Membership News & Notes: The best card for pilots

What if every time you fueled your aircraft you could get some of that cost back in your wallet? With AOPA’s new World Mastercard you can. AOPA has negotiated this and other great deals with Commerce Bank. In addition to 2-percent fuel savings, card members also get 4 percent back on any purchase through AOPA—things such as AOPA branded apparel, coffee mugs, and more. Card users also get 3 percent back on purchases from select AOPA partners in a wide variety of aviation categories (see “Benefits”). Oh, and one more thing: You’ll receive 1 percent cash back on any purchase. These reasons are why AOPA Senior Vice President of Marketing Jiri Marousek calls the AOPA World Mastercard “the best card for pilots.” In addition to great cash-back incentives, your use of the AOPA World Mastercard supports the association’s efforts to protect general aviation. Membership dues can’t cover all the initiatives AOPA undertakes to protect and defend general aviation—fighting user fees, ATC privatization, and egregious FBO pricing, and advocating for improvements such as BasicMed—so funds put back into the association from your use of the AOPA World Mastercard help keep GA strong and members like you flying. Next time you top off your fuel tank, think about the savings and the benefits you could be receiving from the AOPA World Mastercard. It’s our members who keep AOPA hard at work, and it’s why we’re recommending the “best card for pilots.”

Member Services: Legally Speaking

Pay attention

BasicMed expiration dates can be confusing

By Chad Mayer, Pilot Protection Services

To ensure uninterrupted compliance with BasicMed, pilots must complete the required comprehensive medical examination and online medical education course within the required—and differently calculated—time periods. For an airman to act as pilot in command under BasicMed rules, within the previous 48 months he or she must have received a physical examination by a state-licensed physician who followed and completed the FAA’s comprehensive medical examination checklist, while the airman must have completed the online course within the previous 24 calendar months.

Incorporating the requirements of BasicMed into the federal aviation regulations involved changes to Part 61, including §61.23(c)(3)(i)(C) and 61.23(c)(3)(i)(D), as well as the addition of the new Part 68. Additional FAA guidance on the new regulations is available in Advisory Circular 68-1A. The takeaway is that careful attention must be paid to when the different components of BasicMed lapse and must be completed again (see “AOPA Action,” page 12).

For example, an airman completing the BasicMed checklist and physical exam on May 10, 2017, and the online course on May 20, 2017, would be able to operate under BasicMed through May 31, 2019 (24 calendar months after the online course was completed). If the airman then completes the online course again on May 31, 2019, then he or she would be able to continue operating under BasicMed until May 10, 2021 (not May 31, 2021) because 48 months have passed since the physical exam.

Completing a new checklist and exam on May 11, 2021, would allow the pilot to operate under BasicMed until May 31, 2021, at which time another online course would be required. It would be advisable to set smartphone or other calendar reminders to keep the applicable expiration days straight.

For more information on BasicMed, see AOPA’s Fit to Fly pilot resources (www.aopa.org/basicmed).

Chad Mayer is an attorney with the AOPA Pilot Protection Services plan.

Tips from PIC

Streamline the process

Call AOPA’s medical certification staff first

By Jeena Tyler

If you have had a new medical event, a change in medications, or new medical history, you should call AOPA before you report anything to the FAA. AOPA’s medical certification specialists will assist you and help streamline your FAA medical certification process.

In addition to the 15 specifically disqualifying medical conditions that require a special issuance authorization, many conditions require an FAA review before a medical certificate will be issued. You can avoid lengthy delays by understanding the process—the required recovery period after treatment, the medical records that will be needed, and the testing that must be done in a certain timeframe—all before you visit an AME or notify the FAA. If your medical packet is missing any of this information, or if the testing was done before the recovery/observation period was completed, or was not done within the FAA’s parameters, your application could be delayed for months—or worse, denied.

For members who have upgraded their memberships to Pilot Protection Services Plus, copies of your medical information can be reviewed by AOPA medical certification staff. The staff makes every effort to ensure all the reports are thorough and the package is complete before it is sent to the FAA.

For pilots not flying for compensation or hire, the new BasicMed regulations may allow you an alternative pathway to medically self-assess without the need for an FAA-issued medical certificate. Certain medical conditions may require a one-time special issuance authorization before you can participate in BasicMed. Call AOPA Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. 800-USA-AOPA (872-2672). Choose option three for medical certification.

Jeena Tyler is an aviation specialist for the AOPA Pilot Information Center.

ANSWERS FOR PILOTS

Complex and high-performance endorsements

By Kathy Dondzila

If you want to move up to a faster aircraft, you may need a complex or high-performance endorsement—or both.

