The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the AOPA Air Safety Institute have created two guides to help pilots safely return to flight as states modify social distancing restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Return-to-Flight Proficiency Plan for individuals, sponsored by Hartzell Propeller, includes profiles for VFR and IFR pilots and is designed to give a clear step-by-step approach to refreshing knowledge and sharpening skills that degrade after a period of inactivity, such as grounding due to local quarantine orders, according to AOPA officials.
Rusty pilots and dormant aircraft can be, by themselves, problematic. In combination, they present an expanded risk to aviation safety, AOPA officials note. AOPA’s guidance takes these factors into consideration and aims to help ease the transition to reopening while maintaining a high standard of safety, officials explain.
The COVID-19 Flight Operations Guide is designed to help flight schools, flying clubs, FBOs, and other aircraft operators move from risk “avoidance” to risk management. The guide provides factors to consider when making the decision to open and offers suggestions on how to do so carefully while monitoring for signs of sustained operational wellness, according to AOPA officials.
“AOPA recognizes operators have some difficult choices to make under unprecedented circumstances,” said Air Safety Institute Executive Director Richard McSpadden. “The COVID-19 guide offers them a framework for how to assess their situation and then some suggestions on steps they can take to resume and sustain operations.”
For news and advocacy updates around the impacts of the coronavirus on GA, go to AOPA’s resource page.
I am in a flying club with a limited number members and no student pilots. We devised cleaning procedures early on following the recommendations of avionics manufacturers to assure we did not damage the anti-glare coatings on our avionics and a few of the members including myself have continued to fly solo. Sanitizing the plane and hanger after each flight, wearing gloves at the gate access controls and while refueling the plane. I also sanitize the plane before I fly just to make sure. You can stay safe with the proper cleaning techniques of every thing other members touch including plane and hanger door handles and latches. Sure doesn’t hurt to wear gloves while flying to reduce contamination and have a mask handy in case any one shows up at the hanger.
Stay safe and continue fly to keep your skills up
Wearing gloves doesn’t help, except perhaps to make people feel better. The same contaminants that might go on your skin get on the gloves, which then get spread around when the gloves come off. Best to just wash your hands, use sanitizer, forget the gloves.
I’ve been flying solo throughout the crisis, in fear my skills becoming a crisis.
I am a pilot who is a member of a flying club. I am also a trained research biologist with a PhD, 2 postdocs, and a faculty position under my belt. I understand viruses. Finally, I am in a high risk group for C19. Our club planes are used extensively by students, so it made sense to be grounded while the Club’s Board devised sanitizing procedures and other guidelines for flying in a pandemic. Our membership seems well but who knows? We have no innate immunity, no acquired immunity, no mandatory testing, no treatments, and no vaccine. Social distancing, wearing masks, and staying home are our only weapons agains a very infectious new virus. It is not “nonsense”. If I owned my own plane, as the 2 previous posters seem to, I would have kept flying too, but I don’t.
My Wife and I never stopped flying. I feel bad for the people in states that have restricted them.
I never stopped flying – why would I? I’m tired of this nonstop nonsense..
Maybe. But your characterization of COVID-19 precautions as “nonsense” make me wonder how cautious and safe you are as a pilot. Just thinking.
Nonsense hasn’t killed almost 100,000 people in the US, the virus has. And thinking as you do will kill many more. Thanks for acting responsibly.