Temporary Control Tower Hour Adjustments

Notice Number: NOTC0103

To ensure the continued resiliency of the air traffic control system amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the FAA is planning to temporarily adjust the operating hours of approximately 100 control towers nationwide (PDF). Making these adjustments allows for continued safe operations throughout the national airspace system while minimizing health risks to our workforce. The FAA plans to begin making control tower hour adjustments on Monday, April 27 and complete the process within about a week.

These facilities have seen a significant reduction in flights, especially during the evening and nighttime hours, since the pandemic began. Adjusting the operating hours will further protect our employees and reduce the possibility of temporary tower closures from COVID-19 exposures by ensuring enough controllers are available to staff the facilities during peak hours. It also will enable us to allocate difficult-to-source supplies where they are most needed.

Most of the towers are historically closed at night, during which time the radar facility with oversight assumes the airspace. The FAA expects the adjustments will not have any operational effects. The agency plans to begin adjusting facility hours later this month.

The FAA will continue to monitor traffic volume at all of these facilities and may make future adjustments to operating hours as appropriate.

For additional information on adjustments to control tower operating hours, as well other regulatory updates due to coronavirus, go to: https://www.faa.gov/coronavirus/regulatory_updates/

Ground School Refresher – Airspace

Topic: Do you know what the difference is between Golf low, mid, and high? Do you need an airspace review? Don’t miss out.
On Wednesday, May 13, 2020 at 19:00 Pacific Daylight Time (20:00 MDT, 21:00 CDT, 22:00 EDT, 16:00 HST, 18:00 AKDT, 19:00 Arizona, 02:00 GMT)

Select Number:
WP15100211

Description:
Let’s face it, airspace is an imaginary concept. It is just a shorthand way to talk about the set of Federal Aviation Regulations that apply by location and altitude, and the impact they have on VFR flight. As confusing as you think the rules are, with a quick refresher, you’ll be back to full knowledge in no time.

If it has been a while since you sat through ground school, you may be due for an airspace refresher. In this safety seminar, we will review the different classes of airspace that are found in the United States. We’ll cover their shapes, sizes, operating rules, and also cover special use airspace. Want an easy way to keep confusing Class G airspace rules memorized, use the Flight Center’s method that teaches there are 3 types of Class G airspace, Class G-low, Class G-mid, and Class G-high. Do you know the differences between them? Where would you look it up? What happens to Class D when the tower closes? How well do you know airspace?

This safety seminar is open to current and aspiring Private Pilots, and will be of particular interest to students pilots and those who are preparing for a flight review. You will leave the seminar with a renewed understanding, and probably a few memory aids to take with your on your next flight.

Sid Basu is a CFI ASEL, Commercial ASEL, AMEL and Instrument rated pilot with over 1500 hours total time and about 1000 hours dual given. He has been flying since 2008 and has been instructing at San Carlos Flight Center since 2017.

To view further details and registration information for this webinar, click here.

IMC Club Meeting ( ONLINE ONLY ) Lincoln EAA 1541

Topic: IMC Topics Are Taken From Real Life Events and Discussed to Aid the Decision Making Process for Pilots.
On Wednesday, May 6, 2020 at 19:00 Pacific Daylight Time
Location:
EAA 1541
Flightline Dr

Lincoln, CA 95648

Select Number:
WP25100059

Description:
This is an audience participation event. After a brief Audio/Video presentation we ask “What Would You Do”? Everyone is encouraged to join in the discussion. Videos depicting actual flights that encountered challenges are chosen from a library provided by EAA . Pilots of all skill levels are encouraged to attend. Click the link below for more information and to register TODAY.

To view further details and registration information for this seminar, click here.

April Member Meeting Program: Sacramento Region airports – A Historical Survey

The program for our inaugural on-line member meeting will provide an historical survey of the airports in the Sacramento region and will be presented by chapter member and former president, Scott Thompson.

Beginning with the first airport in the area, Mather Field, established in the war year of 1918, we will progress through the subsequent decades and take a whirlwind look at how aviation developed in this century of aviation.
Just as Sacramento was central in the first transcontinental railroad of the 1860s, so too was it in the establishment of the first transcontinental airway of the 1920s.

