MAKE CHAPTER 288 YOUR AVIATION HOME! E-AB, TYPE CERTIFIED, VINTAGE, WARBIRD, ETC.
MAKE CHAPTER 288 YOUR AVIATION HOME! E-AB, TYPE CERTIFIED, VINTAGE, WARBIRD, ETC.
The January/February FAA Safety Briefing
Welcome to our first issue of 2025! As we embark on a brand-new year, it’s the perfect time to reflect on ourrecent accomplishments and identify a few areas to improve or challenge ourselves with in the months ahead. Some may look to improve their health or read more, while others might resolve to spend more time with family and friends. All are noble pursuits worthy of some renewed focus. Pilots may also endeavor to have a separate set of resolutions for the new year; maybe it’s flying a different aircraft, knocking the rust off your instrument approaches, or perhaps focusing on the subject of this issue, night flying.
We hope these articles offer some helpful guidance and inspiration to those pilots who wish to embrace or reconnect with the joy of night flight. With the proper precautions, taking a leap back into the dark can be extremely rewarding and enjoyable. Safe flying, and here’s to a safe and successful 2025!
Latest FTFD Video Reviews Line Up and Wait
A line up and wait instruction is used by air traffic control (ATC) to inform a pilot to taxi onto the departure runway to line up and wait. It is not authorization for takeoff. So, why do pilots depart when they are instructed to line up and wait? The answer lies in a variety of human factors that can lead pilots to mistakenly depart. This recent From the Flight Deck video explores some real-life events and discusses the factors that contribute to an unauthorized takeoff roll when a pilot is instructed to line up and wait. See this and past videos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMxUytwRDiA&list=PL5vHkqHi51DSNpsBC8nb8Q8gFcGVmWhGA.
As of Jan 2025
The old rule, FAR 61.57(a) and (b), read that in order to maintain currency, the pilot in command (PIC) needed to perform three takeoffs and landings as the sole manipulator of the controls of an aircraft of the same category, class and type (if required) within the preceding 90 days in order to act as PICof an aircraft carrying "passengers." The pilot also needed three takeoffs and landings to a full stop at night for currency to carry "passengers" at night..
The new rule changes "passengers" to "persons" and importantly adds exceptions that permit a noncurrent flight instructor to provide instruction to a noncurrent flight student. This scenario is only for the purpose of the flight student regaining their pilot currency, and only if they are otherwise capable of acting as pilot in command.
So if both the CFI and the learner are out of currency and the learner is at least a private pilot and can act as PIC, they won’t have to wait on the ramp for their CFI to do three takeoffs and landings to achieve their recurrency before the instructional flight can begin.
The rule includes the caveat that the CFI and learner must be the sole occupants of the aircraft during a recurrency flight.
-Thanks to Flying Magazine for this Article-
National Policy
SUBJ: Airworthiness Certification of Aircraft
ORDER
8130.2K
08/28/2024
This order establishes policies and procedures for issuing airworthiness certificates, export certificates of airworthiness, and special flight authorizations for aircraft. This order applies to
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aviation safety inspectors and certain persons designated to act as representatives of the FAA.
WHILE THERE ARE ONLY A FEW CHANGES, AS BUILDERS OF EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT THIS IS DOCUMENT IS IMPORTANT TO US
In-flight Weather Resources
The 21st Century has brought an unprecedented wealth of information to general aviation cockpits. Near real-time graphical and textual weather products contribute greatly to pilot situational awareness and decision-making. However, pilots must understand the capabilities and limitations of the equipment and the information it provides.
Explore how general aviation pilots can use available weather information sources to make well-informed weather decisions below.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a new safety alert for multi-engine pilots facing partial engine failure. The alert emphasizes the importance of promptly feathering the affected engine’s propeller…
from AvWeb:
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a new safety alert for multi-engine pilots facing partial engine failure. The alert emphasizes the importance of promptly feathering the affected engine’s propeller before its rpm drops below the critical threshold where start locks engage.
SA-091 notes that current pilot training and checklists for multi-engine piston airplanes mainly focus on total engine failures and don't adequately cover partial engine power loss. The NTSB warns this gap in training can lead to improper management and increased risk of loss of control during single-engine operations.
