Editorial: The More Things Change

I’ve been fortunate enough to stay safe, maintain social distancing, and still spend some time in the sky –although late July just won’t be the same. It’s a strange feeling to be social distancing at home instead of surrounded by hundreds of thousands of pilots and aviation enthusiasts at the annual EAA AirVenture gathering. But despite having to miss the world’s greatest aviation celebration this year, I am glad to see so many of us continuing to get airborne.

In fact, many of you have taken advantage of some unique opportunities. Videos of single-engine pistons landing

By Alyssa J. Cobb, AOPA

More than 120 high school students and teachers, primary student pilots, and pilots working toward advanced certificates and ratings have been awarded scholarships totaling more than $1.1 million through the AOPA Foundation thanks to generous donations from the Ray Foundation and the pilot community.

Scholarships funded by the Ray Foundation went to 80 high school students and 20 high school aviation teachers, who will each receive $10,000 for training toward the private pilot certificate. Generous donations to the AOPA Foundation from the pilot community funded an additional 17 primary flight training scholarships and seven advanced rating scholarships of varying amounts.

“These scholarships are all about helping people reach their dreams,” said AOPA Foundation Executive Director Melissa Rudinger. “The aviation community knows the immense value of learning to fly and has generously helped fund scholarships for 124 students, teachers, and pilots to help them experience the same sense of joy and accomplishment.”

The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) is presenting Safety 1st Clean – an infectious disease response cleaning standard for Fixed Base Operators (FBOs). The Safety 1st Clean standard is free to the public and produced by the NATA Safety Committee and COVID Task Force to provide general at Class B airports, news of more Skyhawks in the sky than Boeing 737s, and Alaska’s Anchorage International Airport briefly designated the world’s busiest airfield feel like some sort of parallel universe, albeit one tailored for a GA pilot.

Sure, flying may look a bit different now as many of us are incorporating more sanitization into our preflight checks or opting to go solo. When shoulder to shoulder with students, CFIs might wear face masks, and others have bottles of disinfectant stashed in baggage compartments. Because of local ordinances, some of us still haven’t flown, and that’s why it’s important to keep up with skills and continue to be proficient AOPA pilots.

Whether you’ve logged 50 hours or five hours in the past few months, there’s no better time for our aviation community to band together and support each other. AOPA’s You Can Fly team has created “Don’t Get Rusty” – a series of webinars to help pilots get back in the air when restrictions ease or pilots feel comfortable taking off again. The AOPA Air Safety Institute drafted two guides to help pilots and operators return to safe operations. The Return-to-Flight Proficiency Plan (airsafetyinstitute.org/returntoflight) reminds pilots to expect a different level of performance after extended time on the ground. The guide has profiles for VFR and IFR pilots and is designed to give a step-by-step approach to sharpening skills. ASI also issued the COVID-19 Flight Operations Guide (aopa.org/ covid19-flightops) tailored for flight schools, flying clubs, FBOs, and other operators detailing factors to consider when making the decision to reopen.

If there’s one thing I’ve come to know during this time, it’s that resiliency will always be general aviation’s most powerful asset. We’ve faced challenges before, just like we will face them again. But day by day, I’m hearing much more positive news on the state of the industry and although I can’t say just what this new normal really is, or means, I am confident that we will rise to the top–as we always do.

review safety materials online so we can

The scholarships, which are available exclusively to AOPA members, are part of the AOPA You Can Fly program, a collection of initiatives to build a larger, more vibrant pilot community.

High school students and teachers can use the funds for the private, sport, or recreational pilot certificate, and recipients must either solo or earn their certificate within one year of getting the scholarship.

The primary flight training scholarships were open to members at least 16 years of age and range from $2,500 to $7,500 for training toward the private, sport, or recreational pilot certificate. Advanced rating scholarships range from $3,000 to $10,000 and can be applied toward the instrument rating, commercial pilot certificate, certificated flight instructor and instrument instructor certificates, and multiengine instructor certificate.

“We not only want to help people get started with their primary training but also continue their training for more advanced certificates and ratings to promote safety and careers in aviation,” Rudinger said.

“Congratulations to all of our

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deserving scholarship winners!” guidance on facility cleaning, disinfecting, and facility operations in response to a pandemic. The goal of this standard is to safeguard FBO team members, corporate assets, and the general flying public.

