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JANUARY, 1996

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Dillingham Airfield, which is located on Oahu's North Shore, encompasses more than just powered airplanes doing touch and go's. It is also the home of gliders, parachuting, aerobatics flying, and just recently hang gliding. With all of these activities happening at the airfield, it is a MUST that everyone thoroughly understands the "common practices" and cooperates together...

The Airfield Itself
The paved runway (8-26) has a width of 75' and a length of 9000' with a displaced threshold (for GLIDER USE ONLY) of 2000'. There is a unicom operator weekdays 0900-1700L weekends 0800-1800L, on a frequency of 123.0. No civilian night operations are allowed at this airfield.

Because there is heavy air traffic, it is important that pilots contact Dillingham Unicom prior to entering the Dillingham area. This area is defined as: Wailua/Haleiwa all the way to Kaena Point (this includes offshore out to approx. 3 miles).

Any aircraft in the Haleiwa practice area should contact the unicom and advise them of your intentions and should monitor the frequency while there.

Anytime the Unicom is closed or you are unable to contact them on 123.0 then you should broadcast your intentions on 123.0 and call "Dillingham Traffic." You should still be following the recommended procedures for the area which are set forth in the next few paragraphs.

Powered Aircraft
Aircraft intending to land at Dillingham should call Unicom at least 2 miles prior to entering a 45 degree downwind. When on the downwind, stay close to the runway (about 1/2 - 3/4 mile offshore) at an altitude of 800'. Powered aircraft should always call base and state intentions for landing. When turning base leg for a landing on rwy 8, try to make your left turn no farther than Camp Erdman's pool. By doing this, it allows you a nice setup for a 4 mile final. It also allows you a good view of the gliders who may be turning base leg as well. Note: gliders may sometimes have to enter a right hand base leg (from the mountain side). The gliders turn to base and final should not disturb your aircraft's flight path as your aircraft should be AT LEAST 600' UNTIL REACHING THE FENCE/CURVED ROAD at which time you may start your descent to landing on rwy 8. Prior to the displaced threshold is not a place where powered aircraft (other than towplanes) may land.

On a tradewind day, expect parachuting off the far end of rwy 8 in the grassy area. In this case, your aircraft's left turn to crosswind is made prior to crossing the end of the runway. Remember, your turn to crosswind may be at a lower altitude than you expect (it may be only 200' off the ground and you may have to turn crosswind), so stay coordinated.

On a Kona wind day, Dillingham can be quite hectic. The best advise to pilots would be to listencarefully to what Unicom has to say regarding which runway is being used for landing. Follow the same procedures for the traffic pattern but just switch directions. You must still land past the displaced threshold on rwy 26.

If you are departing the area back to Honolulu from rwy 8, then make a right turn on crosswind to get out of the pattern, but be sure you are clear of the parachuting area before turning (look at figure 1). If departing towards Kaena Pt. then depart on the downwind, staying at traffic pattern altitude until clear the pattern area.

Don't forget that you are a powered aircraft and that you can manuever more than a parachutist or a glider.

**Scenario**NOTE: If you do hear a towplane call "slack" (meaning they are taking off with a glider) and you are on final then just go around. However, since the towplanes will turn their crosswind towards the mountains, do not pass on the right hand side if the departure was on rwy 8. Pass well clear on the left.

Gliders
There is extensive glider operations going on at Dillingham everyday. Some of the gliders may seem to blend in with the surroundings (like chameleons) so be sure to look around. Most of the gliders are not radio equipped therefore be sure to stay clear of them so they don't have any hesitation of what you are doing. The gliders usually fly the mountain range area or are in the "practice glider area" located between the parachuting area and the mountains at an altitude of 800' on up. Sometimes they are offshore doing aerobatic work, but they are always close to the shoreline.

Skydiving
This is a popular occurrence at the departure end of rwy 8 at Dillingham. A typical jump involves: exiting the aircraft from 7,000 to 13,000' AGL and freefalling for about 1 min. to approx. 2,500' AGL for parachute deployment. Normal canopy openings are between 2,000' and 4,000' AGL. All jumpers are under canopy by 2,000' for the descent to the landing area. The canopy descent takes about 2-5 mins. These procedures mean the parachutists are under fully-inflated canopies at least 1,000' above most traffic pattern altitudes. Skydiving is almost always conducted upwind of the landing area. Jumpers exit upwind and stay upwind until 200' from the ground. Then they fly slightly downwind of the target before turning upwind to land.

Unicom and FSS inform pilots that the jump zone is active. The jump zone starts from the Polo fields all the way to the runway. Jump pilots always make a radio call 5 mins. prior to dropping the jumpers. Once they call "jumpers away" they head off shore descending to pattern altitude. Sometimes the jumpers will land at the Polo fields, so please stay offshore until you are clear of that area.

