Executive Flyers November 2004 Newsletter
Congratulations to:
Yuriy Chiley and David Wolf for soloing; Brett Racine for passing his single engine CFI check ride; Neal Davis for passing his single and multi-engine CFI check rides; Alberto Martinez for passing his single engine commercial checkride; Dominic Tatro for passing his single and multi-engine commercial check rides; Randy Cowart for passing his private pilot check ride and Neal Davis and Doug Campbell for winning the monthly drawing of an hour of instruction or a month’s dues.
Instrument flying
The weather is growing colder and we had one of the wettest Octobers in years. If you have your instrument rating, it’s time to get current. Remember, you must have done six instrument approaches, holding procedures and intercepted and tracked courses through the use of navigation systems within the past six months in order to be current to act as PIC under IFR or in IMC. If you have not been current for more than a year, you will need to pass an instrument proficiency check (IPC) with a CFI-I. The IPC is basically an instrument check ride without the cross country planning. If you want to practice and save a lot of money, use our Elite PCATD (simulator). It only costs $25 an hour to rent and it is excellent for practicing procedures and approaches. If you are just starting your instrument rating, we can teach you GPS procedures in four of our aircraft. If you take all of your instrument training in our new 172 or Warrior or Archer, the owners will give you a cash rebate at the end of your training. If you want to see what instrument flying is like, schedule an introductory flight on an IMC day.
New regulation
Anyone who starts training for the private license is required to show proof of citizenship before starting their training. This proof needs to be in the form of a birth certificate with a picture ID to tie the person to the birth certificate, or a current U.S. passport. The flight instructor will make an entry in the person’s logbook verifying that he or she has seen the document and including the number of the document, if any. We are currently unable to train any new students who are not U.S. citizens. Pilots who currently hold a U.S. private license or better are exempt from this rule until December of 2004 if they are not U.S. citizens and permanently exempt if they are U.S. citizens.
Instrument ground school
The instrument ground school is in progress, but you could join it now and catch up on what has been covered already with some help from your CFI. This is an excellent time of the year to start the instrument work, as the more flying in actual conditions that you can get in your training, the more comfortable you will be when you get the rating. Many students go through all of their training without ever seeing instrument conditions and are much more hesitant to fly in IMC than those who have trained in weather. The cost is $150 for members and $200 for non-members plus the books and supplies. The instrument rating will allow you to fly more often and you will be a much better pilot when you have it. Call the office if you have any questions about the ground school. Talk with a CFI-I if you have other questions about instrument training.
Holiday planning
Although it is several months away, Christmas is coming up. We currently have many makes of headsets in stock including David Clark, Lightspeed and Telex. We have the Lowrance 2000c color portable GPS as well as the 1000 and 500 black and white models. Other items in stock include pilot caps, children’s jackets, novelty items and many kinds of pilot supplies. If you don't know exactly what to get for someone, we have gift certificates that can be used for supplies and flying. If you are looking for a gift for a pilot friend or one for yourself that is not in our stock, please call Deena at the office during the week. She may be able to order it for you so that it will arrive in time for the holiday season.
Welcome
We have two new instructors on board. They are Julie Brooks and Ryan Devitt. Both of them are excellent instructors and available for private and commercial instruction. Julie is also available for instrument and multi engine instruction.
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last modified November 4, 2004 by Ed Callaway