“The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world brought the entire aviation industry to a grinding halt in a way that many of us were unprepared for,” stated NATA Senior Vice President Ryan Waguespack. “As flight activities continue to increase, NATA felt it was critical to develop and provide Safety 1st Clean for free to the entire business aviation community to maintain safe and successful operations moving forward and to be better prepared for future outbreaks.” NATA and its membership are committed to helping mitigate the risk of the spread of contagious diseases, but also understand that no cleaning and disinfecting standard is failsafe. This standard represents industry best practices and gov

The short-field standards stress primarily obstacle clearance, while the soft-field standards concentrate on runway condition, treating these two characteristics as if they are separate from one another… seldom the case.

The classic “FAA approved” shortand soft-field techniques will need to be blended into a “MacGyver” type approach process that will take the best of both, with final techniques being crafted on the spot. A short or “backwoods” airport could be like this writer’s neighbor, who mowed a flat spot about 500 feet long in a horse pasture, from which he operates his ultralight and an Aeronca Champ. This strip is officially named “Horse Apple Airport.” For you city folks, a “horse apple” is horsey poo… operation with the doors open or off isnot recommended!

The approach requires flying between two trees, not hard for the 25-foot wingspan of the ultralight, but a bit close for the 36-foot span of the Champ. For another, that “shot runway” could be a nice 3,000-foot hard surface runway, but on top of a mountain with high-density altitudes. This writer’s personal favorites were 1,500- to 2,000-foot runways, usually unmowed grass, carved out of 150-foot stands of tall pines in the Northwest. The ACS does not take any of these variations into account. If planning for serious STOL type operations, you need specialized training… yes, I am yelling!

Of course, you need a purpose-built STOL airplane, right? Why at the last airshow (they will come back!) you saw a neat homebuilt that claimed a takeoff distance of only 75 feet, with a landing roll of only 50 feet. Shucks, you could fly that hot dog right out of your condo garden… right? After all, given the perfect STOL, you immediately became one of those guys flying planes into the curving jungle strips you see on YouTube… right? That would be nice, but given just the plane, without accompanying skills, that bear looking for dinner will be happy to see you.

Be careful when looking at performance figures. Certified aircraft, such as

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ernment agency guidance.

The Safety 1st Clean standard also provides a self-certification process that allows FBOs to highlight their conformance to this standard by displaying the Safety 1st Clean logo. Upon completing the self-certification checklist (found in your contemporary Cessnas and Pipers, and S-LSAs, like the read-to-fly certified Kitfox and Zenith line of planes, must demonstrate performance to tightly controlled standards. Those performance values have been demonstrated but probably not at sea level with International Standard Atmospheric (ISA) conditions. Mathematical algorithms are used to correct such values to standard day conditions. The planes being flown to demonstrate performance were new and optimally equipped, piloted by skilled test pilots who have years of practice in getting the most out of a machine. The figures are real, but the average pilot will not be able to equal them. Even with training, give yourself at least a 20-percent safety margin over any published performance number.

The accuracy of performance values offered by kit plane manufacturers depend upon the management culture of the company and are not regulated. This writer personally witnessed that “75-foot takeoff roll” advertised by one kit plane company, achieved at an airshow takeoff contest, at sea level, on a cool day, at light weight, with a 30-knot headwind. But that company advertised that one anecdotal number for years. Does a dedicated STOL airplane mean poor cruise performance? In some cases, yes… it depends on the design and technology applied. That STOL plane that will get you out of your condo garden will probably be a bit pokey in cruise, but this writer spent a lot of time in a turbo Kitfox Super 7 and felt perfectly comfortable with 500 feet of takeoff and landing space (at any field elevation) while cruising at speeds exceeding those of planes with twice the horsepower. Look carefully when thinking about planes engineered for STOL operations. Talk to owners and fly the plane… yes, yelling again!

Okay, now that you have the specialized training, a plane well suited for backwoods flying and designer camping gear, you are set to go, right? Perhaps, but what about the airport you are flying into. Does it meet the standards defined by the ACS? Funny thing, takeoff and landing

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Appendix A), an FBO can send it and other required documentation outlined in the document to Safety1st@nata.aero to receive the Safety 1st Clean logo.

To access this free standard, go to https://www.nata.aero/assets/Site_18/file s/Safety%201st%20documents/Clean/Sa fety%201st%20Clean%20Standard.pdf

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