New feature for the AOPA app encourages you to get out and fly
One of the best parts of flying is discovering 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 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, encouraging 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, location, 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 app about nearby temporary flight restrictions. Based on the phone’s geographic location, pilots will be notified of TFRs within their vicinity.
Email [email protected]
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 introduced in April—don’t miss out on the flying fun.
DETAILS
40,000+ : The number of people who have downloaded the AOPA app.
Tips from PIC
The process is easy
When it’s time to renew your BasicMed course
By Marianne Hays
Two years have passed since BasicMed took effect, providing many airmen the opportunity to self-assess with their physician without needing medical certification 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 flying for compensation or hire, other than as a flight instructor. Flight instruction 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 completed the exam the first time, you will receive a reminder from AOPA. The process 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 request. It’s that simple; nothing more to 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 specialist in the AOPA Pilot Information Center.
ANSWERS FOR PILOTS
Fighting corrosion
By Kathleen Dondzila King
A metal aircraft, like any metal object, is inherently prone to corrosion. The rate of deterioration is affected by the aircraft’s age, environment, and maintenance. Hangaring, frequent washing, and regular treatment with rust inhibitors can help dramatically in slowing corrosion.
A thorough visual inspection will reveal most corrosion; refer to Advisory Circular 43-4B for detail. Look for grayish-white powder on aluminum and reddish deposits on ferrous metals. Bumps or blisters in paint signify corrosion 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 flashlight. Examine the propeller, cylinder fins, fuel tanks or bladders, piano-type control hinges, and the battery box.
Light surface corrosion can be removed with abrasion, then application of a corrosion inhibitor, and then paint. If corrosion affects a significant amount of metal, replacement of the part is usually the only solution.
Contact AOPA with questions Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time, 800-USA-AOPA (872-2672), or email, [email protected].
Dear readers: After 30 years, I’m closing my AOPA flight plan and retiring. This is my last “Answers for Pilots” column. It’s been a privilege and a pleasure to write these articles in response to your inquiries. I wish you clear skies ahead. —Kathy
Kathleen Dondzila King is AOPA’s technical communications manager and an instrument-rated private pilot.
AOPA FINANCE
Ask Adam
By Adam Meredith
Q: Is it possible to prepay my loan?
A: Some lenders do have prepayment penalties but still allow additional principal 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 payments 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 financing, visit the website or call 800-62-PLANE (75263).
How to maximize your rewards
Get points with the new AOPA World Mastercard
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.
- 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.
- 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 percent on your purchase.
- 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.
NOTES AOPA AIR SAFETY INSTITUTE
A familiar route turns deadly
The lessons learned from ‘Blind Over Bakersfield’
By Alicia Herron
The AOPA Air Safety Institute’s latest 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 journey 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 conditions. 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 and then share lessons learned to help others avoid a similar fate.
Video brought to you by SiriusXM.
Email [email protected]
Medically Speaking
A bump on the noggin
Head injuries and medical certification
By Gary Crump
The online MedXpress medical application, used by all of us who periodically apply for an FAA medical certificate, includes a section that asks about any history of medical 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, seizures, 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 pathology represent the failure points that produce some of the highest risk for medical impairment and incapacitation.
Head trauma is scary because sometimes 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 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 cleaning roof gutters and another from a fall while bike riding. Neither lost consciousness 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 emergency department with headaches and cognitive deficits. Imaging studies determined that they had both experienced intracranial bleeds secondary, probably, 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 surgical intervention.
Several factors play into the certification decision making once the FAA sees a history of head injuries on the MedXpress application. Concerns about personality changes; neurocognitive performance deterioration; persistent post-traumatic or post-concussion symptoms that can result in severe headaches, 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 considered 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.
Web: www.aopa.org/pps
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