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21 International News & IAOPA IAOPA EUR Regional Meeting Philippe Hauser, CEO AOPA Switzerland After a considerable long break due to Covid, the IAOPA EUR Group met again physically at Bad Homburg near Frankfurt in fall 2022. 25 persons from 11 countries participated to this meeting which normally takes place twice a year. Please find below some outcomes of this Regional Meeting. The big threat about the end of Avgas 100LL is over. The US company GAMI (General Aviation Modifications, Inc.) lately received the formal STC (Supplemental Type Certificates) for all en- gines which are certified to run by 100LL. This means that the GAMI Fuel replaces avgas 100LL at 100%, also for high performance tur- bo-charged engines. Even though the future looks quite bright, the implementation plan of the GAMI Fuel in Europe is not fixed yet. There- fore AOPA-EUR strongly supports an extended transition period beyond May 2025 (the target date for conversion in the USA is end of 2030). There are still lots of open questions about pro- duction and logistics. AOPA-EUR will support these processes to ensure a speedy introduc- tion of GAMI Fuel in Europe. IAOPA is very happy with the result of the imple- mentation of the ICAO Rescue and Fire Fighting Regulation, which treats GA in a different way than the commercial airline traffic. Without this new regulation, the burdens to keep up conven- tional rescue systems would have led GA aero- dromes to a financial disaster. Our IAOPA repre- sentative at ICAO HQ in Montreal has accompanied this process with an appropriate lobbying. Drones make part of our aviation system by also using GA airspaces. A functional and safe co-op- eration will be essential. There are a lot of tech- nical issues (ADS-B, Mode S, Flarm, etc.) to oper- ate in the U-Space, but no standards have been developed yet. An UAT (Universal Access Trans- ceiver) might be a good solution. The IAOPA-EUR chairman brought it to the point: «We must not fail a successful and common integration of manned and unmanned traffic. It has to be safe, affordable and easy to apply. » IAOPA will work on that topic with vehemence. Video Series: Companion Pilot This new video series by the AOPA Safety Insti- tute, Companion Copilot, provides nonpilot fre- quent companion passengers an opportunity to learn more about how they can help their pilot (pinch hit) and enjoy being an active participant in the flight. Go to Link. E-Magazine with weekly international news Are you interested in news about AOPA and GA outside of Switzerland? AOPA e-Pilot will bring you news, flying adventures, safety tips and ad- vocacy updates in English every Friday. Sign up here. Online videos and more We don’t know about you, but we always have the feeling, that we could spend more time up in the air. Especially now that winter has arrived. If you get the itching but have to stay inside, you can at least get a bit of the feeling by watching one of AOPA’s flight videos. Check it out here.