“Line Up and Wait”

The FAA could soon implement a changeover from “position and hold” to “line up and wait,” to conform with international phraseology standards, NBAA said this week. If approved later this month, the new terminology could be implemented as soon as this June. It’s long overdue, according to NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman. She said the NTSB issued six recommendations in July 2000, asking the FAA to change various ATC procedures to reduce the risks of runway operations. “In response, we were recently advised that the FAA soon plans to adopt a single change: the use of “line up and wait” instead of “position and hold” to instruct pilots to enter a runway and wait for takeoff clearance,” Hersman said at a runway safety summit in Washington last month. “We needed to wait nine years for that?” Bob Lamond, of NBAA, told AVweb on Tuesday he doesn’t expect too much distress over the change. “Folks are going to stumble over it at first, but we’ll get used to it,” he said. “It’s been talked about for years, so it’s really a non-issue for us.” However, implementation will require an “extensive awareness campaign” to ensure that pilots and controllers are informed, NBAA said. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, speaking at the safety summit last month, said the FAA has done a lot to address runway safety concerns. “The numbers prove we’ve made a dramatic improvement,” he said, nothing that in the past year there were just 12 incursions out of more than 50 million operations, and only two of those involved commercial carriers. “We’ve revamped our on-line courses. We’ve produced public service spots. And we mailed a half-million runway safety DVDs and brochures to pilots,” said Babbitt. “It’s been a tremendous joint effort across all parts of the FAA and the aviation industry. It worked.” He added, however, that there is still work to be done in the GA community. “We can make every protection possible, but the human in the loop is the challenge of the future,” he said

From Avweb

http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/bizav/1548-full.html#201830

NTSB to require new reporting

The NTSB has published a final rule amending its regulations and reporting requirements regarding aircraft accidents and specifying the sort of accidents that must be reported immediately. Incidents making the list now include specific EFIS system and PFD or PND failures, and specific collision avoidance system advisories received while operating on an instrument flight plan or in class A airspace. Also included are powerplant issues including turbine component failure resulting in debris thrown anywhere other than out the exhaust path, and propeller failure resulting from anything other than a ground strike. Along with all that, air carriers will be required to report any landing or departure from a taxiway or use of the wrong runway.

Christmas time at the airport

As I sat at the flight school on Christmas Eve digging my wifves Honda CR-V out of the snow. It reminded me of a good joke that was passed to me on email. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good flight.

Buen Dia! (as they say on Montery Center)

Santa is about to take off on Christmas Eve for his annual ride when FAA inspector Juan Rivera approaches him in front of the hangar. “How long has it been since you’ve flown this sleigh,” he asks the Big Guy. “Exactly one year tonight,” Santa replies. “Well,” says the inspector, “I’d say you’re out of currency. We’d better take a ride together.

Wondering of course whether he did indeed turn in his paper certificate for a plastic replacement, Santa invites the inspector aboard. Being pretty quick, Santa couldn’t help noticing the 45 strapped to the inspector’s belt. “Why would you need a gun on a checkout flight?” Santa wondered.

“Well, I’m not really supposed to tell you this,” the inspector replied, “but you’re going to lose one on takeoff.”

Got A Paper Certificate? Replace It Now

If your FAA pilot certificate is printed on paper, it’s going to expire on March 31, unless you replace it with a new plastic certificate. To get the new counterfeit-resistant certificates, you have to fill out a form and mail it to the FAA in Oklahoma City along with $2 for each certificate you want to replace, or you can do it online. Either way, the new certificate won’t list your original date of issue, so you might want to keep that old dog-eared piece of paper to prove your longevity. If you apply by mail, it’s going to take four to six weeks, and up to 10 days for online processing, so don’t put it off till the last minute or you could find yourself grounded. Some non-pilot certificates, such as those for flight engineers and mechanics, are good for another three years but then they will also have to be replaced. Student certificates are not affected.

While you’re at it, you can also ask the FAA to issue you a new certificate number that is not your social security number. There is no additional charge to make this change.

 You can click here to visit the FAA website where you can make the changes.

New website is active

Merry Christmas Everyone.

This morning I was able to publish our new website design. I am sure there will be plenty of changes and missing information but we will work hard to fix it. The best part is much of the outdated information on the old site is now offline.

HCA will be closed today and tomorrow. If you have a rental or need an aircraft please call our office and speak with our call center. It is answered 24hrs a day and they will get your message to whoever is on call. (Usually Louie).

Please do not forget about our Seminole special. It will be extended into January. That is $100/hr dry.