MMOPA announced the location for the 2022 MMOPA Convention. The 2022 Convention will be in Tucson, Arizona and will take place September 29th-October 2nd, 2022. The JW Marriott Starr Pass will be the host resort.
Thursday, September 29th will kick off the convention with a safety event for pilots and companions, lunch with exhibitors, and the return of the charity golf tournament.
Friday, September 30th and Saturday, October 1st will be when all the classes and seminars that make the MMOPA convention great are held. The Friday dinner will be at an aviation themed spot in Tucson while the annual auction and black tie affair will be Saturday night.
Stay tuned to the event details page on the MMOPA website to see when registration is opened.
As all pilots know, the Federal Aviation Regulations require licensed pilots to go through recurrent flight training in the form of a Flight Review every 24 months. The regulations require 1 hour of ground review and a 1 hour flight. This is all that a pilot has to do to legally maintain his or her VFR currency to fly alone in an airplane. Of course, when passengers are aboard, the pilot has to have done 3 takeoffs and landings in the previous 90 days.
What if the pilot in question hasn’t flown in 20 years? All the regulations require is 1 hour of ground review and a 1 hour flight. Kind of scary, isn’t it? (Any instructor worth his salt would not, however, turn a pilot loose with just those flight review minimums if they haven’t flown in 20 years without an extensive amount of recurrent flight training)
Now, a lot can happen in 2 years in between those flight reviews. Regulations change, airspace is modified, and skills change (for the better or worse, most often for the worse over a period of not flying). For a current pilot who flies once or twice a week, those minimums are no problem. Here’s the thing, though. Even those current pilots typically don’t do a lot of stall practice or emergency procedure practice on their own. These are the most critical areas of flight and to only do them every two years leads to a lot of rust building up, sometimes even causing safety concerns in some instances.
How to remedy this? Scheduling recurrent flight training as often as possible with a good instructor who puts you through your paces. Do this often enough and stalls will become second nature. The stall warning horn goes off? Well, lower the nose and add power. Engine failure? Switch tanks and set best glide. Recurrent flight training allows you to become as familiar as possible with your airplane, allowing you to know what to do in every circumstance.
What’s a good recurrent flight training schedule? There are several options out there. The WINGs program is a pretty good option, though you will only have 3 flight training sessions in those two years instead of 1, but it’s a good start. In recent years, the FAA has put out Advisory Circular 61-98B encouraging pilots to begin personal currency programs for themselves. The suggested schedule for VFR recurrent flight training is every 4-6 weeks.
Texas Top Aviation highly recommends this suggested schedule, for both VFR and IFR. The AC doesn’t have a specific recommendation for IFR recurrent flight training, but flying 2-3 approaches a month with an instructor helps keep pilots as proficient as possible in the IFR environment. This way, the instructor can introduce circumstances in a controlled environment that simulate abnormal conditions that might possibly be encountered in flight. If those abnormal conditions are encountered, then it will be second nature on how to handle them, leading to less accidents and safer flying habits.
Try to schedule your recurrent flight training every 4-6 weeks and your piloting skills will stay top notch, keeping you safe and proficient in every circumstance.
As all pilots know, the Federal Aviation Regulations require licensed pilots to go through recurrent flight training in the form of a Flight Review every 24 months. The regulations require 1 hour of ground review and a 1 hour flight. This is all that a pilot has to do to legally maintain his or her…
Late last year, the Diamond Aircraft Corporation announced a brand new twin engine, the Diamond DA62. At first glance, this is a pretty cool airplane. It seats 7 passengers, spread out amongst 3 rows, with 2 massive doors, leading to an “SUV” type feel, according to Flying Magazine. That is only one of the “neato” features of the Diamond DA62.
The thing that will make pilots believers is the fuel burn. According to Flying Magazine, which did a test flight of the airplane, at 14,000 feet and 60% power, the airplane was only burning 12 GPH, but still doing 170 KTAS. Remember, this is a twin. That’s about the same as a normally aspirated Cirrus SR22 at the same altitude.
How does Diamond do it? Jet A. The company put two Austro AE330, 170 Horsepower, Jet A burning piston engines on the Diamond DA62. You may say, well, yeah, at 60% power, that’s great, but I want to go places. How much fuel does it burn then? Even at max continuous power of 95%, it’s still only burning 18.5 GPH total and cruising at 195 knots. Paying Jet A prices, that’s pretty sweet.
