Flight Training - January 2013 - 16

PREFLIGHT»

NASA report: Your ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card?
It’s not so clear cut
AS A PILOT, one of the tools in your flight bag is the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), otherwise known as the “NASA report.” It’s a program designed to get valuable information about what is going on in the aviation ecosystem from those who are actually using the system. The information helps bring about changes that benefit us all. But the best part is you may possibly “get out of jail free” by sharing the information. ASRS enables pilots to identify safety hazards in operating practices, chart terminology, weather briefings, instruments, emergency procedures, medical issues, or any other aspect of flying. By filing a NASA report, you make your concerns known in an anonymous way, so that any disincentive to make the report because of embarrassment or concern about FAA enforcement action is predominantly removed. The information is collected

PILOT PROTECTION SERVICES

BY KATHY YODICE

and analyzed by NASA to create valuable data useful in making appropriate modifications to the system to avoid future mishaps. Once the report is received and NASA enters the objective data into its system, the report and any personally identifying information is destroyed, preserving your anonymity. There are two very important exceptions that prevent NASA from keeping your information confidential; that is, if the report involves an accident or a criminal act, then the report will not be de-identified but will be sent in its entirety to the proper authorities such as the FAA, the NTSB, or the Department of Justice. I recommend that members of the AOPA Legal Services Plan/Pilot Protection Services contact the plan before filing a NASA report that may involve an accident or criminal act. The form that you complete can be

mailed or submitted through the Internet. The printed form has two parts. One part is a strip, on which the reporter records his or her name and address, and when NASA receives the report by mail, this strip is removed, date-stamped, and returned to the reporter. If the report is submitted electronically, a confirmation page is provided and must be printed out before you log off. The other part of the form is a survey that requests detailed information on the event or situation. To learn more about AOPA’s Pilot Protection Services or to enroll, visit the website (www.aopa.org/pps).
Kathy Yodice is an aviation attorney for AOPA’s Pilot Protection Services and Legal Services Plan. She’s assisted AOPA members for more than 13 years and is a former FAA attorney. Kathy owns a Cherokee 180 and has been a pilot since 1994.

Flying teacher creates organizer to help student pilots
Tool stores necessary material
TERESA GUILLEMOT RECALLS that when she began training for a private pilot certificate in 2005, “it was like learning a foreign language in a foreign land.” A teacher with a master’s degree in curriculum instruction, Guillemot said she was overwhelmed and confused by all the disparate pieces of information she had to assemble to prepare for the knowledge and eventually the practical test. Guillemot, of Batavia, Illinois, was working on an instrument rating when she hit upon the idea for the Aviator’s Practical Organizer, a tool intended to help student and certificated pilots guide and track their progress while retaining the knowledge they need for the practical test. The Aviator’s Practical Organizer is a three-ring binder with tabbed sections that cover the entire practical test standards for the pertinent certificate or rating. Broken down into sections with a checklist for each, the practical test standards are then more easily digested as the student trains. An aircraft “quick facts” sheet is designed to get students into their trainer’s

TRAINING PRODUCTS

BY JILL W. TALLMAN

pilot’s operating handbook to record V-speeds, fuel, performance numbers, and other data. The organizer doesn’t include any type of syllabus or ground materials other than a reference list that a student can use throughout his or her training. It requires the user to build the organizer with information according to how he or she learns, and shows the user the relevance of the information through its practical application. “The checkride is still old school. There’s a lot of technology in apps that can support the instruction as you’re going along, but when you walk into the checkride, you’re still expected to pull out an E6B, a paper chart, and a plotter,” Guillemot said. With that in mind, she’s investigating the possibility of creating a virtual notebook version of the organizer. The Aviator’s Practical Organizer (http://thepracticalaviator. com) is sold online for $49.95. Versions are available for the private and commercial certificates and the instrument rating.

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http://www.aopa.org/pps http://thepracticalaviator.com http://thepracticalaviator.com http://FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG

Flight Training - January 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - January 2013