This past month, SAFE became a stakeholder organization with "The Partnership to Enhance General Aviation Safety, Accessibility and Sustainability" (PEGASAS). PEGASAS is a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Center of Excellence for General Aviation. The mission of PEGASAS is to enhance general aviation safety, accessibility, and sustainability by partnering the FAA with a national network of world-class researchers, educators and industry leaders.

 

On January 29, 2012, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) posted in the Federal Register a Notice to inform the public of the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC); New Task Assignment for the ARAC: Establishment of the Airman Certification System Working Group. The new task was to establish an Airman Certification System Working Group (ACS WG) that will provide expert assistance and industry views to the FAA's Flight Standards Service (AFS) on the development, modification, and continued alignment of the major components of the airman certification system.

 

The FAA assigned the ARAC a new task arising from recommendations from both the Airman Testing Standards and Training Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) and ARAC Airman Testing Standards and Training Working Group (ATST WG). The ATST WG recommended ways to ensure that the FAA's airman testing and training materials better support reduction of fatal general aviation accidents. The FAA and the Aviation Industry jointly seek to improve airman training and testing by establishing an integrated, holistic airman certification system that clearly aligns testing with certification standards, guidance, and reference materials, and maintains that alignment.

 

Beginning with the creation of the ARC, following with the ATST WG, and now with the creation of the ACS WG, SAFE members have been an integral part of this process, with many SAFE members serving on both the ARC and ATSTWG.  The FAA has now appointed nine SAFE members to serve on the Airman Certification System Work Group. .  SAFE members appointed to the ACS WG are: Eric Crump; Richard Funcheon; John King; Janeen Kochan; Roger Sharp; Burt Stevens; Doug Stewart; Batson Wilson; and Bob Wright.

 The first meeting of the ACS WG was held on March 27th. At this meeting, members were appointed to several sub-groups, thus dividing up the tasks that will be accomplished through an aggressive work schedule.

"Each One, Bring One" is the theme of the 2014 SAFE Membership Campaign, which kicked off on February 1.  Current members participating in this campaign will have their names entered into a special drawing to be held on July 31 at the SAFE dinner in Oshkosh, WI.  The three prizes to be awarded are a $400 gift certificate donated by King Schools to be used for training materials, an SP-400 handheld NAV/COM aviation radio donated by Sporty's Pilot Shop, and an A20 aviation headset with Bluetooth (twin plug, GA configuration) donated by Bose.  You do not need to be present to win.    

 

In addition to the participating member's name being entered into the July 31 drawing, every SAFE member who recruits or sponsors a new member will receive a $5 Starbucks e-gift card immediately after the membership fee is paid.  The e-gift card is sent via email and will say Starbucks in the subject line, so please download and print out the gift card when it arrives in your inbox.

 

During this recruitment campaign, each SAFE member is asked to recruit one new member into the organization between February 1 and July 31, 2014.  The more members you bring into SAFE, the faster SAFE will grow AND the more times your name will be entered into a special drawing at the end of the current campaign.  The recruiter's or sponsor's name must be shown on the membership application for participation in the drawing.  Members can participate by recruiting a new member, who would pay his or her own membership dues, or by purchasing a gift membership for the new member.  To date, the majority of new members gained during this recruitment campaign have been gift memberships.  

 

If you'd like to send a potential member a copy of SAFE's membership brochure, the latest brochure can be found here.  If you'd like to sponsor a new member, you can complete the membership form located on the SAFE website. There is also a yellow banner on the home page of the SAFE website that will link you to the brochure and application.  (Please note that where the membership application asks who referred you, please put your own name, if you are sponsoring (i.e., paying for) a gift membership.  Then put the new member's name and address in the area that asks for Shipping Information.)

The NTSB Training Center (TC) in Ashburn, VA is planning to hold a GA Safety Seminar on Saturday, May 10, 2014. This will be the fourth in a series of Seminars that the TC has put on. They have received good reviews to date on previous Seminars, and are looking forward to another successful event. The topic for the upcoming Seminar will be: preventing loss of control accidents with a focus specifically on stall/spin events.

 

SAFE Executive Director, Doug Stewart, has been invited to give a presentation discussing: typical scenarios that lead to inadvertent stall /spin events; how we can improve the way we teach stall recognition and recovery; and to take a close look at the aerodynamics involved with the "base-to-final" stall/spin.

 

Other presenters at the seminar will include: NTSB Board Member (and SAFE member) Earl Weener;  AFS 800 manager (and SAFE member) James Viola, David Kenny from the AOPA, and Elias Kontanis from the NTSB. There are also plans to film several stall/spin scenarios in a Redbird FMX ATD, and show them in stop motion to provide a better understanding of how a simple maneuver can lead to a fatal stall/spin accident.