Complex airplanes have retractable landing gear, flaps, and a controllable pitch propeller. The exception is seaplanes—they are not required to have retractable landing gear, just flaps and a controllable pitch propeller. A high-performance airplane has an engine of more than 200 horsepower. Separate endorsements are required for each operating privilege.

For each endorsement, you are required to receive and log both ground and flight training from an authorized instructor in an appropriate airplane, or in a flight simulator or flight training device that is representative of a complex or high-performance airplane, and be found proficient in the operation and systems of the airplane.

Once you’ve met these requirements, your instructor will write the endorsement in your logbook. If you have accomplished both a complex and a high-performance endorsement, you will need separate logbook entries for each.

The training and endorsement required for operating a complex airplane as pilot in command is not required if you logged flight time as pilot in command of a complex airplane (by today’s definition), or in a flight simulator or flight training device that is representative of a complex airplane prior to August 4, 1997.

Questions? Call AOPA Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time, 800-USA-AOPA (872-2672).

Kathy Dondzila is AOPA technical communications manager and an instrument-rated private pilot.

ASI News

To your health

Are you flying healthy?

By Machteld Smith

The one-year anniversary of the implementation of BasicMed is a good time to take stock of your health and renew your resolve to stay in shape. One way to do this is to take the medical self-assessment online course developed by the AOPA Air Safety Institute. Medical Self-Assessment: A Pilot’s Guide to Flying Healthy is a great tool for all pilots, not just those participating in BasicMed—just ask the more than 30,000 pilots who’ve taken it.

When it comes to your health and flying safely, be proactive. The course suggests getting a medical checkup regularly. It also offers thoughts on how to stay healthy, how to detect signs of adverse medical conditions, and what to do should you discover a situation that requires medical attention. While not a replacement for professional medical advice from your physician, the course reviews practical information to help you objectively assess your condition to fly. For example, you can explore scenarios that guide you through several self-assessment and decision-making processes. You’ll also learn about the complex relationship of medications and flying and the FAA’s guidance on taking medications. Did you know that the FAA wants you to wait for at least five times the maximum pharmacologic half-life of the medication or, if that information is not available, wait for at least five maximum dosing intervals to have passed before flying? Or that drugs with no apparent side effect on the ground can create serious problems at even relatively low altitudes? Some over-the-counter medications may also effectively ground you—such as any medication that warns of possible impairment and to not operate motor vehicles or machinery while taking the drug.

If you have concerns about managing in-flight physiological impairment, the course has a chapter on that. But not just on what to do when there is a problem. The course suggests things you can do to prevent problems from arising in the first place, such as getting regular health screenings and adapting diet and exercise to nurture a healthy body.

Get a better grasp of aeromedical matters and physiology, including risk factors of significant medical conditions and how these affect your ability to fly. Review the course periodically—it’s your body, your health. Also, download the various documents and checklists to take along in your flight bag—the preflight and inflight checklists especially can help manage your health and safety and that of your passengers before and during every flight.

Machteld Smith is an aviation technical writer for the AOPA Air Safety Institute.

Minor or major?

With significant claims, the process is more involved

By Jim Pinegar

Insurance claims are divided into two categories: minor and significant. Some examples of a minor claim are hangar rash, damage from a hard landing, and a prop strike. These are the day-to-day “dings” that happen to aircraft. Minor claims typically don’t have injuries or third-party liability claims (damaging someone’s property).

It used to be that insurance adjusters were on the road all the time, driving from airport to airport, to witness and record first-hand any damage done to an airplane. The utility of smartphones has changed that. Now pilots take a photo of the damage, fill out a report or compose a description, and send it all to their insurance company’s email. The insurance carrier calls the repair facility—and often two or three other shops—to get an estimate of repair costs. The insurance company schedules repairs and directly pays the facility.

Most claims are minor and the pilot/owner functions as his or her own insurance adjuster; with a few photos and a phone call, the repair process is started.

In the case of significant aircraft damage, significant property damage, or major bodily injuries, the claims process begins with a call to a broker or insurance carrier or an insurance adjuster to view the damage to assess cause and extent of repairs. With claims involving significant injuries, the adjuster usually interviews the pilot and passengers, the FAA, the local police, airport personnel, the NTSB, and any witnesses to the accident or incident.

In most cases, the pilot or aircraft owner is the one who initiates the claims process. The exception is when it comes to significant damage by floods, tornadoes, or hurricanes. Insurance companies send adjusters to look in areas of catastrophic losses. The adjusters go airport to airport, looking at N numbers, and finding their customers. When a match is made, the adjusters initiate the claims process to speed up recovery time.

Most pilots will enjoy a lifetime of flying without making a claim, but the possibility of damage to your airplane is always there. Savvy pilots have a fully charged smartphone and their insurance company’s contact information when they fly.

Jim Pinegar is president of AOPA Aviation Insurance Services.