Coming up, hear the story of a teen
who flew around the world.
Another first for electric aircraft.
Plus find out who won
the first Red Bull air race of the season.
And we show you a technique for finding best glide.
AOPA Live This Week begins in just a moment.
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(upbeat music)
This is AOPA Live This Week,
with Tom Haynes and Melissa Rudinger.
Well, here we go again.
As we record this we don't know
if there's gonna be another government shutdown.
The Compromise Bill to fund border security
and other agencies like the FAA,
hasn't yet passed congress.
And the White House hasn't given concrete assurance
that the president would sign it
when it does pass.
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill this week,
aviation industry executives told congress
about the cost of the last shutdown.
Take another company in Florida
provides other type of aircraft out there.
They were within a week of furloughing
because they could not get flight test people
to be able to keep their programs going.
Another very large jet manufacturer.
If you look at a major development program.
I've testified in front of this committee
before the burn rate for a major program
is about $10 million a month.
And so if you can't get the program to progress
like get flight test.
What happens is those flight test people
are now booked the next month with another company
so you don't just push everybody to the right
you go and you get the folks that were scheduled
and then you have to go several months later.
So it really is a burn rate where it's
like lighting a match to the money
and that money could have been used to go ahead
and hire more people as you ramp up production
once you get your certification.
So it all has ripple effects
for each one of the manufacturers
when we have delays like that.
Although it's the safest system in the world
during the shutdown
many of our programs have reduced the risk
and enhanced the safety of the system
have come to a complete stop.
At the time of the shutdown finally ended
I believe the system was on the verge of unraveling.
Even though the system is safer today
than it was during the shutdown
it is still less safe
than it was before they shutdown.
The shut down eroded critical layers
that are necessary to support
and maintain the safety of National Airspace System.
And that's why represented a Peter DeFazio of Oregon
and Rick Larsen of Washington
have introduced a bill to ensure that the FAA
continues to operate during any future government shutdowns.
The proposed law would allow the FAA
to draw on the airport and airways Trust Fund
if budget impasses cut-off regular funding.
Forty aviation groups including AOPA
have added their support
to the Aviation Funding and Stability Act.
In a letter to Congress the group said that
jobs and economic growth in the industry
were threatened as manufacturers, airlines
and other operators and small businesses face disruption.
The effect on the nation's air transportation system
and the workers charged with keeping the system safe
was dramatic.
We find this situation to be unacceptable
and we want to work with Congress and the Administration
to prevent this from ever happening again.
Something good is happening at Pappy Boyington field
in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
It didn't start that way.
A proposed update to the Minimum Standards and Regulations
at the airport had local pilots up in arms.
But to paraphrase from the movie Cool Hand Luke
what they had there was a failure to communicate.
AOPA Airport Support Network Volunteer
Greg Gfeller called on AOPA for help.
Mark Baker send a letter proposing a number of solutions
and to Gfeller work to keep everybody talking.
And because of that open communication
the new regulations are working.
Get to know your airport director
and get to understand what he or she has to face
because quite honestly there's a whole litany of rules
that they have to follow for grant assurances.
It took a whole lot of communication
and it takes a whole lot of listening.
It was good to have the AOPA advocacy
and knowledge on our side
as we try to work through this.
Great words to live by.
Yeah, absolutely and kudos to the local pilots out there
for putting it all together and making it happen.
Absolutely.
And a Laurel for the boss - literally.
The magazine Aviation Week hands out laureates
to great achievers and aerospace and aviation.
AOPA president Mark Baker got a laurel for AOPA's
You Can Fly program
Aviation Week said about Mark quotes,
"from helping create flying clubs to welcoming drone pilots,
"AOPA under Baker has addressed
"declining private pilot numbers with initiatives,
"including providing aviation education
"to high schools lobbying for medical certification reform
"and helping rusty pilots get back in the cockpit."
Way to go Mark.
Bye Aerospace is celebrating
the first official test flight of the Sun Flyer 2
with the Siemens electric motor
by is developing a family of all electric aircraft
for training and the general aviation markets.
The 57 pounds Siemens motor in the Sun Flyer 2
kicks out 120 horsepower.
the prototype will conduct extensive
additional flight test activities this year.
As we record this it's Valentine's Day.
We hope you're with the one you love
or at least get a chance to spend time
with your real love today flying.
A lot of members have a great deal of affection
for the APOA Sweepstakes Super Cub.
Alyssa Cobb explains.
Super Cub love pats.
(dynamic music)
Our shiny yellow Sweepstakes Super Cub
is simply irresistible.
(dynamic music)
The glossy finish on this tail-dragger
is just too much for pilots to resist
giving it what I call a little love pat.
♪ You answer quitely ♪
♪ As if accidentally I called your bluff ♪
♪ I know ♪
Whether it's two fingers against the side of the fuselage
or a little loving pat on the tail pilots love touching
and feeling the fabric on this Sweepstakes Super Cub.
