of golf? Check in on the
app. Planning on visiting several airports in
one day and want to brag about it? Check
in on the app. Found a cool airport on your
vacation? Check in on the app.
The Pilot Passport feature, which will
be released in April, encourages you to seek
out and keep track of the interesting and
exciting details on the places you fly. You
can share this information with others (Ask
for Stan at the FBO), add photos (We saw the
coolest old Stinson on the field), give advice
to other pilots (That’s a great patty melt at
EMAIL julie.walker@aopa.org
IT’S EASY AND FUN
TO PARTICIPATE:
• Explore new airports and places
to fly.
• Check in through the app.
• Track your progress.
• Earn points and badges.
• Participate in challenges.
Join the eightieth anniversary
challenge and win great prizes.
More details to come!

GET THE APP

The AOPA App is the perfect pilot companion for aviation
enthusiasts who are on the go. Through the AOPA App, you
can access all the flight information you need and stay up
to date on the latest aviation news and TFR alerts, as well as
check out videos from AOPA Live, listen to AOPA podcasts,
search for events, connect with other pilots, and manage your
AOPA membership. The Pilot Passport feature will be intro-
duced in April—don’t miss out on the flying fun.

114 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

Flight Time ü
Logbook endorsement ü
Flight proficiency ü
Aeronautical knowledge exam ü
Pilot Protection Services

Is your checklist missing something?

We know the common questions new pilots may have—we’ve been been there
too, and over 64,000 AOPA pilots trust us to help answer when help is needed.
PPS coverage is for more than accidents or incidents:
• rental agreement reviews • general operating and flight rules
• special use airspace • flights for compensation or hire

Learn more aopa.org/pps or call 800.872.2672

Available for membership levels with Pilot Protection Services coverage
NEWS & NOTES  MEMBER SERVICES

TIPS FROM PIC | as a flight instructor. Flight instruction request. It’s that simple; nothing more to

The process is easy

When it’s time to renew your
BasicMed course
B Y M A R I A N N E H AY S
TWO YEARS HAVE PASSED since BasicMed
took effect, providing many airmen the
opportunity to self-assess with their
physician without needing medical certi-
fication from the FAA. Under BasicMed,
pilots may fly aircraft up to 6,000
pounds, with up to six occupant seats.
This includes helicopters, multiengine,
and retractable-gear aircraft. You will
be able to fly to your favorite destination
day and night in VFR or IFR conditions.
Altitude is limited to 18,000 feet msl with
250 knots indicated airspeed. You’ll still
need a current medical certificate if fly-
ing for compensation or hire, other than
with compensation may be conducted
under BasicMed.
If you’ve been fortunate enough to
have been operating under BasicMed
since May 2017, you will find it’s time to
renew your BasicMed health assessment
course (basicmedicalcourse.aopa.org).
If you checked the box when you com-
pleted the exam the first time, you will
receive a reminder from AOPA. The pro-
cess is easy. Simply go online to aopa.org
and click on the BasicMed link. You will
need to log in as a return user with your
username and password. Not to worry if
you can’t remember, as you can always
reset your password. Simply go through
and refresh your knowledge of the course,
then complete the test. You’ll print a new
completion certificate, replace it in your
logbook, and fly. You can also store the
completion certificate electronically, as
long as you can provide it to the FAA upon
do for another two years.
Please give AOPA a call with questions,
Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Eastern time, 800-USA-AOPA (872-2672).
MARIANNE HAYS is an aviation medical spe-
cialist in the AOPA Pilot Information Center.
IMPORTANT BASICMED
DATES
For an airman to act as pilot in
command under BasicMed rules:
Within the previous 48 months he
or she must have received a physi-
cal examination by a state-licensed
physician who followed and com-
pleted the FAA’s comprehensive
medical examination checklist. The
airman must have completed the
online course within the previous
24 calendar months.

