Update 12/6/16 — According to AOPA Online, “The Federal Aviation Administration has reviewed the AOPA Air Safety Institute’s aeromedical online course and confirmed that it meets the third class medical reform requirements that Congress created last summer. Pilots would need to complete the course, which AOPA will offer for free, every two years in addition to seeing their personal physician every four years to operate under the law.
These steps are NOT required for anyone flying a LSA or Sport Pilot-eligible kit aircraft.—DJ
What issues are “most important” to general aviation pilots for 2017? Are “general aviation” pilots different than those of you who read ByDanJohnson.com? The second question can only be answered by each of you, independently.
My guess is that while you might consider yourself a GA pilot, you might also — or distinctively — consider yourself a “recreational” or “sport” pilot. Whatever label you prefer, I found the following chart of interest.
Archives for January 2017
Sky Writing 2.0 — Flight Tracks in the Sky
Almost every year at AirVenture Oshkosh, some pilot or team of pilots performs some sky writing, that is, trailing smoke while flying precisely enough that you can read what they are writing from the ground.
The slow script building of the letters captivates the attention from tens of thousands on the ground; of course, many are pilots who are compelled by their interest to watch any airplane gyrations. I also enjoy these aerial penmanship exercises. However, in the 21st Century and with the looming 10th anniversary of the iPhone, perhaps it’s about time aviation caught up to the tech wave.
In this story two Light-Sport Aircraft went aloft for a whole different sort of sky writing, call it Sky Writing 2.0. In this exercise the scale is vastly larger and the challenge is perhaps greater as the letters cannot be seen, not from the air or on the ground or by the pilot.