April is here, and it appears that spring has finally sprung! While I sit here writing this, it’s sunny and +13° C outside. I’m finally able to work in the garage with the door open, enjoying the mild weather.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had a lot of time for the Buttercup construction over the last month. It seems that the mild weather (despite the recent snowstorms) has had an effect on our customers at work, and they are all looking for annual inspections at the same time. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve had a Mooney, Diamond DA-40, Cherokee 6, Cherokee 235, and a Harvard through the shop for annual inspections, and there are even more scheduled for the next couple of weeks, including the Christavia. This has all led to long days at work and no time in the evenings to play in the garage. On top of that, the melting/snowfall/melting cycle we’ve been experiencing lately has led to soggy airfields unsuitable for flight operations.
Another sign of spring is easily seen in the two full pages of flying events included at the end of this issue. However, the fly-in season will not be kicked off by the Sundre Mother’s Day fly-in this year. Red Deer has snuck in with an event one week earlier. Hopefully, the forecasted stint of dry weather will clean things up before then.
Although spring is a good time to service your aircraft, it’s also a good time to service your piloting skills. In the past, we’ve always held rust removers in the club to get members mentally prepared for the flying season and to make us legal with respect to
CARs 401.05; which states:
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Subpart, no holder of a flight crew permit or licence, other than the holder of a flight engineer licence, shall exercise the privileges of the permit or licence in an aircraft unless the holder
(a) has successfully completed a recurrent training program in accordance with the personnel licensing standards within the 24 months preceding the flight;
and…
The Standard goes on to specify:
421.05 Recency Requirements …
(2) In order to comply with the requirements of 401.05(2)(a), any of the following are considered acceptable as recurrent training programs:
(a) completion of a flight review conducted by the holder of a flight instructor rating in the same category, shall include all items normally covered during the flight test for the issue of that permit or licence;
(b) attendance at a safety seminar conducted by Transport Canada Aviation;
(c) successful completion of a recurrent training program designed to update pilot knowledge, which could include subject areas such as human factors, meteorology, flight planning and navigation, and aviation regulations, rules and procedures that has been approved by the Minister as being satisfactory for those purposes;
(d) completion of the self-paced study program produced annually in the Transport Canada Aviation Safety Newsletter, which is designed to update pilot knowledge in the subjects specified in (c) above. The completed copy shall be the most current published by date and shall be retained by the licence holder;
(e) completion of a training program or Pilot Proficiency Check as required by Parts IV, VI or VII of the Canadian Aviation Regulations.
(f) completion of the skill requirements for issue or renewal of a pilot permit, licence or rating, including night rating, VFR over-the-top rating, instrument rating, multiengine class rating, flight instructor rating, landplane or seaplane rating; or
(g) completion of the written examination(s) for a permit, licence or rating.
Since this applies to all license and permit holders (including Recreational and Ultralight pilots) and the last club rust remover was April 4, 2008, many of us are not current with respect to these rules. For many of us, the easiest option is to do the self-paced study guide in section (d).
Hope to see you all on Thursday night!
Calgary Recreational Flying Club YYC 