8
I
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE
July 2020
In Flight USA Celebrating 36Years
By Mark Baker
Amid Challenges to Aviation, Resiliency is a Constantthe Seasonal Norm
AOPA President and CEO ’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
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 review safety materials online so we can
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.
AOPA AWARDS MORE THAN $1 MILLION IN SCHOLARSHIPS
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 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 deserving scholarship winners!”
Aiden McDonnell Alexander Roller Alexander Scardigno Anastasia Rogachevsky Annika Petras Austin Lane Autumn Rhodes Autumn Smith Bailey Wells Benjamin Epperly Brandon Cianfaglione Brandon Vance Bronson Housmans Bryan Erdy Cameron Gibson Caroline Davis Carter Long Charles Stembler Chattada Viriyaphap Christine Curry Colton Woodruff Connor Shapiro Dev Patel Dillon Muth Dylan Kooima Dylan Park Elizabeth Witte
Emma Lobash Ethan Everhart Ethan Peterson Evan Iverson Grace Eger Grace Kahon Graham Shunk Guillermo Espanola Jr. Isaiah Gershon Jackson Allen Jacob Fordyce James Adkins James Leonard John Hoecher Joshua Brown Kareena Sandhu Katelyn Villa Katelyn Watson Kevin Sanders Kyler Brazukas Landon Arnett Levi Hipple Madeline Barnes Mark Sedlak Maxwell Coletta Mehul Dhillon Michael Hammer
Michael Kemper Nathanael Cartwright Nicholas Savage Noah McFarlane Owen Colombo Rachel Rosenzweig Riley Marsh Rockwell Tobler Roman Thomas Rory Schultz Ryan Plaskoff Ryan Wozniak Sage Nelson Sam Schaeffer Samuel Maxwell Samuel Savitt Selma Mujezinovic Seth Baham Taryn Olson Tristan Dawson Tyler Highfield Umar Badami Weston Barringer Zachary Buddelmeyer Zachary Brown Zachary Stevenson
NATA ANNOUNCES FREE SAFETY 1ST CLEAN STANDARD
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
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 govContinued to Page 9