AOPA FINANCE |

Ask Adam How to maximize

your rewards
Get points with the new AOPA
World Mastercard

ADAM MEREDITH
AOPA Aviation
Finance
Q: Is it possible to prepay my loan?
A: Some lenders do have prepayment
penalties but still allow additional prin-
cipal payments to be made. Typically,
the prepayment penalty is only for the
first 24 months of the loan and runs
about 1 to 1.25 percent of the original
loan balance. Additional principal pay-
ments can be made during the time
that the prepayment penalty is in place
as long as the payments are within the
specific lenders’ guidelines.
For information about aircraft financ-
ing, visit the website (www.aopafinance.
com) or call 800-62-PLANE (75263).
Make the most of your time and money with the new AOPA World Mastercard and get
rewarded for the purchases that matter to you. Here are three ways you can maximize
your rewards. Don’t have the new AOPA World Mastercard? Visit aopa.org/creditcard to
apply now.
1. Use your rewards program to your advantage. You earn up to 4 percent cash back on
select AOPA purchases, purchases from AOPA partners, and purchases in aviation-related
categories. Your categories don’t change every quarter, so it is easy to remember where
your earning potential is greatest.
2. Choose cash back. The AOPA credit card allows you to redeem your points for gift
cards, travel, merchandise, and other rewards. With cash back as a statement credit, you
will get the best return for your reward since, in some cases, you are receiving up to 4 per-
cent on your purchase.
3. Use your reward points well before they expire. Three years can fly by before you
know it. Make a habit of redeeming your points so you don’t miss out on your earning.
Visit www.commercebank.com/aopapilotrewards for details on exclusions and bonus
point categories.

116 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

 EXPLORE AIRPORTS: Our new tool gives you all the resources
you need to discover your next adventure.
PLAN YOUR FLIGHT: Get predictive fuel warnings and weather
or geographical briefings along your route with our Flight Planner.
SAVE WITH AOPA TRAVEL DISCOUNTS: Save on rental cars
and hotel bookings. Make AOPA Travel Discounts your first stop.

EXPLORE THE WORLD FROM THE AIRPORT OUT. AOPA.ORG/TRAVEL

NEWS & NOTES  AOPA AIR SAFETY INSTITUTE

A familiar route turns deadly NO TIME TO RUSH

The lessons learned from ‘Blind Over Bakersfield’ The hazard of distraction during taxi

BY ALICIA HERRON You are probably familiar with your

airport’s most common taxi routes. Charlie-
Alpha-to 29R? Easy. Bravo to fuel? No
problem. But the comfort of a familiar
taxi can make even the best pilots com-
placent during critical ground operations.
Watch the AOPA Air Safety Institute’s Pilot
Safety Announcement Rundown Feeling
for insight into what could happen if you
aren’t vigilant.
How can we mitigate risk during
ground operations and avoid a runway
incursion, or worse? Limit distraction dur-
ing taxi—and the temptation to cut corners
on your way to or from the runway—with
planning and discipline. Plan your run-up
area before taxi. And after you land, com-
mit to running your checklists at a full stop
clear of the runway.
A successful flight begins long before
the hold-hort lines, and great pilots are
always attentive. Respect the taxi and
don’t become distracted during ground
operations—the results could be dire.
www.airsafetyinstitute.org/psa/
rundownfeeling

NEW FROM ASI

SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED:

