AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2018 - 104

AOPA AIR SAFETY INSTITUTE

Navigating today's airspace
Clear the air on restrictions, prohibitions,
and how ATC fits in
B Y M AC H T E L D S M I T H

YOU PLAN A FLIGHT, enter it in the
GPS, activate the flight plan, and
away you go. Easy. Sometimes it can
be like that. But things get more complicated when a temporary flight
restriction pops up or your GPS's
magenta line traverses special-use
airspace. Now you have to think
about avoiding prohibited airspace
and other areas through which you
may not be cleared or where you
don't want to go.
It can be daunting for any pilot to
understand today's various airspace
intricacies. For example, can you fly
through special-use airspace or traverse
a TFR's outer ring when on an instrument flight plan? If you struggle with
questions or simply need to brush up on
planning a flight across ATC boundaries and through complex airspace, the
AOPA Air Safety Institute can help.
ASI's Know Before You Go:
Navigating Today's Airspace online
course offers a practical approach

104 | AOPA PILOT September 2018

to navigating the National Airspace
System. The free course will help you
tackle airspace regulations and stay
out of trouble when flying from point
A to point B. You'll be prepared to go
once you learn what's special about
special-use airspace, understand
boundaries of restricted and prohibited areas, and know how to work
around TFRs. The course makes it
easy to become an ace at performing
a preflight briefing and route planning that counts. Don't wait-brush
up and go fly.
www.airsafetyinstitute.org/
courses/knowbeforeyougo

NEW FROMASI

NEWS & NOTES

COMPLACENCY'S RED FLAGS
A ROUTINE FLIGHT ON NOVEMBER 23,
2011: On board a Rockwell 690 Aero
Commander were three adults and
three children-all lost their lives
when the twin-engine airplane hit
terrain in the Superstition Mountains
outside Phoenix, Arizona.
That night, light winds and
40 miles visibility with clear skies
promised a smooth departure from
Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona, to
Safford Regional Airport-located
about 110 miles to the southeast. The
pilot had flown a similar flight from
Mesa to Safford at night in similar
weather just two days before the
accident. There was no reason to
believe the flight would be anything
but routine. About five minutes after
departure, however, the airplane hit
terrain at 4,500 feet msl that rose
from the surface to 4,800 feet msl.
Watch this case study for an
in-depth review and analysis of the
circumstances that contributed to
the accident and what can be learned
from this tragedy. It's a stark reminder
of why terrain-awareness technology,
departure procedures, and ATC
flight-following service are critical
tools when flying at night, especially
near mountains. Please share this
video so others may avoid a similar
accident (www.airsafetyinstitute.org/
acs/consequences).

CFI AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
"CAN I FLY IF THIS EQUIPMENT ISN'T
working?" Designated pilot examiner
Jason Blair examines the facts of
flying with inoperative equipment
in "Can I Fly? MELs, KOLs, and the
Regs" in the latest issue of ASI's free
CFI to CFI newsletter. Have you ever
wondered if tailwheel student pilots
are better prepared than those flying
tricycle-gear models? Check out
Volume 9, Issue 2 (goo.gl/2ZKJpb).

MACHTELD SMITH is an aviation technical

writer for the AOPA Air Safety Institute.

TIPS FROM NORAD
Understand the difference between pop-up and National Security TFRs and learn
what you can do to avoid a TFR violation in "Tiptoeing Through TFRs," CFI to CFI
Volume 7, Issue 2 (goo.gl/jB8KLN).
http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/acs/consequences http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/courses/knowbeforeyougo http://goo.gl/2ZKJpb http://goo.gl/jB8KLN
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2018
