The International Aerobatic Club and EAA are working directly with FAA to obtain a categorical exclusion from overly burdensome environmental impact requirements that are currently proposed when pilots apply for an aerobatic practice area box. This development came during the annual EAA/FAA Recreational Aviation Summit on Jan. 23 at the EAA Aviation Center in Oshkosh.

Vicki Cruse, IAC president, represented the organization during the session. This annual meeting, unmatched anywhere else in the aviation community, included key aviation issues such as general aviation safety,…

Though aviation authorities in many countries have established formal certification criteria for aerobatic instructors, the U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) contain no provisions for a specific “aerobatic instructor” rating or certification. Given the success of industry-based programs such as the NAFI Master Instructor Program and the ICAS Aerobatic Competency Evaluation (ACE) Program, the National Association of Flight Instructors and the International Aerobatic Club (IAC) have jointly developed a broad — and strictly voluntary — aerobatic instruction designation program.

William “Bill” Kershner spent a lifetime teaching the art of flying, particularly aerobatics. He was an educator and ardent promoter of aerobatics and personally taught aerobatics to more than 600 pilots. He was a guest lecturer at the University of Tennessee Space Institute in Tullahoma, Tennessee, lectured and demonstrated spins to engineers and test pilots at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent, Maryland, and lectured at the FBI Academy. His training manuals, including The Student Pilot’s Flight Manual and The Basic Aerobatic Manual, have sold more than 1.3 million copies. The…

A two-year exemption (through September 30, 2009) was granted allowing IAC pilots participating in IAC-sanctioned aerobatic competitions to carry less than the VFR fuel requirements under certain conditions. Fuel…