AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - August 2017 - 31

FLIGHT Act takes off in Senate

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AOPA supports legislation to reform grants,
designate disaster-relief airports
A BIPARTISAN BILL known as the
FLIGHT Act (S.B.1320), or Forward
Looking Investment in GA, Hangars
and Tarmacs, was introduced in the
U.S. Senate in June. The legislation
would give general aviation airports
an expedited environmental review
process and allow greater flexibility
in spending allocated funds on infrastructure projects that will ensure a
safer, more effective national network
of GA airports. As it stands, airports
are granted $150,000 in annual funds
under the Non-Primary Entitlement
(NPE) program. Under the FLIGHT
Act, airports would be given greater
flexibility to roll over their annual
entitlement from the current four
years to five years, for a total of
$750,000. The legislation also would
authorize the FAA to reduce the local
match for certain nonprimary airport
projects to 5 percent.
"The FLIGHT Act addresses the
growing needs of our nation's system
of airports by providing the FAA with
long overdue flexibility it needs to

fund important projects," said AOPA
President Mark Baker. "Maintaining
and upgrading runways, taxiways,
and aprons, and meeting the need for
new hangars, helps keep airports and
communities vibrant and competitive.
This bill also takes a critically important step in recognizing the vital role
that reliever airports play in natural
disaster relief efforts."
With a lower requirement for
matching funds and the ability to
bank their entitlement for five years,
airports have much more flexibility
to meet development plans, such as a
costly runway repair project. The legislation also would allow the FAA to
designate "Disaster Relief Airports."
This new category of airports would
be provided at least 4 percent of NPE
funds for emergency planning, equipment, or facilities in the case of natural
disasters. Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)
and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) are the
sponsors of the legislation (see "Guest
Editorial: Take FLIGHT," page 28).
www.aopa.org/pilot/FlightAct

AOPA proposes makeover
for 'VFR not recommended'

"VFR NOT RECOMMENDED" is a familiar cautionary statement to generations of pilots

who learned to fly in pre-digital times, when most weather briefings consisted of a
phone call between a pilot and an FAA flight service specialist. But there is no automated equivalent of the statement in the era of electronic sources of weather data.
The FAA has begun research to measure the present effectiveness of "VFR not recommended." AOPA believes that making a decision about the usefulness of "VFR not
recommended" should be a top-priority task for the FAA's flight service. And AOPA
emphasizes that "VFR not recommended" should not be eliminated-as was done
in Canada. "Instead, we contend that VNR and its concept should be evaluated for
improvement to become an effective intervention for those pilots who may be considering a flight that could result in VFR into IMC," said AOPA, urging that the FAA
study consider a solution for pilots who receive their weather via automation, and for
those who still get their weather from a briefer.
www.aopa.org/pilot/VFRNotRecommended
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 31

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AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - August 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - August 2017