AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2018 - 12

AOPA ACTION

Part 61 overhaul a reality
Savings expected to be $113.5 million
THE FAA WILL ALLOW broader use of technology to reduce the cost of flight
training and maintaining proficiency without compromising safety. The overhaul of FAR Part 61 went into effect July 27, with all changes to be implemented
by December 24; it will reduce costs to pilots by leveraging advances in avionics,
aircraft equipment, flight simulators, and aviation training devices. The overhaul
of FAR Part 61 includes these significant changes:
*Instrument-rated pilots who use an advanced aviation training device to satisfy flight experience requirements can earn six months of currency rather than
two. They also may use any combination of aircraft and advanced aviation training device for currency. This takes effect November 24.
*An instructor's presence will no longer be required to accomplish the
required recency experience in a flight simulator or aviation training device
(FFS, FTD, or ATD). 
*A pilot may use technically advanced aircraft in lieu of a turbine-powered
or complex airplane to satisfy certain commercial pilot certificate requirements.
In April, the FAA discontinued the requirement that commercial pilot and flight
instructor candidates conduct their single-engine airplane practical test in a complex airplane; as of August 26, commercial pilot candidates can use "technically
advanced airplanes" in lieu of, or in combination with, a complex or turbinepowered airplane to satisfy the 10 hours of required training in these airplanes.
*Training received from a sport pilot instructor will count toward a higher
certificate (such as a private pilot certificate).
AOPA supported these regulatory changes, which are expected to save the
general aviation community $113.5 million in the next five years. Many of the
changes made by the FAA in the final rule were requested by AOPA and other
aviation groups.

BAKER ON
THE NEWS
"Making aviation less costly is fundamental to AOPA's mission, which is why
we pursued these changes that will save
the general aviation community more
than $100 million over the next five
years alone-and help to make pursuing and advancing a pilot's certificate
more accessible to everyone."
-AOPA President Mark Baker

www.aopa.org/pilot/Part61changes

FAA misses the big picture on Key West complaint
Finds violation of self-service grant assurance, but no more
THE FAA RESPONDED to a complaint submitted by AOPA over pricing and access
issues at Key West International Airport
with a determination that was mostly more
of the same.
The FAA's Southern Region Airports
Division divided AOPA's Part 13 complaint
against Florida's Key West International

12 | AOPA PILOT September 2018

Airport into four different issues relating to potential pricing and ramp
access violations of federal grant assurances associated with accepting Airport
Improvement Program funding. The
FAA ruled in favor of Key West in three
out of AOPA's four claims, but determined
that Key West is in violation of Grant

Assurance 22(f ), which gives pilots the
right to service their own aircraft.
Last summer, AOPA filed Part 13 complaints with the FAA over pricing and
access at Asheville Regional Airport in
North Carolina, Key West, and Waukegan
National Airport in Illinois. AOPA
w i t h d re w t h e c o m p l a i n t a g a i n st
http://www.aopa.org/pilot/Part61changes
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2018

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