Please contact your representatives in Congress and ask them to support CFIs as educators and defeat the new FAA interpretation of flight training as "flight for compensation and hire." The concurrent bills to correct the FAA's misinterpretation are both titled the "Certainty For General Aviation Pilots Act of 2021" and are HR 4645 and S 2458, sponsored by Rep. Sam Graves and Sen. Jim Inhofe.

If you are a CFI, or are involved with flight training in any way, please find and communicate your displeasure with this disruptive and safety-negative policy with your House of Representatives member and your two Senators.

The FAA has reinforced its newly-revised interpretation of a CFI's role, ignoring industry pressure and historical precedent. CFIs now legally operate "for compensation and hire," essentially charter pilots, when educating. This is contrary to FAA published policy and a long FAA history supporting the CFI's educational role. Recent opposition from every GA alphabet group does not seem to have made a difference to the FAA's new legal stance.

The revised policy upsets years of agency policy defining CFIs as educators, rather than pilots 'carrying persons or property for compensation or hire.' Although the change sounds semantic, it has already resulted in the imposition of a requirement for CFIs to get special approval to instruct in any experimental, primary or limited category aircraft. (It does not apply to normal category production aircraft typically used at a flight school.)

That approval, called a Letter Of Deviation Authority (LODA), can be requested by either the aircraft owner or the CFI.

In addition, SAFE is warning that CFIs who now or expect to instruct with Basic Med may be denied payment for their CFI services unless they get a second-class medical.

Owners of Limited category aircraft (warbirds) only can shortcut the required LODA process by using an exemption granted in August to EAA; the exemption is instantly granted when the owner enters his request in the comments section of the FAA's Regulations.gov docket. EAA membership is not required. The LODA requirement remains for instruction in experimental or primary aircraft.

The bureaucratic snafu sprang from the narrowly defined Warbird Adventures case in Florida earlier this year. In announcing his decision, the federal judge upheld the FAA's cease-and-desist order but offered an obiter dictum (non-binding guidance) declaring that “when the student is paying for the instruction, the student is being carried ‘for compensation.'" The FAA promptly adopted that as policy, even though it directly contradicts years of agency policy on CFI status.

SAFE members using the SAFE CFI Toolkit app now have access to the latest changes in the FAA knowledge test series, made August 11. The change also re-enabled the app's iPad capability.

The SAFE Toolkit App, one of the organization's most popular membership offerings, is the CFI's go-to source for flight training news and tools for the professional aviation educator. It is free for SAFE members and includes quick reference guides for CFI endorsements, test codes keys, ACS/PTS/FAR/AIM, N-Number lookups, FAA Wings decoder and more.

"This app was built from the ground up for flight instructors," said Kevin D Murphy, SAFE Communications Director. "It's truly everything a CFI could need, right in his or her hand." The app is available for both Android and Apple systems.

The CFI Toolkit was built by SAFE Executive Director David St George to help CFIs properly prepare would-be pilots for their checkride. He has been an FAA DPE for 25 years.

"I cannot count the number of flight tests we could not even begin because the correct endorsements were not available," he said. "This professional CFI app is the tool I built specifically to minimize those awkward times."

Award-winning Master CFI (and SAFE charter member) Rich Stowell has created a comprehensive “Learn to Turn,” program to combat loss of control (LOC) accidents. The full program will release on Community Aviation on Sept. 10th, but SAFE eNews readers can preview this important program immediately here on SAFE CFI-PRO™.

Sponsored by Avemco and Hartzell Propeller, the free program is anchored by a 98-page digital booklet, a 42-page graphics supplement to encourage classroom discussion, a 28-minute webinar, a 12-minute video, targeted training exercises, and a pilot survey.

“Through no fault of their own, light airplane pilots generally have been misinformed and undertrained regarding turn dynamics," said Stowell, who is well known as The Spin Doctor. "As a result, too many continue to lose control of their airplanes." He said that accounts for the unfortunate number of LOC accidents, representing nearly half of all GA fatal accidents.

According to Stowell, who has more than 30 years of experience providing spin, emergency maneuver, and aerobatic training, his program offers more than just academics. The Learn To Turn course has training exercises any pilot can use to improve his or her basic flying skills.

Topics in the course include Bottom Line Up Front; Program Structure; The Problem and A Solution; Operational Errors; What the Specialists See; Basic Object Motion; The Primary Controls; Horizontal, Oblique, and Vertical Turns; Accelerated Stalls; Excellence in Airmanship; and Training Mindset and Exercises.

SAFE is one of thirty early supporters of the Learn To Turn" program, and the booklet is available for CFIs in SAFE's Public Resource Center. The complete free program will be available on September 10 on the Community Aviation website.

The AOPA Air Safety Institute will be hosting the Wings-approved webinar on “Implementing Learn to Turn” with Stowell on Thursday, October 21st at 7:00 pm EDT.

SAFE representatives met with AFS-600 Division Manager Rob Reckert and AFS-630 Branch Manager Kieran O'Farrell at Oshkosh to discuss ARAC recommendations for improvement of the FAA's DPE system and other strategies.

The FAA told SAFE it supports some of the recommendations developed by the industry working group to improve DPE availability. The agency is upgrading its online designee locator search service to make it easier for applicants, CFIs and the FAA to connect with DPEs. SAFE is working to further ease the burden of finding a DPE for practical tests but supporting and improving DPE efficiency.

"There are close to 900 DPEs in the US," said Kevin D Murphy, SAFE Director of Communications, "but they're not distributed evenly, so we're hoping the FAA Locator Service will help applicants in areas with sparse DPE coverage find an examiner."