THE AOPA AIR SAFETY INSTITUTE’S lat-
est analysis, Accident Case Study: Blind
Over Bakersfield, begins on a December
afternoon in 2015. A pilot, his wife, and
their three children depart from San
Jose, California, and begin the jour-
ney to their hometown of Henderson,
Nevada, for a friend’s surprise party.
But soon after departure, the flight
encounters forecast weather for which
the VFR-only pilot is ill-prepared. A
series of troubling decisions, which
are analyzed in depth in the video, lead
the pilot to fly into instrument condi-
tions. Instead of what was to be a joyous
holiday vacation, the resulting spatial
disorientation ends in a loss of control
in flight and tragedy.
While the general aviation accident
rate per hours flown is decreasing, VFR
into IMC remains a leading factor in fatal
crashes. Why do pilots unequipped for
the challenge of instrument flight fly VFR
into IMC? Is it an overestimation of skill,
an underestimation of the seriousness of
IFR flight, or a combination of both? What
about other factors, such as self-induced
pressure to complete the flight—or, in the
case of Blind Over Bakersfield, to arrive at
a party?
The next time you fly VFR, consider
taking a safety pilot or instructor and
refresh your instrument skills. If you’re
with a CFI, go a step further than basic
instrument flight—why not deliberately
give yourself spatial disorientation? Then,
force yourself to fight through and see how
well you do; the experience might give you
a different perspective on flight in IMC.
Watch the video (www.airsafety
institute.org/ACS/blindoverbakersfield)
and then share lessons learned to help oth-
ers avoid a similar fate.
Video brought to you by SiriusXM.
EMAIL alicia.herron@aopa.org
FATAL FLIGHT TRAINING
ACCIDENTS
Accidents can happen
unexpectedly—even with the safety
net of a CFI on board. Learn more
by reading the Fatal Flight Training
Accidents 2000-2015 report created
by the AOPA Air Safety Institute and
Liberty University.
www.airsafetyinstitute.org/fatal-
training-accidents
ARE YOU PROFICIENT
ENOUGH FOR THE
BACKCOUNTRY?
Want to learn more about
backcountry flying and how
to improve your piloting skills?
Check out the AOPA Air Safety
Institute’s new free seminar, Peaks to
Pavement: Applying Lessons from the
Backcountry, in a city near you.
www.airsafetyinstitute.org/
seminars

118 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

 AOPA
PREMIER MEMBERSHIP
MORE OF WHAT YOU WANT FROM AOPA!