While the NTSB notes that feathering the propeller of an inoperative engine is a recommended practice, once the propeller rpm falls below the speed at which the start lock engages, the pilot will be unable to feather it. Agency officials say the crucial threshold to secure an inoperative motor and feather the affected propeller generally ranges from 1,000 to 800 rpm but differs depending on make and model. Some manufacturers list the information in their propeller owner’s manual, while others do not.
SA-091 also pointed out several related accidents that might have been avoided if pilots had feathered the inoperative engine before the rpm dropped below the critical speed. The NTSB urges pilots to familiarize themselves with the correct procedures for feathering propellers in their aircraft.
AN excellent video to learn about the highlights and how it affects GA. The video is about 14 minutes long and VERY INFORMATIVE. Click on the link below to watch the video.
“Letters to Airmen (LTAs) are cousins of NOTAMs. The FAA publishes Letters to Airmen to inform pilots about local ATC procedures, discuss potential conflicts in busy airspace, and to highlight other safety-of-flight issues.
Until recently, you could find LTAs only by searching for NOTAMs associated with specific airports, for example, at the FAA NOTAMs website. Sometimes the information in a particular LTA is included in the Notices section of a Chart Supplement booklet. But LTAs aren’t typically included in a standard preflight briefing.
Fortunately, Letters to Airmen are now readily available in ForeFlight. On the main information page for an airport, select the Procedures tab and scroll down past the airport diagram and other charts. Each letter associated with an airport is distinguished by the heading LTA.
LTA typically address topics such as how a particular TRACON facility handles VFR practice approaches. You may also find letters that highlight VFR arrival and departure procedures at busy airports such as San Carlos, CA (KSQL) and Boeing Field (KBFI) in Seattle. At Redmond, OR (KRDM), an LTA explains a unique procedure for squawking code 1237 in the congested airspace around Redmond and nearby Bend (KBDN), even if you’re not receiving flight following.
Other LTA alert you to potential hazards, such as glider and towplane operations near Elmira, NY (KELM), and recommended VFR arrival procedures and reporting points when flying to John C. Tune (KJWN) airport near busy Nashville, TN (KBNA). Sometimes LTA include links to additional information.
So, the next time you plan a flight, especially to or from an airport in busy airspace, check the LTA. They can help you mitigate risks, and you’ll impress ATC by knowing about and following local procedures—to the letter.”
from: Pilot Workshops
Over the last 50 years, we’ve seen tremendous progress toward reducing the rate of fatal general aviation (GA) accidents. Having fewer than six total accidents and plus or minus one fatal accident per 100,000 hours of GA flying is impressive. We’ve come a long way, but to continue that success and get that rate even lower, we’ll need to seek a few new ways to improve safety. Part of that involves human factors research, looking at ways humans succeed … and fail. It also involves finding ways to reduce or eliminate the risk of failure and stressing the importance of a safety culture. Read more by clicking the button below.
The NTSB has investigated several accidents and incidents where a failure to properly inspect and repair small damage to aluminum propeller blades resulted in propeller blade fatigue cracking and fractures. Aluminum propeller blades can be susceptible to fatigue cracking and fracture if a small nick, pit, or corrosion on the surface or edge is not found and repaired during preflight inspection or maintenance. Such damage can concentrate stress from normal airplane operation loads, resulting in fatigue crack initiation and growth followed by propeller blade fracture.
To address this issue, the NTSB recently issued SA090, available at https://www.ntsb.gov/Advocacy/safety-alerts/Documents/SA090.pdf. The alert directs owners, operators, and pilots to inspect all areas of the propeller blade, including the back/face side of the blade and the leading edge, for damage such as nicks or corrosion. Any findings should be referred to a qualified mechanic for inspection and repaired before further flight.
For additional information, review AC 20-37E, Aircraft Propeller Maintenance and AC 43.13-1B, Acceptable Methods, Techniques, and Practices – Aircraft Inspection and Repair at https://drs.faa.gov/browse.
