| SUBSCRIBE to eNEWS |
Or text
SAFE to 22828
(messaging and data
rates may apply)
|
|
|
| SAFE represents more than 1,000 of the industry's top aviation educators in 49 states and nine foreign countries, including the majority of Master Instructors and numerous General Aviation Awards winners in all four awards categories.
|
|
AIRVENTURE 2016 'A BANNER YEAR' FOR SAFE
|
|
 |
|
|
Jim Viola, FAA
|
AirVenture 2016 was 'a banner year' for SAFE, with a record number of instructors and pilots joining the organization and many members renewing. The annual membership meeting dinner on Thursday night was sold out, and attendees included top FAA and NTSB officials.
Special guest Stephen Pope, editor of FLYING Magazine, spoke at the membership meeting dinner.
A special 'Director Emeritus' Founder's award went to organization co-founder Doug Stewart and Certificates of Appreciation were presented to NTSB Board member Dr. Earl Weener and FAA Flight Standards Service Director John Duncan. Also recognized was Susan Parson, editor of FAA Aviation News. The 2016 SAFE Service Award went to Kevin D Murphy, editor of eNews.
|
|
|
Hon. Dr. Earl Weener NTSB
|
|
|
|
FAA's John Duncan, AFS-1
and Susan Parson
|
The SAFE booth in Exhibit Hall B provided SAFE members an opportunity for input on the new FAA NPRM affecting training for Commercial and CFI certificates and IFR currency requirements when using an Aviation Training Device (ATD). (See related story in this issue). Others took the survey on runway incursions sponsored by the Pegasas Project in cooperation with SAFE, chatted with staff members and volunteered at the booth.
Sponsors of the sold-out membership dinner, FLYING Magazine, Sporty's Pilot Shop, Aviation Insurance Resources (AIR) and Starr Insurance received a round of applause from the appreciative audience.
|
|
SAFE MEMBERS VOLUNTEER AT
EAA PILOT PROFICIENCY CENTER
|
|
|
SAFE members Jack Vandeventer of Indiana, Ken Wittekiend of Texas, Parvez Dara of New Jersey and Michael Phillips of California
(shown above) spent much of their time at AirVenture 2016 as volunteer instructors in the EAA Pilot Proficiency Center, helping both VFR and IFR pilots sharpen their skills on a dozen Redbird LD flight simulators, a Redbird MCX and a Crosswind simulator.
Tech Talks by volunteer presenters and simulator practice were available free to any pilot in the cavernous, well air-conditioned tent set up at the Four Corners at AirVenture.
Partners for this year's EAA Pilot
Proficiency Center included SAFE, NAFI, Hartzell Propeller Inc., Jeppesen, Redbird Flight, AOPA, David Clark, Mindstar Aviation, PilotEdge and Plane and Pilot Magazine.
|
|
|
|
Ken Wittekiend
|
|
|
|
SAFE EXPANDS OUTREACH, SEEKS VOLUNTEERS
|
|
New SAFE Chair David St. George announced at AirVenture 2016 that the organization will be expanding resources available to members on the new web site and increasing outreach by involving more SAFE members.
"Write
a blog article
, join a committee or become a SAFE Ambassador," he said. "CFI to CFI, face-to-face communication about instructional safety is the goal. SAFE members are some of the best and most experienced CFIs in the world, and keeping all that talent and expertise bottled up is no way to increase aviation instructional excellence."
Use
this form
to volunteer as a SAFE ambassador for this and many other aviation events around the country.
|
|
GA AWARD WINNERS HONORED
|
|
This year's
National FAA General Aviation Award
winners for 2016 were honored at the SAFE member dinner on Thursday night at AirVenture. They were Rich Martindell (FAASTeam representative), Bob Hepp (CFI) and Adrian Eichhorn (aviation technician).
All winners also received embroidered shirts with the SAFE logo and a year's membership in the organization.
SAFE has been a supporter of the National FAA General Aviation Awards since the organization's founding.
|
|
|
SAFE MEMBERS AGREE WITH USE OF
TAA FOR COMMERCIAL TRAINING
|
|
|
Substituting a technologically advanced aircraft (TAA) for a complex aircraft for commercial pilot training earned approval from nearly three-quarters of the SAFE members who participated in a survey on
FAA NPRM-2016-6142-0001
at the SAFE booth at AirVenture 2016.
