BFR and COVID-19

SoCal 182 Driver

SoCal 182 Driver

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SoCal 182 Driver
Friends - I have a BFR due in July. Though I wish my plane was big enough that I could sit 6 feet from my instructor, it's not. Is the FAA doing anything to defer BFR deadlines? I looked online, but couldn't find anything.

Thanks!
 
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Even with masks, aren't the experts suggesting you stay 6' apart? Otherwise, why not reopen movie theaters, concert venues, etc. as long as people are wearing masks?
 
Supposedly the FAA is working on a solution,I have one due in May.
 
SoCal 182 Driver said:
Even with masks, aren't the experts suggesting you stay 6' apart? Otherwise, why not reopen movie theaters, concert venues, etc. as long as people are wearing masks?
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Ive been shopping at Walmart, Kroger, and lowes, you cant stay 6 feet away from anybody in those places and most aren't wearing a mask. Id mask up and carry on if you two are worried, but that's me. What does your CFI think?
 
I did my FR a few weeks ago. No masks. Cessna 172. Neither of us died from poor airmanship or cooties.

If you're willing to "break quarantine" to go flying, you can break it to get current with a like-minded CFI. Mine was happy to have the work.
 
I'm willing to fly solo. Not willing to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with my CFI. I'm in the at-risk age range, and have a cousin currently on a ventilator in an induced coma due to COVID-19. I'm just not going to be cavalier about it, but to each their own, I guess.
 
Gotcha. Well, some added thoughts then:

I don't think there are any feds out and about who would catch you. Those are the same feds who should be working remotely and cooking up extensions and whatnot for you. :D

I used the self-serve pumps at RAL and NYL without washing my hands because I am terrible. I may have sneezed on the Yuma one, I forget. It was dusty there.

Airport cafe at Yuma is open. $1 lunch, you can eat in the FBO. Ramp fee waived (but for $5) with purchase of the very cheap self-serve fuel. Save your receipt.
 
schmookeeg said:
Gotcha. Well, some added thoughts then:

I don't think there are any feds out and about who would catch you. Those are the same feds who should be working remotely and cooking up extensions and whatnot for you. :D
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Yeahbut...when it comes time to make an insurance claim (heaven forbid), Exhibit A in the denial will be lack of a BFR.
 
The FAA issued an SFAR that, among other things, deals with the issue...

The FAA finds, under the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak, that extending the 24 calendar month requirement of §61.56(c) by up to three calendar months will not adversely affect safety, provided the extension applies to active pilots and certain risk mitigations are met. The three calendar month extension applies to pilots who were current to act as PIC of an aircraft in March 2020 and whose flight review was due in March 2020 through June 2020. To mitigate any safety risk, the pilot must have logged at least 10 hours of PIC time within the twelve calendar months preceding the month the flight review was due. This flight time must be obtained in an aircraft for which that pilot is rated.31 In addition, eligible pilots will need to complete FAA Safety Team online courses totaling at least three WINGS credits.32 The courses must have been completed in January 2020 or later to meet this requirement.Completion of the safety courses demonstrates continued learning and pilot professional development.
 
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SoCal 182 Driver said:
Yeahbut...when it comes time to make an insurance claim (heaven forbid), Exhibit A in the denial will be lack of a BFR.
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My insurance company has confirmed they will recognize the SFAR for currency purposes. I suspect most policies will be copacetic.
 
chemgeek said:
My insurance company has confirmed they will recognize the SFAR for currency purposes. I suspect most policies will be copacetic.
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Now that the SFAR has been issued, I'm sure most (if not all) carriers will recognize it. My problem is that my BFR is due in July, and the SFAR expires in June. Hopefully it will get extended, as I'm guessing that we'll still be in "social distancing mode" in July.
 
SoCal 182 Driver said:
The FAA issued an SFAR that, among other things, deals with the issue...

The FAA finds, under the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak, that extending the 24 calendar month requirement of §61.56(c) by up to three calendar months will not adversely affect safety, provided the extension applies to active pilots and certain risk mitigations are met. The three calendar month extension applies to pilots who were current to act as PIC of an aircraft in March 2020 and whose flight review was due in March 2020 through June 2020. To mitigate any safety risk, the pilot must have logged at least 10 hours of PIC time within the twelve calendar months preceding the month the flight review was due. This flight time must be obtained in an aircraft for which that pilot is rated.31 In addition, eligible pilots will need to complete FAA Safety Team online courses totaling at least three WINGS credits.32 The courses must have been completed in January 2020 or later to meet this requirement.Completion of the safety courses demonstrates continued learning and pilot professional development.
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Bear in mind that the extended flight privileges, for private pilots, beyond the expiration of your 24 month flight review, is limited to certain types of activities listed in the SFAR, e.g. medical volunteer flights, repositioning aircraft for maintenance, and travel connected to business activities. Recreational flying or personal travel is not on that list. To retain full flight privileges, you unfortunately have to complete a flight review.
 
