News & Information You’ll Want To Know In
Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska & Iowa
by Yasmina Platt
Regional Manager,
AOPA Central Southwest Region
Well, I guess the Mayans were, in fact, wrong! Here we are still… We have already gone through “end of the world predictions” several times, with the last time being in 1999-2000. Hope everybody had a nice holiday break and had a chance to visit with friends and family. Maybe you even used general aviation to get around.
St. Clair Regional Airport (K39) in St. Clair, Missouri, is still a key issue for AOPA this year and we continue to oppose the city’s efforts to close the airport.
I am continuously monitoring bills and legislative developments in all four states of the Central Region (KS, MO, NE and IA), as their sessions all started at the beginning of the year.
As you might remember, the bill to extend the approach zones from the current three (3) miles to 10 miles from the end of every IFR runway in Nebraska was introduced by Senator Krist. This compatible land-use regulation would protect the lives of pilots, passengers and those on the ground by preventing tall obstacles from being built too close to airports.
My first trip of the year was to Kearney, Nebraska on January 23-24 for the 21st Annual Nebraska Aviation Council (NAC) Symposium. On Wednesday, I taught an “Operations at Nontowered Airports” safety seminar free to all pilots, and on Thursday, I participated in the “Airport Improvement Plan (AIP) and Washington Updates” round table discussion with several other alphabet groups and the FAA. While there, I also visited the Capitol in Lincoln to work on some advocacy efforts and met with Airport Support Network Volunteers (ASNV).
I plan on attending the Missouri and Iowa Aviation Conferences in April and the Kansas Aviation Conference in June; however, specific plans have not been confirmed. If I get a chance to organize an event in your area, I’ll be sure to let you know via e-mail (as long as we have your e-mail address on file).
Don’t forget that this year… Summit will be held in Fort Worth, Texas, October 10-12, 2013. Mark your calendar because I hope to see you there!
To stay up-to-speed with the latest in your region, visit or follow http://twitter.com/AOPACentralSW and, if you need to contact me, please send me an e-mail: yasmina.platt@aopa.org.
I am here to help you!