SAFE sponsored the survey at AirVenture to get member input on the NPRM,
which proposes substantial changes affecting flight training. SAFE will include the opinions as part of the organization's official comments to the FAA.
On the proposal for allowing TAA instead of complex aircraft, 71.4 percent of SAFE members agreed or strongly agreed with the proposal, while the remainder either disagreed or were neutral. SAFE members were less enthusiastic about another proposal in the NPRM which would remove the requirement for an instructor to be present when a pilot is using a full flight simulator, flight training device or aviation training device for IFR recency; only 42.8 percent agreed or strongly agreed with that proposal.
The FAA's comment period on the NPRM remains open through August 10, and SAFE urges members who did not participate in the SAFE poll at AirVenture 2016 to
make their views known
. In the comment search box, enter FAA-2016-6142-0001.
|
A NOTE FROM OUTGOING
SAFE CHAIR DONNA WILT
|
|
|
During
the annual SAFE membership meeting at AirVenture 2016, I was pleased to announce that Vice Chair David St. George was elected by the board to the position of Chairman of the SAFE Board of Directors for the coming year. The SAFE Directors unanimously elected him i
n accordance with the SAFE Bylaws and he assumed the position at the end of the annual meeting.
I'm sure he will be an outstanding leader for the organization.
It's been my privilege to serve as SAFE Chair for the past two years, and I remain active on the board, completing my current term. Read more about David and the newly-elected directors, Eric Hake and Mike Garrison, later in this eNews.
Regards,
Donna Wilt
|
NEW SAFE BOARD CHAIR, TWO NEW AND
ONE PREVIOUS DIRECTOR ASSUME OFFICE
|
|
|
|
|
|
David St. George
|
|
David St. George, a charter member of SAFE, has been elected as Chair of the SAFE Board of Directors for the 2016-2017 term.
For more than 20 years, St. George was the Chief Instructor at
East Hill Flying Club,
and is a CFI for
all fixed wing certificates and ratings from Sport Pilot to Multi-Engine ATP, and is an FAA pilot examiner for the Rochester FSDO and FAAST Team lead representative. He is a ten time Master CFI and Charter member of SAFE. David maintains
many websites
and wrote the popular
SAFE Toolkit app.
He has been instrumental in SAFE's growth, especially in the area of SAFE's social media outreach.
Also taking office as SAFE Directors were Eric Hake of Houston, Texas and Mike Garrison of Port St. Lucie, Florida. Parvez Dara of Toms River, New Jersey, was re-elected to the Board after having been appointed to fill a vacancy created in 2015 when a Director stepped down.
Previous Chair Donna Wilt oversaw creation of a greatly expanded eNews, built membership to more than 1,000 and upgraded SAFE's image at trade shows.
|
|
TOOLKIT APP UPDATED WITH ACS INFO
|
|
SAFE's popular
Toolkit
application has been updated with all Airman Certification Standards (ACS) information a CFI needs to properly prepare a student for a Private Pilot or an Instrument Rating checkride.
It includes all endorsements for training required by FAR Part 61,
along with mobile weather, flight tracking, N# lookup and more. "We basically put everything in the SAFE CFI Tookit that you would use as a working CFI," said David St. George, the app developer.
SAFE's Toolkit is free and is
downloadable from the App Store for iPods and from the Google Play Store for Android devices.
|
SAFE K-12 CLASSROOM TEACHER
GRANT DEADLINE AUGUST 31
|
|
|
Classroom teachers have until August 31 to
submit applications
for the two $250 classroom teacher grants SAFE awards annually. The teacher does not need to be a SAFE member. The grant program is meant to encourage teachers to incorporate aviation-themed lessons into their curriculum. Grant information is available here.
|
|
STUDENT PILOT'S GUIDE PART III FEATURED IN
JULY/AUGUST 2016 FAA SAFETY BRIEFING
|
|
|
The July/August 2016 issue of FAA Safety Briefing (formerly known as FAA Aviation News) focuses on the world of student pilots and airmen in training.
