AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2015 - 100

NEWS & NOTES

ACTION IN THE STATES

AOPA ACTION

AOPA has submitted formal
comments on a proposal to
expand military airspace in
central Alaska.

ALASKA REGION
AOPA has submitted formal comments on a proposal to expand military airspace in central Alaska. AOPA
expressed concern that expanding the
Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex
would negatively affect general aviation
safety and communications, particularly
in the area between Anchorage and
Fairbanks. AOPA is seeking expanded
communications, minimal use of the airspace during the busy hunting season,
and the elimination of a VFR corridor
that would unnecessarily concentrate
traffic at low altitudes.

NORTHWEST
MOUNTAIN REGION
AOPA continues
to fight plans to
build a power
plant adjacent to
Oregon's Hillsboro
Airport. Thermal
plume models
indicate the plant
would create hazardous turbulence
near the airport.
Construction
continues on a
new GA airport
in Thermopolis,
Wyoming. The
$20 million field,
which is scheduled
to open later this
year, will replace
the community's
existing airport,
which does not
meet FAA
standards.

100 | AOPA PILOT July 2015

WESTERN PACIFIC
REGION
AOPA Ambassador Kay Sundaram
has been busy in
California, delivering "Rusty Pilots"
and "iPad in the
Cockpit 101" seminars to several
hundred pilots at
airports around
the state. At a
recent Rusty Pilots
seminar at South
County Airport,
one-third of the
participants
immediately
signed up for a
flight lesson,
putting them on
the path back
to active flying
status.

CENTRAL
SOUTHWEST
REGION
Texas Gov. Greg
Abbott has signed
a new law that
will help protect
pilots flying at
low altitudes. The
law requires that
meteorological
evaluation towers
(METs) be marked
and registered with
the state Department of Transportation's aviation
division. The law,
which takes effect
September 1, also
contains enforcement provisions.
In Missouri, Gov.
Jay Nixon was
scheduled to sign a
law providing a flyaway exemption for
aircraft sold to nonMissouri residents
and removed from
the state within 10
days.

GREAT LAKES
REGION
AOPA met with
officials in Ohio
to seek support
for less restrictive seaplane
access. Currently
seaplane pilots
must petition the
Ohio Department
of Transportation
to approve and
inspect a landing
area-and obtain
Department of
Natural Resources
approval, and pay
a fee for each lake
where they want
to operate. AOPA
also traveled to
Baudette, Minnesota, to encourage Lake in the
Woods County
Board members
to support the
creation of a new
GA airport in the
remote Northwest
Angle.

SOUTHERN REGION
Close to 2,000
remote-control
aircraft pilots and
10,000 spectators descended
on Triple Tree
Aerodrome in
South Carolina
recently for Joe
Nall Week 2015.
The annual event
is the world's largest remote-control
fly-in (see page
26). Students at
Asheville-Buncombe Technical
College in North
Carolina will have
the opportunity
to earn a two-year
associate's degree
in applied science
that will leave
graduates eligible
for a restricted
airline transport
pilot certificate.
The program kicks
off August 17.

EASTERN REGION
AOPA is working
with airport users
and the manager
of Bar HarborHancock County
Airport in Maine to
resolve scheduling
conflicts related
to a pavement
improvement
and crack sealing
project, which was
planned during
the height of tourist season. Airport
Support Network
volunteer Fritz
Kass delivered a
presentation to
the Stewart Airport Commission
in New York showing how a new
law exempting GA
aircraft from the
state's sales-anduse tax could create opportunities
at the airport.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2015