The range on the airplane is quite nice too. Again, according to Flying Magazine, the range with full fuel (86.4 gallons with aux tanks) is about 1,300 miles. You can carry the whole family too, as the full fuel payload is 1,000 pounds. Golf clubs? No problem. Just stick them in the nose.
The Diamond DA62 is probably one of the easiest twins to manage, engine-wise, too. The Fully Automated Digital Engine Control (FADEC) system that Diamond installed leaves the pilot with only 2 power levers, instead of 6 on the typical piston twin. All that needs to be done at cruise is set a percent power and the FADEC computer does the rest.
Need air conditioning, built in oxygen, and TKS? Diamond can set you up. The G1000 system complete with digital backup instruments is standard in the airplane. What more can you really ask for?
If you haven’t figured it out, I really like this airplane and would be aching to fly it. I enjoy the DA40 and have a good amount of DA42 experience, but I’d really like to hop in a Diamond DA62.
Late last year, the Diamond Aircraft Corporation announced a brand new twin engine, the Diamond DA62. At first glance, this is a pretty cool airplane. It seats 7 passengers, spread out amongst 3 rows, with 2 massive doors, leading to an “SUV” type feel, according to Flying Magazine. That is only one of the “neato”…
An 8 seat, cabin class, single engine turboprop is set to come to market in 2018 from the new aviation conglomerate Textron Aviation (Textron owns Cessna, Hawker, and Beechcraft). Details were announced last week at the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition. The as yet unnamed aircraft will be equipped with Garmin’s G3000 avionics and will be outfitted with a GE 1,240 Shaft Horsepower engine.
The GE engine will be equipped with a FADEC (Fully Automated Digital Engine Control) computer that will allow the pilot to make all necessary power adjustments using just one lever.
Range will be about 1,600 miles at 285 knots, giving the airplane the same legs as a PC12 at slightly faster speeds, but a smaller cabin. The cabin will be equipped with a belted lav if desired.
An 8 seat, cabin class, single engine turboprop is set to come to market in 2018 from the new aviation conglomerate Textron Aviation (Textron owns Cessna, Hawker, and Beechcraft). Details were announced last week at the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition. The as yet unnamed aircraft will be equipped with Garmin’s G3000 avionics and…
Four things moved this market between July and the end of September, and each one changes the arithmetic on what your airplane is worth today. Inventory is thinner than it was a year ago and has stopped draining. Asking values have split. The Fed raised rates and has penciled in one more increase for December. And the FAA ended single-pilot operation in the legacy Citations. Here is the short version, and what I would do about it before December 31.
The short version
Turboprop inventory is running about 12% under last year, and the field stopped shrinking in September.
Piston asking values are still giving back. Turbine asking values have turned up.
The federal funds rate is 3.75–4.00%, with one more quarter-point increase projected for December.
The FAA rescinded the legacy Citation single-pilot exemptions on September 29, with no wind-down.
Accepted offer to closing runs 30 to 45 days. To close before December 31 you need an offer accepted by about November 15 — which means listing by October 31.
Inventory is thin, and it stopped draining
In September, used single-engine piston inventory in the U.S. and Canada was down 12.2% against last year. Turboprops were down 12.0% worldwide. Jets were down 23.6%, with the large-cabin end off 39.8%. The field your airplane competes against is smaller than it was a year ago.
The monthly direction is the other half. Piston inventory was flat in September, turboprops rose 3.5% and jets rose 5.1% — the second month running that inventory added rather than drained. So the field is thin by the standard of a year ago, and it is no longer getting thinner.
Asking values have split
The three categories stopped moving together. Piston singles fell 0.74% on the month and are down 2.36% against last year. Turboprops rose 0.22% on the month and are up 0.57% on the year. Jets rose 2.02% on the month and are up 0.71%, led by the super-mids at plus 5.29%.
Asking prices are not values, and I will keep saying that. What they give you is the leading edge — VREF and the closed comps follow a quarter or two behind. Right now that edge says the turbine market has turned the corner and the piston market has not.
