Staying Up To Date Can Be Fun If You Just Turn Off The Computer And Pick Up A Book Or A Magazine

Keeping up to date and being prepared does not have to be a daunting task if you know where to go to get the information. New students obviously need to prepare to become certificated pilots, and all certificated pilots must remain operationally current. The trick is; what is the easy way to get the job done?

One way to be spoon fed information is to belong to an organization like EAA or AOPA or both. Both of these organizations have great magazines, and their internet services provide a way to stay tuned-in to what is happening in aviation.

However, you sometimes have to get into the rules and regulations on your own, and this can occasionally result in the “deer in the headlights” stare. Well, it doesn’t have to be a chore to review the necessities of the federal rules and procedures, and a publication titled the FAR/AIM goes a long way to make the job easier. In case you’re wondering, I’m talking about an actual book printed on paper. All the information is available on the web, but sometimes sitting in a chair and just thumbing through a book gets the job done a lot easier than staring at a computer screen wondering where to click next.

All new pilot students start their aviator life with a copy of the FAR/AIM book tucked in their training kit. A number of publishers produce the FAR/AIM and it’s usually available for about $18.00. It’s a thick book that weighs just shy of three pounds which makes it look formable and unfriendly and, if you actually tried to read it from cover-to-cover, I do believe it could cause brain damage.
 
Therefore, it’s important to treat it like a reference manual and not a novel; just look up what you trying to find in the index. It’s actually a book that has combined the regulations pertinent to general aviation flying with a separate FAA publication called the Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM).

We all know that regulations are pain in the neck to read, but the AIM portion of this book is actually pretty easy to read. The content of the AIM is commonly referred to as hidden regulations. Everything written in the AIM is simply intended to assure that you comply with the regulations, although the AIM itself is not regulatory.

The index on the AIM is well-designed and here’s a great way to use it. When you feel like just sitting in your rocking chair and killing some time, pull out the AIM, go to the index, and see what looks interesting. Most subjects covered in the AIM are not more than a few paragraphs long. If you find something that doesn’t apply to your type of flying, make it a game to find something that does. Give this a try, and there’s a good chance you’ll get hooked into looking up things you didn’t even know existed.

Staying up to date keeps you safer and it’s a great way to impress your pilot friends…or become a pain in the neck...this can be fun too.

(Image from Gleim Aviation website)

FMI: www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/faa_regulations/