SAFE eNews The Monthly Bulletin of the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators SAFE is a 501(c)(3) educational, not-for-profit professional organization building aviation educator excellence and aviation safety. Our more than 2,600 members include many of the best-known, best-credentialed and most experienced CFIs and many FAA Designated Pilot Examiners. Join SAFE now Give 2 SAFE

SAFE member Stacey Budell of Nampa, Idaho is Chair of the 99s Idaho Chapter and is the 99s Northwest Section Vice Governor. Like many SAFE members, she's led a colorful life, starting in 1992 as a spotter for a local mosquito sprayer in Idaho. With the help of a $17,000 scholarship from the 99s, she now teaches as a CFI/II, AGI and MEI at Nampa-area airports. Interesting fact: Stacey is one of few female ag pilots in the nation.

Chan, Hare, Parker Win Board Record SAFE Member Turnout Vote

Andrew Chan, Michael Hare and Newlan Parker are the three new members of the SAFE volunteer Board of Directors following last month's SAFE Board of Directors election Their three-year terms will commence at their installation at the SAFE Annual Meeting in July or August. But most encouraging was this year's voter turnout. "We are proud to announce that over 25% of our membership participated in the voting process," said SAFE Executive Director David St George. "It's a new record, and bodes very well for keeping SAFE a member-responsive professional organization. It's a key governance policy at SAFE." The three new SAFE Board members are:

Andy Chan runs RIght Rudder Aviation in Florida, a busy flight school and Pipistrel dealer. Andy is an energetic entrepreneur and aviation educator with 2600TT, 1500 Dual given. Andy ran for the board to extend his personal reach and mission: "to make the dream of flight accessible to everyone and instill each and every client with an innate, unrelenting culture of safety."

Michael Hare is a retired USAF Colonel (34 years of service) and also previously a Delta Air Lines Captain. He is an active and passionate ATP, Gold Seal CFI/II, MEI, with 15,400 hours, teaching GA pilots every day. He ran for the SAFE board to continue the work he did throughout his professional career: "to help shape the future of aviation while maintaining our high standards."

Newlan Parker is a DPE and CFI, and currently a Captain in a Citation Mustang flying for a Montana hospital. He started his aviation career in the US Navy and has flown in 27 different countries and all 50 states. Newlan considers being a DPE "the highest honor and most humbling experience of his career" and says spending time with his family and flying Super Cubs in Montana are his favorite things to do.

SAFE's founding charter imposes a two-term limit for the nine Board member positions and specifies three-year staggered terms. Thus, three Board positions expire each year, requiring annual election in June. The new Board members are (usually) installed at that year's AirVenture in Oshkosh. The provisions are to ensure continued member control.

Wouldn't you like to get involved with SAFE? If you are interested in serving on a committee or running for the board of directors next year, please get in touch ASAP !

WINGS Interface To Change Incidentally, SAFE Is 'Most Used' Resource

A new FAA WINGS Web interface should be live by this fall. This is partially a result of an AOPA-industry survey of pilots and CFIs to determine why the FAA's WINGS program is so universally praised by educators while being largely ignored by pilots. To be built and run by SalesForce, this new portal is expected to address complaints about the complexity and usability of the current system. The WINGS study done by AOPA last month also had happy news for SAFE, which was named top "other" resource for pilots and CFIs staying current. SAFE was cited by 76% of respondents as a source of proficiency information, compared to ASI's 75% and the FAA's 56%. "We're very proud of it, of course, but it's just an incidental finding on the way to improving the FAA's WINGS interface and program," said Kevin D Murphy, SAFE Communications Director. "What we're really happy about is the new WINGS interface. It'll be designed and operated by the private company SalesForce and should ease the complexity issue that the survey confirmed."

