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Have you ever been on vacation and thought, “This would be a cool place to go flying”?  In the United States, assuming you're current, you need only find an FBO and get a checkout.  But what if you’re outside the boundaries of the U.S. National Airspace and want to enter into the wider world of international aviation?

In his article “Is My Ticket Good There?” author and FAA Safety Briefing Associate Editor James Williams explores the ins and outs of overseas flying.  “There’s a lot you can do with a U.S. pilot certificate in other countries,” says Williams, “but it’s important to fully understand both the privileges and the limitations.”

» FAA Safety Briefing, November/December 2012

This week's flight planning Quick Tip shows you how to use custom locations or latitude/longitude coordinates as a departure or destination, a feature specifically designed for pilots who fly seaplanes or helicopters.

Operation Good Cheer, an initiative of Child and Family Services of Michigan Inc., works with volunteer pilots to fly Christmas gifts to children in foster care throughout the state.  As its forty-first season approaches the program is in need of more pilots to help ferry the presents on December 1!

To learn more about the program or to apply to ferry packages, visit the Child and Family Services of Michigan Inc. website.  Flights will begin departing Oakland County International Airport (KPTK) in Pontiac, MI at 8 AM.

This week's flight planning Quick Tip shows you how easy it is to drag, drop and rubberband your flight routes with iFlightPlanner and the iFlightPlanner Flight Wizard.

iFlightPlanner's interactive and freely accessible secional and IFR charts can be found at https://www.iFlightPlanner.com/AviationCharts.

Just a quick update on two FAA technology outages this week:

• TFRs
  The FAA TFR website (http://tfr.faa.gov) has been offline since Tuesday, preventing us from acquiring real-time TFR data for display on iFlightPlanner.com and in iFlightPlanner for iPad.  We are still awaiting an update from them on when the website will be functional again.
• Weather Briefings
  For a period between Thursday afternoon and early Friday morning, FAA weather briefings were not returning any data, resulting in our members seeing an error message when requesting a weather brief.

The National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) has proposed to the Federal Aviation Administration Safety Team (FAASTeam) a new effort to work together to promote flight instructor proficiency in a Standardized Instructor Proficiency Recognition program.

"This proposal represents a non-regulatory, industry best-practices approach to enhancing proficiency in the flight instructor community.  NAFI developed this proposal as an effort to help promote proficiency among active flight instructors through currency in both in-flight activity and up-to-date ground knowledge," NAFI's Executive Director Jason Blair said.

This proposal by NAFI to the FAASTeam represents an effort to encourage combining both a flight and ground knowledge proficiency demonstration jointly for an instructor to qualify. "NAFI's intent is not to require an additional hurdle for instructors to keep their certificate active, rather to allow active instructors to have a method to demonstrate their dedication to excellence and proficiency that goes beyond the minimum requirements," said Blair.

» READ MORE

The inaugural meeting of the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) Chapter of the IMC Club was held last week at the NAFI Headquarters in Kalamazoo, MI.  The 40th IMC Club chapter is the result of a partnership announced earlier this year between the IMC Club and NAFI to expand on the club's goal of fostering communication amongst pilots to promote safety and build proficiency in instrument flying.

The meeting, lead by IMC Club president Radek Wyrzykowski, introduced those in attendance to the club and lead a discussion on a real-world flying scenario experienced by a club member this summer.  It is through these discussions that members are able to learn through the decision making processes of other pilots and foster a community of safe and committed instrument pilots.

The IMC Club is a membership based Non-Profit 501(c)(3) based at Norwood Memorial Airport in Norwood, Massachusetts and features a network of member-run chapters throughout the country.  To establish an IMC Club chapter in your area, simply complete the online application.  The initial setup fee of $250 includes all the materials necessary to begin promoting the club and scheduling your first meeting!

The November/December 2012 issue of FAA Safety Briefing is now available and explores the significance of general aviation on a global scale and focuses on tools and resources that can help you operate safely beyond our borders.

Feature articles include a review of overseas flying requirements, how to master the language of aviation, and an inside look at how the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) can impact your flying.

» FAA Safety Briefing, November/December 2012

The iFlightPlanner Crew
PLAN. FLY. LOG.™

One of the most exciting new features available to iFlightPlanner Premium member is the ability to export flight plans.  This flight planning Quick Tip, featuring the Dynon Skyview avionics package, shows you how to save .FPL and .GPX files using the iFlightPlanner Flight Wizard, and import them directly into your avionics.

Upgrade your account to iFlightPlanner Premium and experience all that iFlightPlanner has to offer!

A team of researchers at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has received funding from the FAA for a project to assess the performance of pilots when they land small airplanes at small airports using an approach normally employed at airports with longer runways. The results could help shed light on the feasibility of letting small aircraft use GPS-aided approaches for small airports.

The project will help researchers evaluate different runway and lighting conditions at smaller airports and assess the feasibility of letting the GPS instruments guide small planes to lower altitudes in conditions of poor visibility.  Instrument-rated pilots for the project will be recruited beginning in the spring of 2013 who will conduct approaches and landings using a Level 6 Cessna flight simulator that can replicate low-visibility conditions.