Rates went up, and may go again in December
On September 16 the Federal Open Market Committee raised the federal funds rate a quarter point, to 3.75–4.00% — the first increase since 2023, on a unanimous vote. The Committee’s own projections point to one more quarter-point increase in December. A financed buyer’s payment is higher than it was in the spring, and his offer reflects it.
The FAA ended single-pilot flying in the legacy Citations
On September 28 the FAA published a policy change rescinding the training-provider exemptions that let a single pilot fly the transport-category Citations. Effective September 29, no wind-down. Thirteen of the fourteen exemption holders reviewed were rescinded or denied renewal.
It catches the two-crew airframes: the 500, 550, S550, 552, 560, 550 Bravo, 560 Encore and Encore+. It does not touch the 501, the 551, the CJ/525 family, the Mustang, or any turboprop.
A large share of those airplanes are owner-flown. That owner now hires a second pilot for every leg, or he stops flying. NBAA and Citation Jet Pilots asked for a 90-day pause on September 29. No answer yet.
The 500-series Citations. The single-pilot exemption ended September 29, with no wind-down.
Why single-engine turboprops gain from it
The demand moves, it does not disappear. The owner-pilot still wants to fly himself, and what he can legally fly is a short list: the CJ family, the Vision Jet, and the single-pilot turbines — TBM, M500, M600, M700, PC-12, JetProp. Those are legal single-pilot by type certificate, not by exemption.
The budgets line up. A clean legacy Citation’s price buys a strong TBM or a good PC-12, so these buyers arrive at the top of the turboprop market, where supply is thinnest and inventory is already 12% under last year.
Expect it in the leading indicators first — inquiries, showings, days on market — with price following a quarter or two behind.
The single-pilot turbines are where the displaced Citation owner-pilots can legally land.
The number that should drive your decision
Our airplanes went from listing to closing in a median of 98 days last year. This year that median is 178 days, an 81% increase. Buyers take longer, financing takes longer, pre-buys are more thorough.
At that pace an airplane listed today closes in March, not December. The year-end buyer is the exception — he is working to a December 31 placed-in-service deadline and moves far faster than the median.
Work the calendar backwards from that deadline. From an accepted offer, 30 to 45 days covers scheduling the prebuy, the inspection itself, the acceptance window and then escrow and title. To close before December 31 the offer has to be accepted by about November 15. To have an offer in hand by then, the airplane needs to be in front of buyers by the end of October. That is the whole reason for the date.
Our closings this year came in a median of 4.8% under the ask the airplane carried when it sold, and 7.1% under its original list price. We reduce the ask; we do not haggle.
On the fence about selling? List by October 31
If you own a Meridian, M500, M600, JetProp, TBM, Epic, PC-12 or Vision Jet and you have been going back and forth, here is the case for the next three weeks.
The buyers are shopping now. The displaced Citation owner-pilots are working through their options this quarter, and what they can legally fly is close to that list. An October listing puts your airplane in front of them while the field is thin. A March listing puts it in the spring wave, beside every other owner who had the same idea over the winter.
We took a full-price offer on one of our single-engine turboprops after a week on the market.
The call is yours. The calendar is the part that is not negotiable.
The Epic E1000, one of the eight types a year-end buyer is shopping right now.
Turboprop inventory is 12% under last year, asking values have split, and the FAA ended single-pilot flying in the legacy Citations. What it means for Q4 2026 — and why October 31 is the date that matters if you are thinking about listing.
The long anticipated certification of the Cirrus Vision Jet finally happened. On October 30th, the FAA awarded certification to Cirrus’ single engine jet. Marketed as the world’s first single engine personal jet, the Cirrus Vision Jet will seat five adults, two children, and cruise around 300 knots.
The Williams FJ33-5A Turbo Fan engine is operated by a FADEC, single handle throttle, similar to the throttle in the piston powered Cirrus family. In fact, the SR series was taken into consideration when designing the Cirrus Vision Jet in order to simplify the upgrade for pilots. Many of the buttons and knobs are in the same places in the Cirrus Vision Jet.
The Cirrus Vision Jet is equipped with the Cirrus Perspective Touch by Garmin that is very similar to the Cirrus Perspective by Garmin in the piston powered line. Equipped also with the Flight Into Known Icing system and the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS), both of which are standard.