COVID Extensions Misunderstood! SAFE Warns Of Widespread Misunderstandings

The FAA-issued COVID extensions are widely misunderstood, members are reporting, and SAFE is offering help for CFIs besieged with questions. Private pilots are disproportionately affected by the rule's complexity. "You wouldn't believe the number of pilots I've run into that have been flying with expired flight reviews," said David St George, SAFE Executive Director, "Those who benefited from the original extension are now in need a flight review, since the new rule is only for the NEWLY expiring pilots (you cannot apply the extension twice)" See new SFAR The most recently released SFAR which just published in the Federal Register on June 29th, extends flight review and medical certificates only for those that a) have not already been extended, and b) are expiring sequentially in the period March-Sept.2020. This new rule "applies to a new population of airmen and does not extend the relief provided in the original Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR)." The same extension method as in the original SFAR 118 applies, basically requiring a commercial level certificate or a current private pilot with 10 hours PIC in the last year and the completion of 3 WINGS credits to qualify. An AOPA Flow diagram explains how this convoluted program functions. June 30 remains a hard deadline for pilots who benefited from the original SFAR, such as flight instructors. In plain language, medical expiration applies if medical is expiring: March 31, the medical is valid until June 30. April 30, the medical is valid until July 31. May 31, the medical is valid until August 31. June 30, the medical is valid until September 30. July 31, the medical is valid until October 31. August 31, the medical is valid until November 30. September 30, the medical is valid until December 31.

FSS Adds Phone Prompts SAFE Suggests Way Around Annoying Prompts

Pilots dialing the traditional 1-800-WXbrief service are encountering yet another annoying level of phone prompts before reaching a briefer. "We have two suggestions for you to consider," said David St George, SAFE Executive Director. "Establish an online account at http://1800WXbrief.com. It's on the Leidos site. That will associate your cell phone with your personal account so the system will automatically recognize your inbound call and identity you, skipping the multi-layer phone choices. It's free."

The second method to get a weather update is to simply text your request to FLT-SVC (358-782). Just send "MT" for METARS and TAFs, plus your airport(s) identifier KXXX to FLT-SVC and receive an immediate reply with textual weather on your phone immediately. Just add "PT" and the reply will be in plain text. Please note: the requests are case independent. If you get totally confused, just text message "Help" and full instructions are sent. "Your students will love this feature and you can activate and close flight plans with this also, as it can send a reminder at your proposed time," said a Leidos press release.

First Diabetic ATP Flies US Commercial Aircraft

The first insulin-dependent diabetic to fly a US commercial aircraft after the FAA lifted its long-standing prohibition on diabetic pilots says he is "super pumped" about the advance. Bob Halicky, again a Southwest Airlines captain, had been grounded for a decade while the FAA refused to change its policy despite the advances in medical technology." His story was told in a CNN travel article.

Tunes While On X-C? 30% Say, "Yes We Do"

Is it OK for a pilot listen to music while flying? That was a 'question of the week' posed by an AOPA publication last month. You might be astounded at readers response. Only about 30 percent (29.98%) who responded to that question said they'd be happy to pipe some tunes into their headset if it was safe. Presumably, they'd turn it off if single-pilot in hard IFR during rush hour at O'Hare. But that means 70 percent of pilots were opposed to music while flying at any time, presumably because it would distract them from the serious business of flying an airplane. SAFE members, what do you tell your clients about be-bopping about? Email your thoughts to communications@safepilots.org, please. You comments may be used in a future article.

New ACS Test Codes Are in SAFE Toolkit App!

The SAFE app that has everything a CFI needs for professional flight instruction now includes a ll the new ACS codes needed to review knowledge test weak areas. The new codes for the knowledge tests correspond directly to the ACS, and recommending CFIs must review wrong answers and "correct to 100%" for flight test applicants per 61.39, and endorse the logbook accordingly. "It's  the 'go-to news and tools' app for the professional aviation educator," said app creator David St George. "It includes quick reference guides for instructor endorsements, Test Codes Key, ACS/PTS/FAR/AIM, Tail Number Lookups, FAA Wings Decoder and so much more." SAFE's CFI Toolkit app is available free to everyone in both Android and iOS formats.

