SAFE Strategies

Special Edition

June 15, 2025

SAFE Members: Please vote in this week's SAFE Board of Directors election. You will receive a separate official ballot in your SAFE email today!

Buy tickets now for the SAFE Annual Member Meeting and Dinner.

SAFE Board Election

Starts Today: Candidates

SAFE Member Dinner at Oshkosh's AirVenture 2025: Tickets Here

Polls open today, Sunday, June 15 for the election of three SAFE Board of Directors members. Candidate photos and bios are below.

"We are a member-run organization that proudly elects our directors from our membership," said SAFE Executive Director David St. George. "SAFE was founded to keep members in control of their association, and this is an amazingly talented group of aviators."

Every year, three of the nine SAFE Board of Directors' terms expire and are filled by election. All SAFE members are eligible to vote. If you are currently a SAFE member, you will receive an e-mail ballot separately today. Online voting will run from Sunday, June 15 to June 22, 2024. SAFE's Bylaws are here.

Please review these six highly qualified aviation education professionals running for the three available Board seats during the June elections. The statement below each refers to their answer to the question: "What should SAFE be addressing in the next three years?"

Visit this member candidate page for a complete bio of each candidate

Doug Auclair



In the next three years, I believe SAFE’s most pressing concerns and opportunities center on three core imperatives: modernizing flight instruction, expanding the national presence of professional flight educators, and positioning SAFE as the central hub of instructional excellence in both traditional and emerging aviation domains.

Peter Dawson

The mission is clear: keep raising the safety bar! ... Evidence suggests controlling the message is the toughest obstacle. Making sure we value everyone, including the FAA, CFI, and the customers (our students)... The organization can work to ensure that no one group within general aviation is excluded from some level of ownership while simultaneously progressing safety.

Dan Keen

Pilot training – Part 61 and Part 141; pilot shortages; SAFE’s continued involvement in the Part 141 modernization effort and ATC modernization; Designated Pilot Examiner shortages.

For aviation credentials, background, and accomplishments of each candidate, click below.

Brian Lloyd

SAFE and I have the same goals: reducing LOC-I. That is perhaps the most important goal right now. This means finding ways to reach and teach CFIs so that the knowledge carries forth to the individual pilot. Teach a pilot and you reach one person. Teach the CFI and you reach hundreds of pilots. This is the crucial force multiplier.

Dr. Juan Merkt

I believe SAFE would benefit from increasing its networking and collaboration with aviation education programs at colleges and universities. This initiative may also provide additional opportunities for the organization to continue growing. As part of this effort, SAFE may want to consider partnering with organizations such as the Aviation Accreditation Board International (AABI) and UAA.

Wayman Alfredo Lui

CFI development, people, soft skills, professionalism.

The SAFE Dinner will again be in the spacious and air-conditioned PRC Building, this year on Thursday, July 24. Tickets are available HERE.

We are very happy to have Captain Michael Maya Charles as our speaker at our SAFE dinner. Michael is a former Flying Magazine columnist and Editor in Chief. He wrote the legendary "Artful Flying," almost 20 years ago. This highly acclaimed book stresses the continual quest for aviation excellence. Perfect for our SAFE event. Listen to the preface to Michael's audio version HERE. Michael is always an exciting speaker.

Dinner was so good last year (rave reviews) that Michaeles will be back again this year. Your $45 ticket includes dinner, two drinks, and dessert in addition to the presentation. MENU

SAFE is in the same double-wide booth in the Bravo Hangar 2081-2 ("The Learning Zone!" If you are attending OSH, please volunteer at the SAFE Booth. You can get a SAFE hat and shirt, not to mention daily and weekly wrist bands for eager volunteers! ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

A quick summary of OSH

resources for SAFE members:

AirVenture main page.

• Maps of the site.
• SAFE Booth in B2081-82.
• Tickets. $65 daily, $46 EAA member. SAFE member discount.
• Parking $25 daily, $150 weekly.

2025 AirVenture NOTAM.

• Tips for flying in.

Schedule of events.

• Presentations and Workshops
• Exhibitor List,
• Air Shows, daily 2:15 PM, Sunday 1:00 PM.

Camping/Lodging.

• Airplane camping $39 daily.

SAFE is a 501(c)(3) educational, not-for-profit professional organization building aviation educator excellence and aviation safety. Our nearly 8000 members include many of the best-known, best-credentialed and most experienced CFIs as well as many FAA Designated Pilot Examiners.

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