Top stories: AOPA blasts flight training directive
Baker says FAA policy is ‘simply unacceptable’
Baker’s letter stated: “We urge the FAA to withdraw or invoke an immediate stay of the recent ‘notification of policy’ for flight training in experimental, primary and limited category aircraft. This directive is simply unacceptable to the general aviation community and, together, we will pursue all options available to bring much needed clarity and common sense to this issue.”
The FAA’s notice allowed for no public comment, a process required by the Administrative Procedure Act, Baker said. He also reminded the agency that it has issued numerous legal interpretations about compensated flight training and operation of an aircraft for compensation, which the FAA chose to ignore.
“The FAA’s stated mission is to ‘provide the safest, most efficient aviation system in the world,’” said Baker. “With this notice, the FAA appears to have made a 180-degree turn on this position and has placed a bureaucratic hurdle ahead of the need for safety.”
Baker also made it clear that the GA community is united and that he has spoken with the leaders of EAA, GAMA, and other GA groups, and that numerous aviation organizations are expected to join in objection to this notice and efforts to correct it.
AOPA urges Canada to accept BasicMed pilots
With the BasicMed program now in its fifth year, more than 60,000 pilots participating, and Mexico and the Bahamas on board, AOPA and the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association are urging Canada to join the rest of the North American continent in allowing BasicMed operations there as well.
“Since its availability in 2017, BasicMed has proven to be both successful and safe,” said AOPA President Mark Baker and COPA President Christine Gervais in a letter to Canada Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra.
Not only has BasicMed proven to be safe as it grows—an analysis of NTSB fatal accident reports found only 10 linked to all classes of medicals with an FAA estimated 76 million flight hours between 2017 and 2019—but the program is helping reduce the FAA’s medical-certification backlog and aviation medical examiners’ workloads. In 2017, the Bahamas became the first international destinationto grant access to pilots flying under BasicMed shortly after the program went live. Mexico followed in 2019.
Hangars in high demand, says AOPA survey
Aircraft hangars are in high demand and short supply, with some airports compiling waiting lists that can top several years, according to two surveys, one sent to more than 700 AOPA Airport Support Network volunteers, and the other to all 116 public-use airports in Pennsylvania. The results of the ASN survey indicated that 71 percent of the airports surveyed have a waiting list for hangars, and at those airports with a waiting list, 72 percent of aircraft owners waited from six months to more than two years. When the wait is over, the available hangar may not be in the desired condition. Only 8 percent of hangars were described as in “excellent” condition, while 36 percent were described as in need of “some” or “major” repair. AOPA is also partnering with state aviation directors to assess the hangar supply and to develop solutions.
Regulatory Affairs
We hear you
By Murray Huling / AOPA vice president, government affairs
Effective communications make a difference in achieving goals and meeting our needs as aircraft owners and pilots. In AOPA’s regulatory affairs section, we work to enhance existing and open new communication channels to help ensure the general aviation community is heard and considered. In our work with the FAA, we have been able to help members through myriad issues, including but not limited to aircraft and airman certification, designees, security, air traffic, and airspace.
We also stay engaged in longer-term projects, including helping to lead DPE reform, ensuring effective integration of drones into the NAS without negatively affecting existing GA operations, providing AD compliance scoping recommendations, Alternate Means of Compliance coordination, and the Piston Aviation Fuels Initiative (PAFI), charged with facilitating the development of an unleaded fuel capable of fleet-wide replacement for 100LL avgas.
We also have had success in assisting members with local issues in certification and discussions by performing outreach directly to the FAA FSDO leadership to ensure issue understanding, leading to clarity and resolution of such matters as efficiently as possible. AOPA regulatory affairs also assists members in understanding the “why” of what they hear from the FAA, ensuring clarity or needed changes.
With your three-person AOPA regulatory team all being GA pilots, having diverse aviation work experiences to include maintenance, flight instruction, and air traffic control, we are uniquely positioned to help owners and pilots with large federal organizations and know where to find the answers, whom to contact, and what decision-maker(s) need to be in the room. We support you, so please feel free to reach out if you have issues in need of regulatory support, and we will do everything we can to assist.
On the front lines
‘What’s up with that?’
By Bill Dunn
The airport manager says I cannot perform an engine change in my hangar—really?
When the sponsor of a public- use airport accepts grant funding from the FAA under the Airport Improvement Program, they agree to 39 airport grant assurances. One of those assurances, 22(f)—which addresses economic nondiscrimination—prevents airports from prohibiting owner-performed maintenance, repair, and fueling on their aircraft. The maintenance must be done by the aircraft owner or, if a business, by employees of the business. As an aircraft owner, you have the right to self-fuel your aircraft, service your aircraft, and bring mogas to the airport if that is what your aircraft consumes.
The FAA does allow an airport to limit activities and create rules and regulations to ensure activities are conducted safely and pose no risk to the public. Your airport’s rules and regulations may prevent you from performing major maintenance or painting an aircraft in your hangar. Check with your airport manager to review the rules and regulations that might impact your self-service activities.
AOPA’s regional managers are happy to help. Call 800-USA-AOPA or email [email protected].
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