Inside this website you'll find all the news that FAA is involved in, plus numerous stories about all things aviation and the people in the FAA that make the Agency function.
In early March 2023, the FAA published guidelines for an optional task-based Phase I flight-testing program, thereby establishing an alternative to the standard 25 or 40-hour flight-testing requirement for amateur-built aircraft and replacing the hours-based testing period with a list of comprehensive and concise tasks.
Upon an applicant aircraft’s completion of the newly-specified tasks, the FAA will approve creation of a unique Aircraft Operating Handbook (AOH*). The applicant aircraft, thereafter, is considered to have completed the Phase I flight-testing period.
The program prescribes a series of 17 discrete flight-test tasks, and recommends the tests be flown per test cards carried in the aircraft. The program further requires the creation of an Aircraft Operating Handbook (AOH)* from the test results. Such a document benefits the builder and any subsequent owners of the vetted aircraft. Test plans—provided they accomplish the FAA-prescribed tasks—may be written by anyone, including kit manufacturers and type clubs. Users of the EAA’s Flight-Test Manual will note similarities in the requirements of the EAA and FAA protocols.
In order to utilize the task-based flight-testing program, an applicant aircraft must have an operating limitation allowing said program’s use. Operating limitations are issued along with airworthiness certificates by the FAA or Designated Airworthiness Representatives (DAR) as part of an aircraft’s airworthiness certification process.
As the traditional time-based Phase I program remains unchanged, aircraft builders are free to utilize such. On 21 April, the FAA released a formal policy memorandum fully enabling the use of the task-based methodology. The new operating limitation reads (blank fields to be filled in by the appropriate inspector or DAR:
No person may operate this aircraft for other than the purpose of meeting the requirements of § 91.319(b). The pilot in command must comply with § 91.305 at all times. This aircraft is to be operated under VMC, day only. Unless operating in accordance with the task-based flight test program described in Advisory Circular (AC) 90-89C, Amateur-Built Aircraft and Ultralight Flight Testing Handbook, chapter 2, section 1, during Phase I flight testing, this aircraft must be operated for at least _____ hours with at least_____ takeoffs and landings in this geographical area: [The area must be described by radius, coordinates, navigational aids, and/or landmarks. The size of the area and airports must be that required to safely conduct the anticipated maneuvers and tests.] This aircraft may only operate from [identify name of airport(s)].
By dint of the antecedent memo, all newly inspected amateur-built aircraft should obtain the revised operating limitation. Aircraft builders are advised to query their respective DARs prior to aircraft inspections vis-à-vis subject memo. Builders/owners/operators of amateur-built aircraft already flying and still in phase I are advised to petition their local FSDOs to reissue their respective aircrafts’ operating limitations with the updated language.
The new operating limitation will be incorporated into a future change to FAA Order 8130.2.
*The term AOH is new and makes its initial appearance in the revised (AC) 90-89C, the Amateur-Built Aircraft and Ultralight Flight Testing Handbook. The term was suggested by the EAA as a homebuilt-specific alternative to Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) or Aircraft Flight Manual (AFM), both of which have regulatory connotations not applicable to experimental aircraft.
-From AOPA-
The FAA's Aviation Weather Handbook consolidates weather information from several advisory circulars into one place and operates as a technical reference for anyone flying in the national airspace system.
The handbook, published on December 20, is the result of a yearslong effort to streamline user access to aviation weather guidance.
Information in the handbook comes from the most-used weather products and information and meets the FAA's standards for pilot weather training and certification.
"Publication of the Aviation Weather Handbook is the culmination of 3+ years of hard work by Flight Standards and a host of others within the aviation weather community," FAA aviation safety manager, James Marks said. "The new handbook combines information and guidance from 6 separate weather related advisory circulars into a single source document to support pilots, dispatchers, and operators with flight planning and decision making."
The handbook is available for download from the FAA's website; however, the FAA says it is essential for users to be "familiar with and apply the pertinent parts of Title 14 CFR and the Aeronautical Information Manual."
The handbook is currently available online in PDF format. The 500-page document can be downloaded onto mobile devices and computers and can be viewed with a PDF reader app.