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when you upgrade your membership today.
• Priority access to AOPA • Priority
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and prote SPECIAL SIGN-UP GIFT!
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  CALL 1.800.USA.AOPA (872.2672)
NEWS & NOTES  PILOT PROTECTION SERVICES
MEDICALLY SPEAKING |
A bump on
the noggin
Head injuries and
medical certification
THE ONLINE MEDXPRESS medical applica-
tion, used by all of us who periodically apply
for an FAA medical certificate, includes a
section that asks about any history of med-
ical conditions. Several of those items can
be tied to things that happen “behind our
faces and above our throats,” as the band
Twenty One Pilots might say. “Frequent or
severe headaches,” “dizziness or fainting
spells,” “unconsciousness for any reason,”
and “neurological disorders; epilepsy, sei-
zures, stroke, paralysis, etc.” are conditions
that will attract your AME’s attention, and
ultimately the FAA’s as well.
In the world of aerospace medicine,
two organ systems are high on the list
that keeps the regulators on their game.
Cardiovascular and neurological pathol-
ogy represent the failure points that
produce some of the highest risk for med-
ical impairment and incapacitation.
Head trauma is scary because some-
times a bump on the head that causes a big
goose egg, a bruise, a little blood, and a mild
headache at the time of the injury could be
CONTACT AOPA
ADDRESS CHANGE?
Send your new address and AOPA
membership number to AOPA:
421 Aviation Way
Frederick, Maryland 21701-4798
Fax: 301-695-2375
www.aopa.org
TOLL-FREE PILOT
INFORMATION CENTER
800-USA-AOPA (872-2672)
www.aopa.org
AOPA PILOT INFORMATION CENTER HOURS
Do you have questions or need information about an aviation topic? Access the team of aviation experts in our Pilot Information Center
during our convenient weekday hours. Call 800-USA-AOPA (872-2672) Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. Eastern time, with
your questions and our staff will be happy to assist you.
Visit the website (www.aopa.org/premierplus) to learn about upgrading to our AOPA Premier Plus membership.
120 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
BY GARY CRUMP
Pilot Protection
Services
harboring a much more serious problem a
few days or weeks down the road.
Already in 2019, I have spoken with
two AOPA members who suffered what
appeared to be “mild” head injuries—one
from a short fall off a ladder while clean-
ing roof gutters and another from a fall
while bike riding. Neither lost conscious-
ness for more than a few seconds (the
time they were “seeing stars” immediately
after the incidents). Within days after
those injuries, both went to the emer-
gency department with headaches and
cognitive deficits. Imaging studies deter-
mined that they had both experienced
intracranial bleeds secondary, proba-
bly, to the previous head trauma. One
required surgery to take care of a small
blood clot, a subdural hematoma, and the
other recovered without the need for sur-
gical intervention.
Several factors play into the certi-
fication decision making once the FAA
sees a history of head injuries on the
MedXpress application. Concerns about
AOPA FOUNDATION
800-955-9115
www.aopafoundation.org
AOPA AIR SAFETY INSTITUTE
800-638-3101
www.airsafetyinstitute.org
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with the best card for pilots.
877-787-3171
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personality changes; neurocognitive
performance deterioration; persis-
tent post-traumatic or post-concussion
symptoms that can result in severe head-
aches, vomiting, spatial disorientation,
or altered sleep patterns; and post-event
seizure or epilepsy are at the forefront of
the risk assessment process.
Traumatic brain injury is generally
classified as mild, moderate, or severe.
Duration of loss of consciousness or
alteration of consciousness, presence
and duration of post-traumatic amnesia,
presence or absence of skull fracture,
and brain contusions and/or free blood
in the brain (intracranial bleeding) can
determine how long a recovery period
is required before a pilot could be con-
sidered safe to fly. At the low end of
the scale, a mild head injury with short
duration symptoms could still require a
six-month grounding. For someone with
a severe head injury, a no-fly period of up
to five years is the policy. In most cases,
neurocognitive testing will be required
to determine the presence of any post-
event deficits.
GARY CRUMP is the director of medical
certification for AOPA’s Pilot Information
Center.
www.aopa.org/pps
AOPA PERSONAL INSURANCE
800-USA-AOPA (872-2672)
www.aopa.org/membership/personal
AOPA PILOT PROTECTION SERVICES
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AOPA Pilot magazine (ISSN: 0001-2084), April 2019 (Vol. 62, No. 04), is produced and distributed monthly by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots
Association, 421 Aviation Way, Frederick, Maryland 21701. Distribution restricted to AOPA members, those in aeronautical education (faculty and
schools), libraries, and the news media. U.S. membership dues are $79, of which $26 is for an annual subscription to AOPA Pilot. Foreign membership
dues $99. Single copy price $8.95. Subscription rates to qualified organizations are $26 per year in the United States, its territories, and possessions.
All funds payable in U.S. dollars only. Periodicals postage paid at Frederick, Maryland, and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address
changes to AOPA Member Services, 421 Aviation Way, Frederick, Maryland 21701. Publications Mail Agreement No. 41147511. Return undeliver-
able Canadian addresses to: PO Box 1051, Fort Erie, ON L2A 6C7. For change of address: Call 800-USA-AOPA or email memberservices@aopa.org

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 123
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AOPA MEDIA
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Contact us to reach the world’s largest
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ANSWERS FOR PILOTS

Fighting corrosion
BY KATHLEEN DONDZILA KING

A METAL AIRCRAFT, like any metal object,

is inherently prone to corrosion. The rate

JET WARBIRD
of deterioration is affected by the aircraft’s
age, environment, and maintenance.
Hangaring, frequent washing, and regu-
lar treatment with rust inhibitors can help
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A thorough visual inspection will
TRAINING CENTER
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sion under the surface; filiform corrosion,
common on aluminum that has been
poorly prepared for painting, looks like
cottage cheese under the paint. Pay close
attention to the trailing edges of control
surfaces, and the inside of wheel wells on
retractable models. Checking for damage
inside the aircraft is more difficult but
necessary. Remove all inspection plates
and use a mechanic’s mirror and a flash-
light. Examine the propeller, cylinder
fins, fuel tanks or bladders, piano-type
control hinges, and the battery box.
Light surface corrosion can be
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of a corrosion inhibitor, and then paint. WIDER THAN A CIRRUS – FASTER THAN A SKYHAWK
If corrosion affects a significant amount GARMIN AVIONICS WILL MAKE YOU GLEEFUL
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Dear readers: After 30 years, I’m clos-
ing my AOPA flight plan and retiring. This
is my last “Answers for Pilots” column. It’s Orlando FL Lancaster PA Islip NY Sebring FL Cape Coral FL
Lou Mancuso John Rathmell Evan Damadeo Brant Howell John Calla
been a privilege and a pleasure to write
516-658-1847 717-371-8677 631-281-5400 919-602-1387 239-989-8517
these articles in response to your inqui-
ries. I wish you clear skies ahead. —Kathy

