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EAA Countdown to Kitty Hawk Centennial Coverage

Aeronautica Offers 'Milestones in the Sky'
You can own the prototype edition of an exciting oral history project written and produced by Wings narrator Ron David. Milestones in the Sky. This audio CD captures stories that relate the wonder, the passion, the danger and the rhapsody of flight. Originally $14.95, this CD is now on sale for $7.50. Also available on cassette, was $12.95, now $6.50. Visit the Aeronautica website for this and other special offers.
http://shop.eaa.org.

Q & A: Question of the Week
Question for EAA Aviation Information Services:
To maintain my IFR currency (while flying under VFR), I occasionally invite a pilot friend along to serve as the designated safety pilot. I know that the designated safety pilot must be at least a Private Pilot with category and class appropriate to the aircraft being flown (FAR 91.109). My question: Does this imply that the designated safety pilot must also 1.) have a current medical certificate, 2.) be current in that category & class aircraft, and 3.) be current day and/or night and have the required endorsements in tailwheel, high performance, and/or complex aircraft as appropriate?

For example, I want a designated safety pilot friend to fly with me while I’m under the hood in VFR conditions. I am flying in my experimental, 230 hp, retractable gear, tailwheel equipped, Wizzer Special. Is it legal for my Private Pilot - Airplane - Single Engine Land friend (who is not signed off for tailwheel aircraft or high performance/complex aircraft and has an expired Class Three medical certificate) to serve as my designated safety pilot? If one reads the reg strictly, all my friend needs to have is a piece of paper that says he possesses: Private Pilot - Airplane - Single Engine Land. I am looking forward to your response to clarify this matter.

Answer:
Excellent question. When the pilot manipulating the controls of the aircraft is using a view-limiting device to simulate IFR flight in VFR weather conditions (VMC), the operation requires a safety pilot (ref: 14 CFR 91.109(b)). Since this regulation calls out the safety pilot as required crew for the operation, the safety pilot must hold a valid FAA medical certificate. However, so long as the person flying the aircraft meets all applicable requirements and is acting as the Pilot In Command (PIC) of the flight, the safety pilot would not need to meet the endorsement requirements of 14 CFR 61.31 (i.e., tailwheel, high performance, complex, etc.). Thus, your friend could legally act as safety pilot in your aircraft, so long as you meet the requirements and act as PIC for the flight.
  
How can we help you?
To ask a question regarding government issues, e-mail govt@eaa.org. If you have a question about registration, airmen, aircraft and medical certification, safety records, performance, or any other matter, e-mail infoserv@eaa.org.
  
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Upcoming Workshops 

February 6-8
Denver, CO
Topic: RV Assembly

February 20-22
Griffin (Atlanta area) GA
Topic: TIG Welding 

January 2004
EAA Desktop Calendar

January's EAA Skiplane Fly-In provides February's EAA Desktop Calendar. Bill Weber, Belvidere, Illinois, has a novel way to keep his Champ's prop protected from the elements: a two-headed fox prop cover! Visit the EAA website and select one of four resolutions for your computer desktop.

EAA's Official Electronic Newsletter
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2004 July 27-August 2
"Launching the Next Century of Flight"

January 30, 2004   Volume 4, Number 4

EAA Member to Try for Record 100 Landings in One Day
To call Lt. Col. Charles L. “Lindy” Kirkland a “chopper pilot” may be understating things a bit. He is an operations officer and a command pilot with Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) in Quantico, Virginia. HMX-1 is the squadron that flies “Marine One” and provides rotary wing transport to the president and vice president, heads of state, and cabinet members. Lindy and fellow aviator Maj. Rob Krieg, both EAA members, are on an additional mission these days: Operation Centennial Angel. On March 16, they plan to set an NAA-sanctioned (National Aeronautic Association) U. S. national record by landing on 100 Virginia runways in a single day to raise money for Angel Flight East.

One of history's most beautiful and beloved airliners will be on display at AeroShell Square during this year's EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, July 27 - August 2. The Lockheed Super Constellation Star of America will fly to Oshkosh from the Airline History Museum, Kansas City, Missouri. Introduced by Lockheed in the early 1950s, the Super Constellation is considered the pinnacle of propeller-powered airliners. Its commercial popularity was relatively short-lived, however, when faster, more profitable jet-powered airliners appeared in the late 1950s 

Weather in Oshkosh could not have been better for the annual Skiplane Fly-In Saturday, January 24, at Pioneer Airport. Friday’s event-saving snow provided just enough of a soft, white runway for more than a dozen ski-equipped airplanes, which were greeted by Saturday’s low teens, light breezes and sunny, severe-clear skies.

Aviation enthusiasts working toward an ultralight instructor rating or sharpening their instruction skills are invited to participate in an Ultralight Flight Instructor Ground School at the EAA Aviation Center on March 20-21. Each session includes two days of high-quality instruction sponsored by EAA, including ground school instruction on more than a dozen practical topics necessary to earn an EAA Ultralight Flight Instructor rating.

While reservation policies vary somewhat from hotel to hotel, local lodging is generally booked solid from year to year in Oshkosh for the annual EAA AirVenture Oshkosh convention, scheduled this year from July 27 through August 2. But there are several other options available for people who wish to attend but have not made housing arrangements, and a good place to start is the Oshkosh Convention and Visitors Bureau (OCVB).

EAA SOAR (Special Outreach with Aviation Resources) coordinator Horace Sanchez discussed EAA educational programs at the recent Black Pilots Association (BPA) annual winter board of directors meeting in New Orleans Louisiana. BPA immediately formed a committee to further explore possible cooperation between the two organizations. 

The Experimental Aircraft Association marked its 51st anniversary on Monday, January 26, recalling that first EAA meeting in a wintry night in Milwaukee, Wis., in 1953. The organization's success would not be possible without the support and involvement of its hundreds of thousands of members through the years, and the 170,000 aviation enthusiasts who are current EAA members.

Just think, almost 12 years ago the Young Eagles Program was announced to the world. A very ambitious program, it had a goal of flying 1 million young people ages 8-17 by the centennial of the Wright brothers first powered flight. Personally, I am very glad that the program’s founders had the vision to create such an exciting opportunity for America’s youth. If EAA and the thousands of volunteer Young Eagles pilots and ground personnel had not taken the initiative to help ensure aviation’s future, I most likely would not be looking forward to having a life-long career in the aviation industry.

Dr. Peggy Chabrian, EAA 123064, Port Orange, Florida, is an international keynote speaker and professional aviation educator whose interest in aviation did not come until she was a college senior. Working in a restaurant in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the time, Peggy took up a regular customer's offer to go up in his 1946 Ercoupe. Two and a half years later she was married to that pilot and went on to found Women in Aviation, International, where she serves as president. Read more about Peggy's story on the Timeless Voices website.

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