In October of 2018, in response to complaints from CFIs and flight schools, the FAA waived the geographic restrictions on DPEs, allowing them to travel, and increase the number of evaluations conducted each day. Though this has helped most flight schools it has also created a glut of DPEs in other areas, harming DPE program efficiency. A longer-term solution envisioned by the DPE industry committee is the national management of DPEs to more efficiently focus on the selection, training, deployment, and supervision. SAFE believes maintaining a balance between flight school needs for successful tests and DPE integrity is critical.

Another recommendation with broad support from industry and the FAA is to make mentorship services available to examiners (a program already available at SAFE). This innovation would consist of a formal program using experienced DPEs to act as a resource for the FAA, and advise newly designated DPEs as they begin to interact with the pilot community.

On the morning of April 19, 2018, a Cirrus SR22 carrying two occupants departed from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, bound for a conference in Indiana. What lay between the travelers and their destination, however, was a large swath of hazardous icing conditions, instrument meteorological conditions, and mountain obscuration.

The AOPA Air Safety Institute has recreated that accident in an interactive video examining not only this event but a similar tragedy involving a Beechcraft Bonanza that occurred just three days prior to the Cirrus accident.

AOPA's You Can Fly High School Aviation STEM Curriculum has already reached 300 high schools and 8,000 students in 44 states to prepare young people for a future in the aviation and aerospace industries.

"We want to grab them while they're young to get them excited about it so that by the time they're getting they're going into college, they have a career pathway set and they're ready to go," said AOPA's Glenn Ponas. The full story can be seen in a TV report from WMAR-TV in Baltimore.

It finally happened to an instructional flight. A drone collided with a Cessna 172 on final to Buttonville Airport in northern Toronto on August 10, causing major sheet metal damage and requiring an engine teardown. The CFI on board took control after the strike and landed safely.

"Had it been a few feet higher, the story may have been a lot different," said Russ Niles, an AvWeb writer. A large dent in the sheet metal on the left side damaged the airbox, and an engine teardown will be required because the lower arc of the prop sliced through the drone.

The drone, believed to be a 10-12 pound Aeryon Ranger, was operated by the Buttonville police department. In Canada, drones are banned within 3 nautical miles of non-towered airports and restricted to 400 feet AGL without special authorization. Transport Canada classified the accident as "unauthorized entry."

CFI Tahchiona Smith of Houston instructs for the Raiders-Tigers Flying Club, a nonprofit organization that provides low-cost flight training to underrepresented populations. She told an interviewer from WLS-TV that she was 23 the first time she ever met a female African American pilot.

"Being able to see a lot more of us and me teaching a lot of other African American females is just a feeling that I can't even describe." The complete report ran on WLS-TV in late August.

There are indications that a recent fatal instructional accident might have involved a frightened student 'locking up' on the flight controls. SAFE is gathering data on the frequency of these incidents. Please share your experiences in the following poll. Also if you feel comfortable sharing an incident, please write to: david[a]safpilots.org

Michael Kloch of Bend, OR attained his Master CFI-Aerobatic designation for the first time in July. He has been a Master CFI for four years.

He is a former Marine Corps F/A-18 pilot who served a combat tour in Iraq during Operation Southern Watch and attended Aviation Safety Officer School at the Naval Postgraduate School. He served as a Director of Safety and Standardization for a Marine Air Group. He now works as a test pilot and instructor for Epic aircraft and is chief pilot and CEO for Specialized Aero Works (SAW) in Bend where he teaches UPRT, aerobatics, tailwheel and more in SAW’s Super Decathlon.

Mike holds a helicopter rating and CFII & MEI qualifications along with a type rating in the CM-170 Fouga Magister. He volunteers as a FAASteam Representative and is co-creator of the Central Oregon Aviation Safety Team. He also distributes ATC safety information on his website, www.mikekloch.com. In his free time, Mike enjoys the great outdoors and spending time with his family.

The Master Instructor Continuing Education Program (MICEP) offers accreditations for aviation educators based on advanced professional standards and peer review. The designation requires a rigorous process of continuing professional activity, including remaining active. A Master Instructor designation continues to renew an instructor's CFI certificate, and has been acclaimed by FAA Administrator to be "the best of the best."

James Edward McCord, Jr of Santa Rosa CA has been designated as a Master CFI for a remarkable fifth time.

Jim has been flying and instructing for longer than he’d like to admit. For the first half of his CFI career he was based in the Eastern US, but for the last 20 years has made Santa Rosa his home.

His specialty is transitioning training for pilots moving from piston aircraft to turboprops such as the Pilatus PC 12 and the Epic E1000. He enjoys creating and leading virtual aviation safety programs as an FAA Safety Team Lead Rep for the OAK FSDO.

Jim owns a Piper Archer nicely outfitted for IFR instruction. In his spare time Jim manages a friend's Phenom 300 and serves on the Sonoma County Aviation Commission, and does an occasional Pilots & Paws flight.

The Master Instructor designation is a national accreditation recognized by the FAA.

Candidates must demonstrate an ongoing commitment to excellence, professional growth, and service to the aviation community, and must pass a rigorous evaluation by a peer Board of Review. The process parallels the continuing education regimen used by other professionals to enhance their knowledge base while increasing their professionalism. Designees are recognized as outstanding aviation educators for not only their excellence in teaching but for their engagement in the continuous process of learning.

The designation must be renewed biennially and significantly surpasses the FAA requirements for renewal of the candidate's flight instructor certificate. The Master Instructors Continuing Education program operates under the auspices of SAFE.