AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2016 - 112

NEWS & NOTES

AOPA FOUNDATION

Donate your airworthy airplane to the AOPA Foundation: Bypass the hassle
of selling, and gain a tax benefit while fueling GA's future with your donation
(www.aopafoundation.org/aircraft-donation).
AIR SAFETY INSTITUTE

|

Collision avoidance
New video offers strategies to boost
'see and avoid' concept
MIDAIR COLLISIONS are far less common
than we may think. But while the risk is
small, it is always there. So it's helpful to
know where and when most midairs occur,
and to have a strategy that will minimize
your chances of being involved in one.
When you think about it, it makes sense
that the greatest risk of a collision would
be a place where the most aircraft share
the least airspace-such as near an airport.
Statistics tell us that more than half take
place within five miles of an airport, and
more than 95 percent occur below 3,000
feet of the ground during the day. Other
areas of high traffic alert are near waypoints
and navaids used for practice instrument
approaches. During VFR conditions, these

are places where
many aircraft
potentially share an
airway to and from
a navigation point, often without the benefit of ATC separation.
How do we arm ourselves with a solid
strategy to reduce our risk of a midair?
Early in flight training we learn about the
"see and avoid" concept, which is still the
primary means of avoiding a collision with
other aircraft. But there are many other
tools at our disposal.
Watch Collision Avoidance: See, Sense,
Separate (www.airsafetyinstitute.org/
collision-avoidance/midairs) to understand the value of using navigation and

position lights and making position calls
five and 10 miles out from an airport or
navigation fix. The video discusses ways
to listen to and look for other aircraft in
the area, to make yourself more visible,
and how and when ATC can be helpful,
as well as limitations of ATC assistance-
even at towered fields-in a nonradar
environment.
This video was made possible by the
Canadian Owners and Pilots Association
Flight Safety Foundation and the Donner
Canadian Foundation.

DON'T BE A FUEL FOOL
Stiff headwinds or unexpected routing
changes can put you in a potential danger zone of getting low on fuel before
reaching your destination.
Should you tell air traffic control?
What should you say? Words matter;
and what you say is as important as
when you say it.

ASI SEMINAR

'EMERGENCY! GETTING IT RIGHT
WHEN THINGS GO WRONG'
Visit the website (www.airsafetyinstitute.org/seminars)
for dates and locations near you.

112 | AOPA PILOT March 2016

In Ask ATC: Minimum Fuel v. Fuel
Emergency, air traffic controllers explain
how they can help when things don't
go as expected (www.airsafetyinstitute.
org/askatc/fuel).
Prime your next flight with "ASI's
Golden Hour Fuel Reserve" to land with
at least one hour of fuel in the tanks.

http://www.aopafoundation.org/aircraft-donation http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/collision-avoidance/midairs http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/collision-avoidance/midairs http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/askatc/fuel http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/askatc/fuel http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/seminars

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2016