  PIREP Corner by Paul Kinzelman
Welcome to the PIREP corner, a new section of
the Newsletter!
Neal has decided to expand the content of his
newsletter a bit and include short flying-related topics and
stories, and he invited me to be the editor! Apparently he
was aware that I hadn't been in the military to learn not to
volunteer for anything. We'd like to invite you to submit
any topics to
editors@logbookpro.com for possible publication in
future newsletters. Humorous stories get extra credit.
Your compensation will be fame and adoration
of your fellow pilots. We fashioned the "payment" in honor
of the FAA, after their ongoing attempts to regard the mere
logging of time as being "compensation" for the purpose of
determining commercial operation.
SPORT PILOT CERTIFICATE
So for the first topic, I'd like to give a
heads-up to those folks who have not been following the news
lately concerning the new sport pilot certificate and
aircraft. It's been long in the making, and is in effect as
of Sept 1, 2004.
The new certificate appears to me to be what
a recreational pilot certificate should have been
originally. Full details can be found on:
http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/regulatory/regsport.html
The significant change is there is no need
for a medical if you are otherwise healthy (have not flunked
a flight physical). The plane can weigh up to (and
including) 1320 lbs (1430 with floats). In addition, a
person can obtain a sport pilot certificate with only 20 hrs
total time (15 dual, 5 solo).
RUNWAY SAFETY
One of the main items that has been on the
FAA's hitlist lately is the subject of runway incursions.
These deviations should be easier to prevent than deviations
in the air, because on the ground there are only two
dimensions involved, the speeds are so much slower, and you
have the option to just stop if you are confused. And GA has
been identified as being involved in more incursions than
other forms of aviation.
There are a number of resources on the FAA,
AOPA, and ASF web sites including self-paced tutorials, etc.
Let's all take advantage of these programs and bring down
these incursions.
Y'all be careful up there and down here! |
