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Copyright SAFE 2008-2010 All rights reserved
Website by Virtual Accounting Services
HOME | Contact SAFE | Contact Webmaster
Copyright SAFE 2008-2010 All rights reserved
Website by Virtual Accounting Services
Summary of SAFE’s History
(A brief summary)
In the beginning there was one organization, aimed principally at the Flight Instructor Community – the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI). While not everyone was totally happy with the organization or all of its activities, it did fill an initial need for a place around which instructors could coalesce. One of the major things done through the organization – by two of the then board members – was the development of the Master Instructor program, a program to recognize aviation educators who, through documentation of activities in several areas, showed themselves to be “a cut above”.
In the fall of 2008, a governance issue arose within the organization. Governance was not done by or through the members, but by the “charter” members of the Board, who were neither elected by the membership of the organization nor responsive to it. The issue was precipitated by the proposal of the Board to “not re-elect” the two Board members who had developed the Master Instructor program. When this information became known by some of the membership, a request was made for the Board to not take that action, and also for the Board to change the current governance model to a membership-driven, member-elected one. While the Board did not, at that time, take the action to “remove” the two Board members, it also did not respond to the request for consideration of changing the election process.
Concurrent with the issues noted above, a number of the organization members formed a group to coordinate the activities in relation to the electoral process called TBO-NAFI. The naming was especially appropriate. The TBO actually had a dual meaning. The first was “Take Back OUR NAFI” signifying the request that membership input be the source of action by the organization. TBO in aviation also refers to “Time Between Overhaul”, which was, in fact, what the group was suggesting should be done with the governance process to make it more member responsive (the operative phrase being member-centric).
The TBO group both grew in size and tried to work within the system of the organization to effect the change. In addition, it consulted with the “affiliated” organization (EAA) in an effort to find ways to bring about the change and also to head off the damage that was perceived to be the result of the removal of the two Board members and of trying to take the Master Instructor designation process away from those two Board members. While the program had been started by the noted Board members, it had effectively functioned at an “arms length” from the rest of the Board and the organization, which is an important distinction when making professional certification decisions. Representatives of EAA asked the TBO group to work with them, to which the group agreed, and also to not take any specific actions until a future date, to which the TBO group also agreed. The effort was, in the beginning, to resolve all the issues internally and within the framework of the organization with the help of the affiliate (EAA).
It became clear, however, at the beginning of 2009 that the organization’s Board was not going to be responsive in any way to the governance considerations raised by the TBO group. So, the group began the internal organizational processes to form a new organization, if needed when the agreed date was reached and if no resolution had been achieved. That was, in fact, the case when the date requested by EAA arrived. And, in fact, a subsequent “continued” meeting of the Board was held by teleconference (the original meeting had not been concluded, but rather continued), at which time the two Board members in question were removed by not being re-elected to their positions.
In response, the TBO group had formed an “interim working group”, referred to as the IWG, with six members to work on the issues for formally starting a new organization. Interim committees were formed along functional lines to assist in the process. The net result was that in a very short period of time the new organization was formed. By vote of the members, the name for the new organization was chosen as the “Society of Aviation and Flight Educators” (SAFE), an inclusive name for all aviation instructors, and the organization was incorporated. Following the incorporation, nominations were solicited for those interested in serving on the first Board of Directors. The Nominating Committee reviewed the many nominations, including submitted information for those nominations, and selected 18 final nominees for the Board, from which the first Board of 9 members would be elected.
An online election process, supervised by the Nominating Committee, was held, and 9 members of the first Board of Directors were elected – essentially to begin taking control of SAFE from that point forward. It was agreed that there would be a transitional period of several meetings between the Board and the IWG, to insure continuity, after which time the IWG would be dissolved. The transition was completed on May 14, 2009, with the IWG voting itself to be dissolved.
As a point of reference, the two former Board members of the initial organization subsequently formed their own company to adminster the Master Instructor program – Master Instructors L.L.C. – securing authorization through a two-year Letter of Authorization (LOA) from the FAA for the Master Instructor certification to also be used as a method of CFI certificate renewal. SAFE initiated a working relationship with Master Instructors L.L.C. through an LOA as well, making the certification process available to SAFE members at a discount while still keeping the designation process at the appropriate “arms length” relationship.
SAFE also established formal connections with the FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam – faasafety.gov) by Letter of Understanding (LOU) for the joint promotion of each other’s goals for aviation education and safety.
Details beyond this point in time (May 2009) can be found in the current information on the SAFE website. Greater detail of the processes that took place prior to that time can be found in the Archives, upon request.