Flight Training - January 2015 - 16

PREFLIGHT»

ASI NEWS

Elevate your flying
with ASI's spotlights
Topics for all skill levels

WHETHER YOU'RE EAGER to sharpen your skills or preparing
for a checkride, the Air Safety Institute has you covered with its
online Safety Spotlights-which make it a breeze to find ASI's
free aviation safety education programs, neatly arranged by
subject.
Twenty spotlights pull together courses, accident case
studies, Real Pilot Stories, quizzes, videos, and publications relevant to each topic, from aeromedical to aircraft ownership to
runway safety and more. Let's say your instrument proficiency
check is coming up and you want to brush up on the regulations and refresh your knowledge of instrument approach
procedures: There's a spotlight for that. Or perhaps you've suffered bouts of mic fright and realize time has come to improve
your communication skills: See the "Radio Communications
and ATC" spotlight. With something for every experience
level-whether certificated pilot, student pilot, flight instructor, or aircraft owner-honing your skills has never been easier
(www.airsafetyinstitute.org/Safety-Spotlights).

NEW ASI SEMINAR COMING TO YOUR
AREA JANUARY 2015
Visit the website (www.airsafetyinstitute.org/seminars).

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FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG

Preflight weather briefings
Do you know the fine print?
THE WEATHER IS clear and forecast to be VFR for a
quick jaunt to your favorite hamburger joint 30 miles
away. Should you be on record with a preflight weather
briefing? It might be a good idea.
First, do you know the requirements to obtain
information about the weather, airports, and notices
to airmen? FAR 91.103 requires you to become
familiar with "all available" information regarding
the flight. But where do you find aviation-specific
information about the weather? If you use the FAA
Direct User Access Terminal (DUAT) system or a
flight service station, you're on the right track. What
if you receive weather information via a third-party
provider or a website that offers aviation weather?
This is often the exact same information as provided
by DUAT or flight service, but the question remains:
Will you be on record as having obtained a weather
brief before going flying?
If your weather briefing (including notams) isn't
recorded or "provable," it's difficult to defend yourself
if, let's say, you busted a temporary flight restriction or
didn't comply with a notam that had been issued affecting your route of flight.

Know when your briefing is recorded:
* Any call to an FSS briefer is recorded.
* Any briefing obtained through your individual DTC
DUAT or CSC DUATS account is recorded.
* Briefings from websites or apps that require unique
username and password logins will most likely be
recorded.
* Get a weather briefing (including notams) that logs
the event-even if the weather is clear and you're
just planning your favorite hamburger hop.
The Air Safety Institute published a safety message
about this (www.airsafetyinstitute.org/wxbrief101).

http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/Safety-Spotlights http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/seminars http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/wxbrief101 http://FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG

Flight Training - January 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - January 2015