Major Changes to FAA Mental Health, Cardiac, and Vision Policies
The first week of June the FAA released a substantial update to their Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners that includes major improvements for the agency’s protocols for mental health, coronary heart disease, and some ophthalmologic conditions. The “AME Guide” serves as the main public-facing document for medical policy published by the FAA. In the following story, we will summarize the highlights of these policy changes by diagnosis category.
Among the most anticipated changes are those to mental health policy. For the first time, individuals with a history of certain “uncomplicated” diagnoses that have been treated by psychotherapy (including active treatment), have not been medicated within two years, and meet other screening criteria for risk factors can be approved for a medical certificate directly by the AME without a special issuance.
Diagnoses eligible under this new policy include the following. An individual can have a history of up to two of the following diagnoses, quoting from the policy:
An AME can directly issue a medical certificate to individuals with these diagnoses, even under active treatment with psychotherapy, if they meet the criteria on the FAA’s decision tool.
The FAA also rolled out a “Fast Track” for individuals with a history of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) last summer. This allows those with an ADHD diagnosis, no medication use in the past four years, and no current symptoms, to obtain a medical certificate from an AME after a report from a licensed mental health professional.
These new policies cover the “easiest” cases to certify. Many other individuals who do not meet the simplified criteria (i.e. current medication use, more complicated histories, other diagnoses, etc…) are still eligible for special issuance authorizations with a more thorough evaluation by the FAA.
For decades, a common complaint from EAA members with coronary heart disease* was the time and expense of the annual recertification process. This often involved annual stress tests and other expensive procedures that insurance frequently refused to cover. Since 2017, many GA pilots in this situation have understandably gone to BasicMed.
Now, the FAA has rolled out a simple recertification status sheet for the treating cardiologist to fill out upon renewal for those pilots who qualify for an AME Assisted Special Issuance (AASI). Stress testing and some other procedures will still be required on initial certification, but now the FAA will accept a simple affirmation from the cardiologist that the individual’s status has remained stable in the past year and that there are no significant medical concerns for most pilots. This is a major win for anyone with coronary heart disease who requires FAA medical certification.
Lattice degeneration is a condition of the eye’s retina that affects 1 in 10 individuals, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. In a new protocol, the FAA has announced that individuals who otherwise meet the vision standards for the class sought and have no complicating symptoms can receive a normal issuance from the AME. As always, those with more complicated cases may still be eligible under a special issuance.
“This is a very strong, good faith effort by the FAA to address community concerns on their evaluation criteria, particularly on their mental health standards, said Tom Charpentier, EAA government relations director. “It makes progress toward the envisioned end state laid out by the Mental Health & Aviation Medical Clearances Aviation Rulemaking Committee, and with the FAA’s history of making changes in progressive steps we are confident that plenty of meaningful reforms are yet to come.”
Charpentier also noted that the coronary heart disease changes alone would be a top story without the accompanying mental health changes, and will be a great benefit to countless pilots.
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A little more detail
In late October the FAA changed its standard on electrocardiogram (ECG) findings for medical applicants, decreasing the types of results that would lead to a medical deferral. While Class II and III medical holders are not subject to routine ECG testing, the FAA also mirrored the change in its protocol for heart arrhythmias, which all airmen are required to note if diagnosed.
The change allows airmen with a “First-degree AV (atrioventricular) block with PR interval less than 300 ms (0.30 sec)” to receive a medical certificate without deferral. This change was actually known informally to the aeromedical community as far back as 2018 but was formalized in the October change to the FAA’s list of 18 “normal abnormal” ECG findings that do not require medical deferral.
The FAA made this change because airmen with this abnormal – but benign – result almost never showed any concerning indications upon follow-up testing, so the FAA eliminated the deferral requirement.
This fits a pattern of recent reforms at the FAA’s Office of Aerospace Medicine, currently under the leadership of Federal Air Surgeon Dr. Susan Northrup, that is gradually making the application process easier for airmen. While EAA continues to work aggressively to reduce barriers to medical certification, Dr. Northrup – a GA and warbird pilot herself – and her team have been very receptive to change and community input.