"Building on our previous student-pilot themed editions in 2012 and 2014, this issue provides tips and resources for success in initial pilot certification," wrote Susan Parson in the magazine's introduction. Parson is editor of the magazine and SAFE member. "It also explores the new Airman Certification Standards which begin rolling out this summer."
|
|
DRIVER'S LICENSE MEDICAL
MAY INCREASE CFI BUSINESS
|
|
A nearly 30-year battle to allow non-commercial pilots to fly using a state-issued driver's license instead of an FAA medical certificate reached a milestone in July with Senate passage of an FAA reauthorization bill and signed into law by President Obama on July 15.
|
|
|
|
Drivers License Medical
|
|
Once the FAA writes specific rules to comply with the legislation, any pilot who has held any class medical certificate in the past 10 years may use his or her driver's license as proof of fitness to fly.
Unlike earlier, more restrictive versions of the legislation, the privilege will be for virtually any single or twin-engine airplane, VFR or IFR, with up to six seats and a gross weight of up to 6,000 pounds. Pilots operating with a driver's license medical may carry as many as five passengers up to 18,000 feet and flying at speeds up to 250 knots.
"With passage of this so-called Driver's License Medical bill, some of the expense and hassle of non-commercial flying has been removed and we expect CFIs will see an increase in business as former pilots clamor to get back into flying," declared outgoing SAFE Chair Donna Wilt.
|
|
FREE RISK MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK AVAILABLE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Risk Management Handbook
|
|
The AOPA Air Safety Institute says that about 75% of all GA accidents are caused by pilot error; the NTSB puts that figure at 85% for the last 20 years. Whatever the exact figure, pilots are clearly the weak link in the chain. All we have to do is fix pilot error, right?
"Many of these accidents are a result of the tendency to focus flight training on the physical aspects of flying the aircraft...(while)...risk management is ignored, with sometimes fatal results," says the introduction to the
FAA Risk Management Handbook
, a publication available for free download from the FAA web site.
Read more... |
|
SAFE BLOG HIGHLIGHTS FOR AUGUST
|
|
|
St. George, who has conducted more than 2,000 flight evaluations as a Part 141 flight school Chief Instructor and FAA DPE, points out that a flight check is a pass/fail system. "If something in flight on a checkride is unsatisfactory, both the applicant and I will know it immediately," he writes. "The harder and more important areas of concern are the judgement and risk-management areas of flight, which now receive full focus in the new 'Know, Consider, Do' ACS format."
|
|
AOPA FLIGHT TRAINING POLL
OPEN UNTIL AUGUST 22
|
|
|
Instructors who are actively involved in flight training may want to
encourage their students and former students to take the
2016 AOPA Flight Training poll.
The poll measures the performance of flight instructors and schools in four categories: educational quality, customer focus, community, and information sharing.
"If you're a good flight instructor and know it, you should encourage your students to participate," said SAFE Chair Donna Wilt. "Not only will it give you a chance to be nationally recognized in the Flight Training Excellence Awards but also give you coverage in Flight Training magazine and on AOPA's website." She added that all instructors who get at least five qualifying poll-taker students will also receive a report card summarizing customer feedback on the areas where you excel and where you can grow.
"This isn't just a popularity contest," said David St. George, incoming SAFE Chair. "The team at AOPA has gone to great lengths to scientifically calibrate the survey and weigh the results to defeat attempts to "game" the system. They have gathered real data on what makes CFIs and flight schools the top performers. Their analysis behind this survey reveals impressive and useful information for all serious aviation providers." A deeper look into
factors that go into instructional excellence
are in the SAFE Blog.
The poll closes at noon on Aug. 22, 2016.
|
|
MASTER INSTRUCTOR ACHIEVEMENTS
|
|
Six of the nation's top professional aviation educators renewed their Master CFI designations in May, June and July, all through
Master Instructors, LLC.
Additionally, three long-time Master CFIs were granted Master Emeritus status. To see full information on each,
read more.
|
|
|
| Jeanne Elizabeth MacPherson |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fly SAFE!
David St. George
Chair
Society of Aviation and Flight Educators
|
Copyright SAFE, Inc. 2016. All rights reserved.
SAFE, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) Tax-Exempt Public Charity
Editor@SafePilots.org -- Safe@SafePilots.org -- www.SafePilots.org |
|
|