No don't worry I wipe the fingerprints off after every show
so we keep it in pristine condition for you
but the next time you see the Super Cub out
come along and give it a little love pat of your own.
♪ Yours ♪
And it is quite an airplane.
Find out more on the Sweepstakes websites.
AOPA is working to protect Piper owners
against an unnecessary
and burdensome airworthiness directive.
The AD would require intrusive
and expensive wings bar inspections,
it would affect up to 20,000 PA-28 and 32 airplanes.
In public comments on the proposed rule AOPA said
the FAA should pull back on the requirements
and instead gather safety data
in a way that would be less expensive for aircraft owners.
Losing an engine in flight
can can lead to a major accidents or it can be a relatively minor event,
depending on where and how you handle it.
AOPA pilot editor Dave Hirschman
shows us a technique for quickly finding best glide
when the engine gives up the ghost.
(plane engine roaring)
Your engine just quit.
One of your first and most important tasks
is finding and flying at the airplanes best glide speed.
But where's that?
It's not marked on the airspeed indicator
and the actual value changes with weight.
So here's a trick that will allow you to find
and fly your airplanes best glide speed
even if you don't remember it
in the midst of an emergency.
Just fly a level attitude.
What I want you to do is
look at the chord line of the wing
and just hold it.
We got a nice crystal clear razor sharp horizon.
I want you to hold the attitude on the horizon.
Though we're in about a 500 foot per minute
rate of descend normal.
You would retrim
for the new the new reality of the new airspeed.
Perfect and just hold that chord line of the wing
level on the horizon.
Now our best glide speed is 65 at max gross.
Let's see what we're doing now.
About 68-69 68
And we're slowing to 67.
Though it's like let's see what the ASI says.
ASI pretty much agree 68.
We're within three knots of the best glide speed.
Just hold the chord line of the wing on the horizon.
Your airplane will still descend
but you will maximize the distance available
to find the safe landing area.
Yeah, the really important thing about this
is that keep your eyes outside.
Yeah.
And in an emergency like an engine out emergency
where you're gonna be looking for a field to land
and looking for the nearest airport.
Being able to keep your eyes outside
and start going in the direction you wanna go in.
That's the really key part
Dave Hirschman AOPA Live.
Good tip.
One other thing to know if you lose an engine in the clouds
same technique works using the altitude indicator.
Coming up after the break.
Tales from a flight around the world,
we take a look at a new feature
in four flights and Red Bull pilot Michael goalie
reflects on the first race of the season.
We'll be right back.
(upbeat music)
Thank you for being here to support Angel Flight West
and the fifth annual Endeavor Awards.
(upbeat music)
The real heroes in this equation
are Angel Flight passengers.
(upbeat music)
Wow!
See I told you you'd love this.
(upbeat music)
Welcome back. Two tenths of a second.
That was the difference between first and third place
at last week's Red Bull air race in Abu Dhabi.
This week I had the chance to talk to Michael Goulian
about what it was like to miss first place
by less than an eye blink.
It's really funny when we first started
in the Red Bull air race.
If you were four or five seconds apart.
That was close, right?
And I just came back from Abu Dhabi and the first place,
the second place guy was 3,000th of a second
and me and in a distant third
was two tenths of a second behind
and it's just one of those things
it's a half a G more here
a half a G less over there
and that gives you a half of an airplane length
which puts you from first to third
so this is a game now where to be on the podium
on race day you have to be almost perfect.
It was a hard week.
They changed some of the rules on how you fly
so I was struggling with actually how to adapt
to the new rules
but we hadn't figured out by about qualifying
and then on race day sort of smooth
and steady kind of it got us to the finals there.
And the third place for us just two tenths behind the winner
we were happy with that.
And we think it's a good way to start the year for sure.
What do you say to a young pilot
who looks at what you do in is awed by it
and would like to join that team someday?
How do you get from a low time private pilot
maybe to the point that you're flying
at the level that you are?
Yeah, I think there's a lot of people that email us
and ask how do I become a Red Bull air race pilot
or how do I fly air shows for a living
and the reality of it is nobody ever starts out there.
And it's for me
now I've been flying airplanes for 35 years
and flying aerobatics for 25 or 30 of those years
and I wanna tell people that wanna do this
it's not gonna come easy.
It's a 10-15 year commitment to get there.
But it's so amazing.
I'm so lucky to be flying in the venues that I am
that every day I still pinch myself.
So if somebody says hey,
how do I become a Red Bull air pilot?
I say listen start at square one
and you're gonna have to just keep on pressing
for years and years and years as it should be.
It's not easy to get there
and the people that have persevered
for a good amount of time
are the ones that are gonna get there.
So in life as an anything if you're passionate
and you push and you stay driven
you're gonna attain the goal.
Michael seem always has a good time at the races
always very enthusiastic
and just absolutely loves the competitive nature
of the Red Bul air races
and so it's a great team
and the fact that you missed it by two tenths.
He's still on the podium and that's what counts
in the Red Bull air races.
It does count and it's just starting.
It does.
