Safety
The winter thaw is underway and soon grass strips will be available. A & M does not allow takeoff and landings at grass strips unless a CFI is on board so please adhere to this policy. For students and aircraft owners make sure that you check NOTAMs and we also suggest that you call the respective airport owner or manager to get real-time conditions.
Improving Proficiency
Night flight is a special and beautiful time to fly, but there is more risk. We recently gave a seminar on improving proficiency and reducing risk of night flying and at A & M our CFIs do more than what the PTS requires with our students. We practice stalls, slow flight, and simulated malfunctions (e.g. loss of cabin lighting and landing lights) and we integrate instruments simulating takeoff and climb outs on moonless dark nights and simulate loss of situational awareness which is a higher risk at night. If you need to brush up or get current on night flying check us out.
If you are an instrument pilot and have not been up in the clouds in a while or a student who wants to experience what is like to fly on instruments, consider going up with an instructor and get some actual instrument time. It is a great experience, and we believe it is important to experience actual instrument time with our students.
Industry News
If you are an iPAD user take a look at this periodic newsletter from Sportys. Called iPad Pilot News: iPad@enews.sportys.com It has great information on capabilities you may not be familiar with and explains how to make better use of your iPAD in flight. It is free and is sent out each month.
PTS going Away - Making room for the New Airman Certification Standards
If you are studying or training a pilot for a private pilot airplane (PAR) or instrument-airplane rating (IRA) knowledge test, here’s some good news: You no longer need to “know” things like the height of blowing sand or the MH (magnetic heading) + RB (relative bearing) = MB (magnetic bearing) formula for a fixed-card automatic direction finder.
Using the Airman Certification Standards (ACS) framework developed through FAA collaboration with a diverse group of industry experts, the FAA is systematically revising knowledge test questions to eliminate irrelevant or outdated material. Using the ACS, all active knowledge test questions on today’s private pilot airplane (PAR) and instrument-airplane rating (IRA) knowledge tests have been revised to align with what an applicant really needs to know, consider, and do in connection with each Area of Operation and Task. Want to know more? Please visit the Airman Testing web page and watch for additional FAAST Blast updates as the FAA prepares to implement the ACS for PAR and IRA in June 2016.
What's New at A & M
Seminars
A & M Aviation and the Illinois Aviation Museum offer monthly seminars on many topics. Last month we provided a seminar on Best Glide speed and practicing for emergency approaches and landings, along with a Winter Operations presentation. These seminars are free and Wings credit is provided for attendance. It is a great way to learn, share your experience, and meet others with a passion for aviation.
The next seminar is March 17th and the topics are Developing Personal Minimums for Wind (UPDATED) plus Understanding the New ICAO Flight Plans. Come hear how to raise your personal minimums and how to file an ICAO flight plan. The seminars are every 3rd Thursday of the month at 7PM-9PM at the Illinois Aviation Museum and notices go out via the FAA Wings program and posted on the A & M Aviation Facebook page. If you are not registered with Wings and do not get notices of seminar events, please check in with us just in case a seminar gets postponed, rarely happens but we don't want to inconvenience you.
IMC Club
We have temporarily suspended our IMC Club meetings, a notice will be coming out when they start up again.
The IMC Club is now a subsidiary of the EAA.
Contact A & M if you would like to set up training or have any questions about us:
A & M Aviation, Inc.630-759-1555
www.aandmaviation.com
I welcome your feedback, let me know how to make the News-Flyer more valuable to you and what seminar topics you would like to see us cover. Contact the New