KATHLEEN DONDZILA KING is AOPA’s www.bristellaircraft.com www.thelandingdoctor.com www.sebringflightacademy.com

technical communications manager and
an instrument-rated private pilot.

124 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

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www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 127
PILOTS  TAILWHEELS AND HEELS
Judy Birchler
The lady still loves taildraggers
B Y J I L L W. TA L L M A N
IF YOU SEE AN AMERICAN CHAMPION
DECATHLON on the ramp with a pair of sti-
letto shoes planted next to it, the airplane and
the shoes might belong to Judy Birchler of
Indianapolis.
Ladies Love Taildraggers—the online
community Birchler founded so that she
could meet other women who share her pas-
sion for conventional-gear airplanes—turns
10 years old in 2019.
Growing from about 100 members in
2009 to more than 2,000 today, Ladies Love
128 | AOPA PILOT April 2019
LOGBOOK
WHO | Judy Birchler
HOURS | 1,600
CERTIFICATES AND
RATINGS | Private pilot
FAVORITE AIRCRAFT | Super Cub
EXTRA | Ladies Love
Taildraggers left a stiletto and
a thank-you note at each FBO
visited during the 2018 flyout.
Some of those shoes are still
on display.
Taildraggers celebrates tailwheel aircraft and the women
who fly them. In addition to hosting a forum where pilots
can talk about their aircraft, each year the group hosts a fly-
in or a fly-out so that members can meet in person and, of
course, fly their airplanes. Ladies Love Taildraggers also pro-
vides scholarships; recipients can earn an initial taildragger
endorsement or become more proficient in some other aspect
of tailwheel flying, such as aerobatics or backcountry flying.
Tricycle-gear pilots are warmly welcomed into the com-
munity. “How [else] are you ever going to build something
when so few women are flying taildraggers?” Birchler said. “I
really encourage all women to come [to the fly-ins] and partici-
pate, and, if nothing else, take a ride around the patch with the
other ladies to see what it’s about. I would like to offer every
nosewheel pilot the chance to earn a tailwheel endorsement.”
The FAA doesn’t break out the number of active women
pilots who also have tailwheel endorsements. The agency
estimates that in 2017—the latest data available—there were
42,694 active women pilots. If even 15 percent have tailwheel
endorsements, that equals approximately 6,404 women; 20
percent would be 8,539.
Tailwheel flying opens the door to so many different
types of flying—backcountry and aerobatics, not to mention
many vintage and almost all antique aircraft, Birchler said.
“There really are no negatives to flying [taildraggers],” she
said. “With a little skill and finesse, there’s only positives.”
A pilot since the age of 19, Birchler owns and flies the
Decathlon, and her husband, Boyd, flies an RV–7. After being diagnosed at age 33 with Type I
diabetes, Birchler used Sport Pilot privileges to fly Light Sport aircraft, including an Aeronca
Champ and a Rans S–7. She qualified for BasicMed and promptly bought the Decathlon. “It
was as exciting as the day I soloed,” she said of transitioning to the new airplane.
What about the stiletto shoes? Ladies Love Taildraggers members displayed them in front
of their airplanes during 2018’s fly-out, and “that turned out to be the most awesome thing,”
Birchler said. “Everywhere we went, people loved that. They’d walk up and down the ramp
and hoot and holler at all these stilettos.”  AOPA

JOHN BRAGG
This year’s Ladies Love Taildraggers fly-in will be held October 3 through 6 at Natchi-
toches Regional Airport (IER) in Natchitoches, Louisiana. For more information or to
register, visit the website (www.ladieslovetaildraggers.com).
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