If you own a drone
there's a new rule going into effect next week
that you should know about.
Starting on February 23
all drones will need to have the registration number
visible from the outside.
Currently, you only have to have the number
displayed internally if it can be accessed without tools.
The new rule came after law enforcement express concerns
about the risk of a concealed explosive device
injuring first responders looking for a registration number.
So the next time you fly your drone
make sure that the registration number is visible.
And here's something else you need to know.
magnetic north has packed up and is moving.
All pilots know that magnetic north
is in a different place than true north.
That's why we have to account for magnetic variation
in our flight planning but it's getting worse.
NOAA says that magnetic north is moving rapidly
in geologic terms at least towards Siberia.
Hey there goes the neighborhood.
So fast that the agency has to do a special update
of the world magnetic model.
So why do you care?
Well, for one thing,
runway numbers are based on magnetic bearing
and that's something that AOPA had pushed for years ago.
So Runway 18/36 may have been pointed in that direction
years ago when the numbers were painted on it
but now it might be closer to Runway 1/19.
You might be a little bewildered
when the numbers don't match your compass.
But you're less likely to be confused
if you can preview the airport and the surrounding areas.
And you can with the latest update
to the popular ForeFlight app.
They call it airport 3D view.
And ForeFlight says it can create a realistic
and interactive simulation of the airport environment.
The feature comes with ForeFlight performance plus
and business performance plans.
Now there's another option for your flight planning
and ESB needs.
It's not as powerful as ForeFlight
but it is free.
Aero Charting works on an iPad.
You get a moving map with custom recreation
and it connects to the AOPA Online Flight Planner.
So you can import flight plan from the web.
It doesn't have VFR charts or approach plates
but it does pull in basic information
from a AOPAs airport directory and hey it's free.
And AOPA associate a web editor David Tulis
came across one pilot who used a lot of charts
and flight planning products.
Last fall, he returned from a trip around the world.
David caught up with him in his home state of Louisiana.
18 year old Mason Andrew
set out to accomplish something truly amazing
become the youngest person to fly around the world
in a single engine airplane
and he did it for a cause that he cares deeply about
Med-Camps of Louisiana.
It's a special needs summer camp
that's completely free of charge to the family to use it.
So during the course of that trip
were able to raise over $33,000
and even more money has rolled in
since I got back from the trip inspired by the trip.
So it's something I'm really proud of being able to do
Mason flew a Piper Lance owned by his family.
The aircraft name The Spirit of Louisiana,
which is a sort of a call back to Charles Lindbergh
Spirit of St. Louis,
but also tribute to my state of Louisiana.
The journey took 76 days
and Mason encountered several challenges along the way.
On one leg Mason was surprised by military jet near Taiwan.
I'd enter the Taiwan flight information region
and was still very near the storm cell that I was skirting
towards the west side
when I saw an F-16 in about a 80 degree bank angle
about a mile in front of me
and then a few minutes later,
it came up off my left wing
about five feet wing to wing
and there was a Taiwanese F-16 it intercepted me
and wanted me to fly back into Japanese airspace.
So it stayed with me as a skirted around the storm
and ultimately was able to re enter Naha control
and start reeling with them again
and they begin to understand my situation.
And that wasn't the only challenge
that Mason faced on the trip.
On his leg to the Philippines,
he encountered in unexpected line of thunderstorms
that closed most of the airports around his destination.
So I called Manila center and I said
land seven, eight Charlie requesting diversion
to Subic Bay International Airport.
They came back and said
Subic Bays is closed.
I call back and I said seven-eight Charlie
declare an emergency we're landing in Subic Bay.
So they came back they said
the lights aren't on there's no one at the airport.
there's no where to land.
I said, we're proceeding to Subic Bay.
I said I wasn't demanding
but at the same time I needed their help.
So I asked him to get somebody out to the airport
to turn the lights on
and I was within a mile of 200 feet
when the lights came on.
The experience taught Mason valuable lessons
that he now shares with other pilots.
If you have an emergency,
do what you need to do
to get the airplane on the ground safely.
Don't worry about what air traffic control wants you to do.
Obviously air traffic control
is usually looking out for your best interest.
But if you have to deviate from any of the rules,
in the far as 91.3 says
deviate from them
as much as you need to enhance the safety of your flight.
Mason told us that he hopes his journey
will help grow the aviation community.
More people learn about these types of things.
The more people get inspired to do
and just like I was
that's really all we can hope for
is the next generation of people coming up
and learning to fly and becoming airline pilots
or military pilots.
I mean, we need all of them right now.
This is David Tulis AOPA Live.
Wow!
What a great accomplishment particularly for an 18 year old.
Amazing I know that I would have had that confidence
at 18.
Yeah really.
Good for him. What a nice good job
and way to assert yourself
when you have to in an emergency situation like that.
Absolutely.
Well that's it for our show this week have any feedback?
Hey, send us an email at AOPA Live at aopa.org.
Thanks for watching and we'll see you here next Thursday.
(upbeat music)
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