Aerobatics Flying
You will find aerobatics flying offshore around the Camp Erdman area. Unicom does a good job of telling inbound pilots where there is aerobatics flying. They are usually found 1/2-1 1/2 miles offshore from 1,500'and up.

I hope this clears up any misunderstandings of questions concerning the operations at Dillingham Airfield. On January 10, 1996 at 1830, there will be a meeting at the the HNL Flight Standards Office (135 Nakolo Pl.) discussing in detail the procedures for Dillingham.

Because there is considerable confusion regarding the policy of upgrading type ratings to the Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) level, we will clarify the policy and provide examples to help eliminate the misconceptions. EXCEPT AS NOTED FOR MILITARY COMPETENCY APPLICANTS, the policy of upgrading type ratings to a higher certificate level applies to both airplanes and helicopters.

There are two references in FAA Order 8710.3B, Pilot Examiner's Handbook, that are very misleading. Chapter 5, page 5-17, paragraph 47A(1) states that "if a type rating on the superseded certificate is limited to VFR, that limitation is carried forward to the higher grade of certificate." True, but incomplete. The VFR limitation is carried forward; however, the type rating to which it is attached is carried forward to the new certificate at its ORIGINAL LEVEL; e.g., private or commercial. Type ratings limited to VFR are NOT upgraded to ATP.

Chapter 12, page 12-1, paragraph 3 states that "the type rating is carried forward at the grade of the new certificate within category and class." The text is correct as far as it goes, but it fails to state two important exceptions. The following information amends and clarifies the current guidance in FAA Order 8710.3B. This guidance will be included in the first revision to the Pilot Examiner's Handbook and also provided to inspectors by the most expedient means available.

Historically, airmen holding type ratings at the private and commercial level were required to retest in order to upgrade those type ratings to the ATP level. However, since the establishment of the Practical Test Standards (PTS), the practical tests for all type ratings are conducted to a single standard for all grades of pilot certificates. Competence is demonstrated at the ATP level. Simply stated, a private or commercial pilot gets the same type rating test as an ATP.

Therefore, EXCEPT for helicopter type ratings added to an airman certificate under the military competency provisions of Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Section 61.73(D)(3), all type ratings within category and class held on a superseded certificate are now carried forward to the new certificate level without further testing. For military pilots applying under the provisions of FAR Section 61.73(D)(3), an AIRPLANE type rating may be upgraded to the ATP level; however, a helicopter type rating (an aircraft rating OTHER than airplane category and type) added to an ATP certificate is limited to commercial privileges.

KAUAI

Water survival will be the safety seminar presented by the Coast Guard. Proper ditching procedures, using floatation rafts/vests, search and rescue will be discussed.

Date: January 9, 1996 - Tuesday - 6:30-8:00pm
Location: Lihue Commuter Terminal
Contact: Bill Enoka, DPE, ASC, 808-822-4512

Clarence Lopez will conduct this safety seminar on parachute operations at Dillingham Airfield. Pilots that fly into HDH will have a better understanding of this busy Airfield.

Date: January 10, 1996 - Wednesday - 6:30-8:00pm
Location: Honolulu Flight Standards Office 135 Nakolo Place
Contact: Clarence Lopez 526-3020

Captain Bruce J. Mayes, B-737 captain, helicopter pilot, CRM facilitator will present this safety seminar on "Error Chain." Mechanical reliability, the second largest cause of accidents, is less than 10% of all accidents. The cause of 75-80% of all accidents is Pilot Error. Captain Mayeswill give us solutions on how we can decrease our errors.

Date: January 11, 1996 - Thursday - 7:00-9:00pm
Location: Honolulu Flight Standards Office 135 Nakolo Place
Contact: Bill Padgett, CFI, ASC 484-2462

WINGS PROGRAM

PHASE I
Chantal C. Boom'la
Mary Campbell
Gregory Fish
William Folk
Lance Gomes
Gilbert John Hatter
Christopher James McCarthy
Isaac L. Raphael
Vincent Vorsino

PHASE II
Barbara Clever
James S. Moir
Melvin E. Souza
Ron Stewart
Vance M. Tilley
Debbie Williams

PHASE III
Lorne Direnfeld, M.D.
Ray Gercas
Charles Kaminski
James Richard Low
Donald C. Machado, Jr.
Elliott B. Mergler
Vance M. Tilley

PHASE IV
William D. Baisley
Charles Bridgman
Laurence M. McCann

PHASE V
Ken Schoeff

PHASE VI
Charles C. Cantu

PHASE VII
Joseph H. Yamamoto

PHASE IX
Robert P. Moore

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