Biz Aviation Recovering Well Predicted 83% Of Normal By August, They Say

A new white paper from Argus International says business aviation will make a good recovery in the coming months, rising to as much as 83 percent of normal in July and August. It was reported by Chad Trautvetter in AINOnline. There were 225,000 business aviation flights in North America for June, off from the 2019 monthly average of 260,000. Still, that's a big step up from the industry's low of 74,771 flights in April. The new white paper warns that business aviation entered this environment in a global pandemic and will likely emerge in a recession, so “all bets are off on exactly what our recovery will look like.” They said that for business aviation, a recession would be “heavily tied” to Wall Street, Argus’s analysts said. “If the short-term trends are any indication, we will probably return to 15 to 20 percent of normal in July and August, with activity showing a closer correlation to the ease of quarantine and stay-at-home orders.”

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Aircraft Certification Change More FAA, Less Industry Oversight Several elements in the Aircraft Safety and Reform Act of 2020 are good and will help the cause of safety, SAFE is telling members. "Among other things, the ASRA of 2020 creates a new Center for Excellence to advance flight technology and understanding of how humans interface with it," said David St George, SAFE Executive Director. "It funds continuing education and training for inspectors and engineers and even more funding for scientific and technical advisors." SAFE said the law, if passed, would allow the FAA to hire and dismiss safety inspectors, engineers, and other employees of aircraft manufacturing companies engaged in FAA certification tasks. It also includes provisions that ensure that human factors, such as pilot recognition of and response to cockpit alerts, are included in safety assessments for new aircraft. FAA Wants PRD, PDQ SAFE Questions Pilot Data Record Privacy concerns for career pilots are rising after the FAA issued a proposal to require electronic Pilot Records Database (PRD) reporting. The comment period ended yesterday. The PRD is supposed to make it easier for pilot employers to share records. The proposal is primarily for 135 and 121 operators but includes Part 91 corporate operators and fractional providers. It would require the operators to 'evaluate' an airman's PRD record before hiring that pilot. "SAFE is always for increased aviation safety, but there's a whole range of privacy issues surrounding this idea that we don't like," said David St George, SAFE Executive Director. SAFE's concerns are being echoed by the National Business Aviation Association. Skydiving, Air Tours Must Be 135, Senators Say After several high-profile skydiving and air tour accidents in Hawaii over the last year and a half, two US Senators are sponsoring legislation to require such flights to operate under FAR Part 135, rather than the less restrictive Part 91.. The bill is also specifying that crash-resistant flight recorders be installed in all aircraft used on the flights. The Air Tour and Skydiving Safety Improvement Act would also require a performance-based standard for remote flight data monitoring, flight data monitoring programs for tour operators, and controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) training, as well as a requirement to have TAWS. Senators Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono, both of Hawaii, say the legislation is necessary.

"The Master Instructor accreditation singles out the best that the right seat has to offer." FAA Administrator Jane Garvey SAFE Blog on Master Qualification

Master Instructor Achievements

The Master Instructor designation is a national FAA-recognized professional accreditation and parallels the continuing education regimen used by other professionals to increase their professionalism. The designation must be renewed biennially and significantly surpasses the FAA requirements for renewal of the candidate's flight instructor certificate. Of the 101,000 flight instructors in the US, fewer than 800 have earned the Master Instructor designation, and most are SAFE members.

Judy Phelps MCFI-A

Judy Phelps of Santa Paula, California recently renewed her Master CFI-Aerobatic accreditation through the Master Instructor program and is now a 7-time Master. Judy, named National CFI of the Year in 2011, specializes in tailwheel, aerobatic and emergency maneuver training with CP Aviation at California's Santa Paula Airport (SZP). She is a member of the International Aerobatic Club and is a charter member of  SAFE . Judy also serves as a FAASTeam representative in the FAA's Van Nuys FSDO.

Donald Lee Hall Jr

Donald Lee Hall Jr., Advanced Instructor Pilot and Director of Flight Operations at Aviation Performance Solutions, Mesa, AZ, has been designated a Master Flight Instructor - Aerobatic. This will be his second two-year designation. A longtime U.S. Air Force Instructor, Hall currently provides Upset Prevention & Recovery Training (UPRT) to experienced pilots. He served 26 years as a USAF officer and retired as a colonel in 2006.  For more information on the Master Instructors Continuing Education Program, click here .