Fighter Combat has released a chart depicting the areas southeast of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway (IWA) airport in which they are operating Tuesdays through Saturdays.
Please be aware of these areas, their operating times and altitudes and remain vigilant to high-speed aircraft in aerobatic maneuvers.
You can download a full-sized version of the chart overlay here. (10 MB PNG)
Thanks to Gleim Publications Inc., the next attendees to this week’s AFTW meeting have a chance to win a free online course with this flight-training course leader.
Gleim Chief Pilot Scott Krogh says the “door prize” for those who show up at AFTW meetings is to show appreciation for the work the organization has done to improve both flight safety and the quality of flight training in Arizona.
Each meeting will include a certificate to be given out randomly to a lucky participant for online learning courses. They include:
These online courses also qualify for FAA WINGS credit.
So, show up at the next meeting — this Wednesday, Jan. 9, at the Scottsdale FSDO at 9:30 a.m. — and you might just win one of these free courses.
Special thanks to Gleim for their support of the AFTW!
The Luke AFB Auxiliary Field No. 1 (AUX-1) ILS will now be available for civil use effective January 4, 2013.
This information should also be available on the Luke AFB Wing Safety Website on or about the effective date at the following URL: http://www.luke.af.mil/library/midaircollisionavoidance.asp
Download the ILS approach procedure chart issued by the 56 Fighter Wing and their policy letter on civil aircraft using the AUX-1 ILS for VFR practice approaches.
The policy letter states that this is a trial period. Pilots must still be in contact with Luke RAPCON for the approach. Military practice approaches get priority.
A 25-percent increase in the number of commercial airline passengers at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (IWA), making the airspace surrounding Phoenix some of the busiest in the nation, is raising concern about flight safety in the Southeast Valley.
An ad hoc organization known as The Phoenix Airspace Users Working Group has been studying the issue for about 1 year, and recently asked the Phoenix Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), which controls much of the airspace in the area, to distribute information about the level of congestion. Among the information are images depicting a complex web of controlled and uncontrolled flight operations surrounding IWA.
The AFTW this month also met and agreed to begin discouraging practice VOR holds over IWA, as well as practice NDB holds over the transmitters of radio station KCKY-AM.
Download a PDF of the Dec. 14, 2012, Letter to Airmen. (4.5 MB PDF, requires Adobe Reader.)
Here are the minutes of the Sept. 12 AFTW monthly meeting at the Scottsdale Flight Standards District Office. Thank you Terry Brandt for putting these together!
AFTW Meeting 12 September 2012 at SDL FSDO.
There was one school represented, one CFI, one DPE, one from Casa Grande Airport Advisory Committee.
Airspace:
1. Congested areas/bottlenecks should keep us alert and looking for ways to avoid potential problems. We may be able to de-conflict the areas by varying altitudes and ground tracks. Areas noted where we want to continue to watch and modify as necessary are in and around CGZ and TFD, around Apache Junction (landfill and Renaissance Festival), and west of DVT runways to the 101.
2. Aerobatic Boxes. We have been notified of two recent renewals for one at P48 and one west of the southwest side of the Estrella Mts (http://aftw.org/wp/2012/08/atcas-aerobatic-box-south-of-goodyear-is-hot/ ). Boxes are shown in the AFD and on the Training area maps on the AFTW web site. (http://aftw.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/TAC43a_V1_01.pdf ).
3. The Radio Station KCKY continues to be used for approaches, holds, tracking and arcing. Because of the high volume of VFR traffic and published approaches in the area AFTW continues to recommend we discontinue use of unpublished procedures at this facility.