SoCal 182 Driver said:
Even with masks, aren't the experts suggesting you stay 6' apart? Otherwise, why not reopen movie theaters, concert venues, etc. as long as people are wearing masks?
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this is actually a fair point. Somehow it's okay for American Airlines to cram an airplane full of people but it's not okay for a few friends to play volleyball on the beach.. and it's not okay for Humphreys to have *outdoor* concerts.. but I can go to a bar or restaurant and take my mask off once I am seated
 
schmookeeg said:
I did my FR a few weeks ago. No masks. Cessna 172. Neither of us died from poor airmanship or cooties.

If you're willing to "break quarantine" to go flying, you can break it to get current with a like-minded CFI. Mine was happy to have the work.
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Agree. I've done a few safety pilot flights
 
Tantalum said:
Agree. I've done a few safety pilot flights
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Yeah, I bit the bullet and did mine a couple of weeks ago, too. Masks are near, but not completely, useless in such tight quarters. But as a little nagging reminder, i narrowly missed a potential exposure from my instructor that was discovered a week after our flight. He apparently came up clean, so I didn't get on his contact list. But he had a potential exposure through an owner assisted annual. And we only have a 0.6% infection (positive) rate in our county and under 10 active cases. Sigh.
 
chemgeek said:
Masks are near, but not completely, useless in such tight quarters.
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Yeah I mean, the average mask is not a high grade medical filter.. it will capture water droplets, but ultimately the air you breath out gets in the cabin.. on your face, eyes, etc. But it does help, better than nothing
 
Tantalum said:
Yeah I mean, the average mask is not a high grade medical filter.. it will capture water droplets, but ultimately the air you breath out gets in the cabin.. on your face, eyes, etc. But it does help, better than nothing
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And, to clarify, non-medical masks are used to protect others by reducing the quantity and distance if travel of expelled viral droplets. They are rather ineffective at providing personal protection. So, your instructor's mask is the most important one for your own protection, and vice versa for your instructor. And they do reduce viral transmission, so certainly worthwhile. But the radius of interaction in an aircraft is pretty small, making it less effective than in, say, an office environment.
 
Not worried a bit. For them to actually do anything they'd at some level have to come find me, and they aren't going to do that with the virus everywhere.
 
steingar said:
Not worried a bit. For them to actually do anything they'd at some level have to come find me, and they aren't going to do that with the virus everywhere.
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I don't think anybody is worried about the feds and getting busted. They worry about insurance coverage should something happen. At least I do.
 
Bottom line: in order to retain full flight privileges, the FAA is requiring private pilots to take a small risk of contracting Covid-19 to complete a flight review. So it's an unpleasant decision between losing flying privileges and risking contracting a potentially serious disease. If you and your instructor have been healthy and have been practicing good public health practices, and the infection rate in your area is low, the risk is lower, but it is still a risk. The FAA didn't have to make it that way.

Not to pooh-pooh recurrent training, but is a lack of an hour of flight with an instructor in an airplane within the last 24 months really that critical to private pilot flight safety? (I know a few pilots for which a flight review is not going to fix anything that would make me want to fly with them.) If flight review currency stretched out to 36 months temporarily, with a proviso to do some on line refresher training, would that really result in a major safety crisis?
 
I would think the easiest way to reduce risk would be just to agree not to breathe while you are with the instructor or in the plane. Much more effective than any other measures. ;)
 
It's really annoying around here. One of my instructors (who did my last BFR) is not venturing out. The other instructor who did my prior BFR, she's still an active United pilot and I kind of put her in the high risk category (as well as several of my other neighbors who are still flying for various airlines).
 
flyingron said:
It's really annoying around here. One of my instructors (who did my last BFR) is not venturing out. The other instructor who did my prior BFR, she's still an active United pilot and I kind of put her in the high risk category (as well as several of my other neighbors who are still flying for various airlines).
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Obtain and wear an N95 or better when in close proximity and in the cockpit. They are starting to be available for less than exorbitant price.
 
I had N95's in the house because I'm a woodworker and there are many species that I am sensitive to. Even with an N95, I'm not putting my self out for unnecessary risks. I've been wearing an N95 in public since I got back in the country at the beginning of March.
 
Flight training is still going on at our airport, HBI. I flew approaches yesterday with a safety pilot myself. I was at Myrtle Beach last week...the place was wide open...restaurants were full.

Food servers were wearing masks ....otherwise, not very many masks seen.

Ron, I still need to fly down to Long Island and meet you sometime...last time I was there, your house was in framing.
 
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