Unlike the piston powered Cirrus lines, the CAPS system on the Cirrus Vision Jet is actually mounted in the nose. Also, unlike the piston lines, the jet CAPS is integrated with the aircraft avionics to slow the airplane to between 67 and 160 knots when the system is activated. In the jet, the CAPS system was designed to withstand higher weights, higher speeds and higher altitudes.
Cirrus hopes to start deliveries of the Vision Jet by the end of the year, with many more rolling off the line in 2017. All Cirrus Vision Jet pilots will need to be type rated in order to fly the aircraft. Cirrus is doing all the type rating training in house at their new Vision Center in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The long anticipated certification of the Cirrus Vision Jet finally happened. On October 30th, the FAA awarded certification to Cirrus’ single engine jet. Marketed as the world’s first single engine personal jet, the Cirrus Vision Jet will seat five adults, two children, and cruise around 300 knots. The Williams FJ33-5A Turbo Fan engine is operated…
When filing an IFR flight plan, part of the process is determining whether or not an alternate airport is required. An alternate airport is required when the following conditions exist(as is outlined by the FAA in 91.169 (b)):
The weather conditions at the destination airport
From 1 hour before your arrival time to 1 hour after your estimated time of arrival, the weather conditions are forecast to be below
2,000 Feet AGL and/or
3 statute miles visibility
Let’s paint a scenario. You are traveling from KSAT (San Antonio International Airport) to KHBV (Jim Hogg County Airport in Hebbronville, TX). You start to file your flight plan and get down to the space where you put your alternate in. Since Laredo (KLRD) is the closest airport with a TAF, you check Laredo’s TAF and see that the forecast conditions there at your ETA are ceilings 1,500 and visibility of 2sm.
Based on this information, you need an alternate airport. Now, the process of finding one. In Part 91.169 (c), the forecast conditions at the alternate airport must be at or above:
600 Feet AGL and 2sm visibility for a precision approach, or
800 Feet AGL and 2sm visibility for a non-precision approach
Alright, now we have some guidance. Laredo is the nearest airport to KHBV, and we know the forecast from the above TAF showing the conditions are forecast to be above the alternate minimums outlined in Part 91, so let’s pick Laredo. All done?
Not quite. A lot of airports have Non-Standard Alternate Minimums. How do you figure out if they do? The easiest way is to look at any approach plate for the airport. In the notes section of the government plates, there will be a black triangle with an A in it. That means there are non-standard alternate minimums published for that airport (in layman’s terms, different than the ones stated above in Part 91).
Now the question is, where do you find those non-standard alternate minimums? On Foreflight:
Go to the Airports page
Tap the Procedures button
Tap the Arrival button
Tap the Alternate Minimums option
This brings up the IFR Alternate Minimums document for all the airports with non-standard alternate minimums in that area. Scroll through to find Laredo.
As you can see, there are several notes there concerning the different approaches into Laredo. For our example, we’ll say the winds are out of the south and we are planning on flying the ILS 17R if we cannot get into KHBV and have to come to Laredo. The note there is that the Alternate Minimums for the ILS 17R are actually 700 AGL ceilings and 2sm instead of the above state 600 AGL ceilings and 2sm, the procedure is NA if the tower is closed, and NA if the local weather isn’t received.
What does this tell us? If the forecasted ceilings at Laredo were below 600 AGL instead of 700 AGL, we would not be able to use LRD as an alternate airport if we were planning on flying the ILS 17R. The RNAV approaches are all fair game, so a GPS equipped aircraft would have no problem.
On top of that, some approaches at a certain airport are not authorized to be used in the case of the airport being used as an alternate. At the Galveston airport (KGLS), the ILS 14 is NA as an alternate procedure, but all the RNAV approaches are available.
Picking an alternate seems simple at first, but there are actually a lot of things to consider in the process.
Need help remember all this stuff? AOPA has put out a kneeboard sheet that helps all IFR pilots remember those important things when it comes to IFR flying. Check it out here.
When filing an IFR flight plan, part of the process is determining whether or not an alternate airport is required. An alternate airport is required when the following conditions exist(as is outlined by the FAA in 91.169 (b)): The weather conditions at the destination airport From 1 hour before your arrival time to 1 hour…