And twenty years later, in the last years of the 1940s, the Sacramento region exploded with new airports. Most of those airports did not survive long as they gave way to a spreading suburbia, but join us on Wednesday night, April 15, at 6:30 pm as we explore some of these historic airports. Scott will work from a PowerPoint presentation so, for viewing pleasure, the bigger your viewing screen the better.

About our speaker

Scott Thompson has long held an interest in aviation history that has led him to compile a number of books and articles, primarily focused on World War II American aircraft. The development of the air navigation system through the decades has also piqued his interest, something that slots well into his day job where he performs airborne inspections of modern air navigation aids as part of the FAA Flight Inspection group. In Scott’s words, “To support this passion, he has several file cabinets full of obscure, arcane, and mostly useless bits of information about old airplanes as well as a large historical aviation photo collection.” 🙂

For example, Scott provides this photo of classic 1940’s marketing on the occasion of the opening of Dunbar Field in 1946:

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How to Participate in Chapter Online Events

“Where there is a will, there is a way.”
In the best traditions of homebuilder adaptability to change, our chapter is continuing to provide aviation education and interactive opportunities for members using “physical distancing compliant” communications methods. We have compared and tested various group teleconferencing approaches, and chosen a new free offering from a well established industry leader, Webex.com

Webex offers the ability to create an online meeting with up to 100 participants that supports “Hollywood Squares” style participant videos and audio for those who have a webcam-enabled device such as an iPad, iPhone or recent vintage Windows laptop. EAA 1541 can show PowerPoint slides and stream digital movies including sound using this, for our “News You Can Use” programs, IMC Club presentations, and evening member meetings.

Importantly, Webex also enables those without a computer to call in by phone for the audio portion of the event, and also log in via their web browser to see the video even if they do not have a camera or microphone attached to their computer.

Our first event for which everyone on our chapter mailing list will get an email with connection information and a Webex invitation will be our upcoming April membership meeting, starting at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, April 15, 2020.

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Mountain Flying

Topic: Flying through the mountains can be exquisite, and amazing. However, with that comes risk. Learn to fly safely in the mountains.
On Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 12:00 Pacific Daylight Time (13:00 MDT, 14:00 CDT, 15:00 EDT, 09:00 HST, 11:00 AKDT, 12:00 Arizona, 19:00 GMT)

Select Number:
WP1599958

Description:
See Webinar Information to Register. Flying in the mountains can be some of the most amazingly beautiful and satisfying flying you may ever accomplish. But it comes with increased risk, and thereby increased responsibility. Every day, GA pilots who fly in the mountains safely calculate and plan for such risks, and you can too.

Spring weather brings cool temperatures, clear skies and smooth air. It can also occasionally bring the threat of snow and ice, which are good things to learn to respect during trips to airports at higher elevations. Join CFI Brian Eliot for an overview of elements of mountain flying. We’ll look at how terrain and mountain weather patterns affect one another and what that means to pilots of small aircraft. We will discuss how to calculate density and what it means for landing and departing at high-altitude mountain airports. And no mountain flying discussion is complete without emergency preparedness and survival gear.

This seminar is intended to meet the ground training requirement for an SCFC Mountain Checkout, and is required for all pilots participating in the FlyOutGroup 5-day Mountain Flying trip in early July. For more information, go to https://sancarlosflight.com/events/fog

If you are planning a trip to the mountains anytime soon, or just want to learn more about mountain flying; don’t miss out on this seminar.

To view further details and registration information for this webinar, click here.

Adventures in Crosswinds

Topic: Afraid of landing in crosswinds? Don’t be afraid any longer and treat them like a normal landing. Learn the tricks of the trade.
On Wednesday, April 22, 2020 at 19:00 Pacific Daylight Time

Location:
San Carlos Flight Center
655 Skyway Road
215
San Carlos, CA 94070

Select Number:
WP1599864

Description:
Do you remember in your training when you feared the crosswind landing? Perhaps at some level you still do. Did you find yourself preferring to land at Haward instead of San Carlos? Do you feel there are normal landings and crosswind landings?