Unfortunately, there have been recent allegations that the ECG change was due to an ulterior, political motive. This is absolutely false, and the associated personal attacks on Dr. Northrup, a career public servant and U.S. Air Force veteran, are inexcusable. Given the criticism, often warranted, that aeromedical certification is too difficult in the United States, it is ironic that a change that removed a medically unnecessary barrier to easy certification has garnered controversy.
Dr. Stephen Leonard, EAA Aeromedical Advisory Council chairman, explained, “rather than requiring AMEs to defer the exams of pilots showing those changes, and requiring the pilot to schedule consultation with a cardiologist and a few thousand dollars’ worth of testing, FAA authorizes us as physician examiners to question the pilot, verify that there are no associated symptoms or other conditions that might indicate a clinically significant cardiac issue, and go ahead and issue the medical certificate.”
Dr. Leonard further clarified that “we still send the EKG to FAA, their doctors still review it, and if they have any question, they follow up. Never, in 42 years as an AME, have I seen one of those ‘normal abnormals’ turn out to be clinically or aeromedically significant.”
Other recent FAA reforms include a new policy on situational depression and mild post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), two very positive steps as the FAA looks to overhaul its mental health policies. There is much more work to be done, but EAA looks forward to accomplishing it together with Dr. Northrup and the Office of Aerospace Medicine in the coming years.
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AND ANOTHER UPCOMING POLICY CHANGE AUTHORIZED BY THE FEDERAL AIR SURGEON
Vision limitations for corrective lenses/glasses have been reduced from 1,2,3,4,6,19, and 20 to ONE:
Vision Limitation #102:
Must use corrective lens(es) to meet vision standards at all required distances
1- Must have available glasses for near vision.
2- Must wear corrective lenses.
3- Must wear corrective lenses for near and distant vision.
4- Must wear corrective lenses for distant vision and have glasses for near vision.
6- Must wear prismatic correction
19- Must wear corrective lenses, and possess glasses for near / intermediate vision.
20- Holder shall possess glasses for near/intermediate vision.
102- Must use corrective lens (es) to meet vision standards at all required distances.
Note: 17- Not valid for night flying or by color signal control remains.
This was reflected in AMCS on December 28, 2022.
GA Safety Enhancement Topics
Here's a list of topics for you to choose from. Just click on the one that interests you and you will be directed to that Fact Sheet.
The FAA manages the world’s safest and most complex aviation system. On an average day, we serve more than 45,000 flights and 2.9 million airline passengers across more than 29 million square miles of airspace. The National Airspace System is a dynamic organism that is constantly evolving. This interactive dashboard helps explain how it works.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is making it easier to research aviation safety guidance material from the Office of Aviation Safety (AVS).
The Dynamic Regulatory System (DRS) combines more than 65 document types from more than a dozen different repositories into a single searchable application. This comprehensive knowledge center centralizes the FAA’s aviation safety guidance material from the Flight Standards Information System (FSIMS) and the agency’s Regulatory Guidance System (RGL).
Each guidance document includes a link to the Code of Federal Regulations provision on which the document is based. DRS contains more than 2 million regulatory guidance documents, which can be browsed or searched. A search engine allows for basic or advanced searches and different ways to sort and view the results. The system includes pending and current versions of all documents along with their revision history. Information in the DRS is updated every 24 hours
The FAA published its latest revision to Advisory Circular (AC) 90-114 (Revision B), Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Operations which provides comprehensive guidance on ADS-B operations in the National Airspace System (NAS) in accordance with ADS-B regulations (14 CFR sections 91.225 and 91.227). Of note in this revision is the clarification of certain operational policies like aircraft that are exempt from 91.225 (Section 3.2), ADS-B Out operations during formation flying activities (Section 4.3.1) and during aerobatic flight (Section 4.3.2.6.2), and inoperative ADS-B procedures (Section 4.3.4.2).
The AC also provides a helpful overview of the ADS-B system architecture, the various forms of available equipment, broadcast services available to ADS-B users, and operational considerations with regard to equipment performance requirements and airspace restrictions.