Dan Dyer and San Carlos Flight Center, the only flight school on the west coast with a crosswind simulator, is committed to training pilots competence in all landings. In this seminar, Dan Dyer, said by some to be the west coast crosswind expert, will take you step by step through all phases of landings with and without crosswinds, so that you approach every landing the same way. With a bit of practice you will land as easy as stopping your car at a stoplight. It’s part of the flight, no big deal, in fact it will become the best and most fun part of the flight.

Imagine approaching a landing as just a landing even to the point you do not have to think too much about the crosswinds. In fact you now even enjoy the challenge of a crosswind. Don’t miss out on this seminar to be a better pilot.

Dan Dyer is a flight instructor and Chief Pilot of San Carlos Flight Center. He has been instructing for 15 years, has over 4,000 flight hours, and is the Bay Area’s local expert in crosswind landing instruction. He is known for finding simple and innovative ways to explain complex topics and regularly speaks on advanced ground school topics. Find out more about Dan at www.sancarlosflight.com or contact him at dan@sancarlosflight.com

To view further details and registration information for this seminar, click here.

Normalization of Deviation

Topic: How human factors makes us accept shortcuts that we later perceive as normal until disaster strikes.
On Monday, April 20, 2020 at 19:00 Pacific Daylight Time (20:00 MDT, 21:00 CDT, 22:00 EDT, 16:00 HST, 18:00 AKDT, 19:00 Arizona, 02:00 GMT)

Select Number:
WP2799897

Description:
Murphy’s law is wrong. What can go wrong usually doesn’t and the outcome is favorable. The problem is that this causes us to conclude that our actions must had been correct, since the outcome was good. This rationalization is the beginning of the process where a new normal is established that accepts shortcuts to safety and standard operating practices.

This webinar will discuss famous examples of this happening, how human factors and external pressures combine to, in time, create a new norm. We will discuss how common pilot thinking is a contributing factor. Finally, we will present some countermeasures.

Normalization of deviation is a large factor in mishaps so expect an eye-opening discussion where you can reflect on your own habits and practices.

To view further details and registration information for this webinar, click here.

Weather Risk Assessment-Weather Briefings 3

Topic: Gain confidence in know if any of the six hazards have a reasonable risk of affecting your flight.
On Tuesday, April 21, 2020 at 15:00 Pacific Daylight Time (16:00 MDT, 17:00 CDT, 18:00 EDT, 12:00 HST, 14:00 AKDT, 15:00 Arizona, 22:00 GMT)

Select Number:
WP0199841

Description:
In this 90 minute webinar (plus Q&A) Delia will demonstrate her method to clarify and add certainty to often conflicting weather information.
• Learn the top tools to identify each of the six hazards
• The tool most pilots rely on—that is actually the LEAST reliable tool (and what to use instead)
• How to identify “invisible” hazards.
• Recognizing LLWS even when it’s not forecast.
This is our level 3 class for more experienced pilots, however, it can also benefit low time pilots.

Note: When you register you will receive emails from Easy Webinar or Fly-Rite. You can easily opt out anytime. Look for the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of each email.

Register by going to: http://www.fly-rite.com/free-webinars

To view further details and registration information for this webinar, click here.

[GL0599918] Free Webinar – Datalink Weather – How to Use ADS-B and SiriusXM in the Cockpit – FAASafety.gov

Topic: Join Air Facts editor John Zimmerman for an in-depth look at ADS-B, SiriusXM, and how to use them in flight.
On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 14:00 Eastern Daylight Time (11:00 PDT, 12:00 MDT, 13:00 CDT, 08:00 HST, 10:00 AKDT, 11:00 Arizona, 18:00 GMT)

Select Number:
GL0599918

Description:
Datalink weather has the potential to make your flying safer and more comfortable – but only if you know how to use it properly. Join Air Facts editor John Zimmerman for an in-depth look at ADS-B, SiriusXM, and how to use them in flight. The webinar includes over an hour of practical tips for pilots of all levels.

Topics covered will include:

Five essential rules for weather flying
Why datalink weather is always delayed
What’s the difference between ADS-B and SiriusXM?
How to choose a portable receiver – Stratus, Sentry, and Garmin
Avoiding IFR conditions, thunderstorms, and in-flight icing
Five real world scenarios that show these principles in action

To view further details and registration information for this webinar, click here.