Greetings SAFE Members,

Well, here it is…  that time of the year when once again we have to change our clocks and watches as we switch from standard time to daylight savings time. For those who can’t remember what to do, that old mnemonic of “spring ahead” helps to remind us. I am happy to say that it is not only watches and clocks that are “springing ahead”, but SAFE is as well. Here’s how:

GaMe Plan Membership Drive: As you all should know by now the Member GaMe plan was launched at the beginning of the month. We’ve already received reports of several SAFE members across the U.S. who are jumping on the membership drive: from a member using the e-mail template to contact 130 potential recruits in FL; to a member in CA who has printed out and assembled information into packets that are actively being used to sell other instructors on the benefits of membership in SAFE. Even Lightspeed Aviation, sponsor of the top prize of a new Zulu ANR headset, is actively promoting the GaMe Plan on their own website.  See http://www.lightspeedaviation.com/content.cfm/News/Current-News/Join-SAFE-To-Become-A-Better-Pilot,134. Since launching the GaMe Plan we have had to make a couple of changes to several of the documents. For the most up-to-date versions of these and other GaMe Plan documents, please see the GaMe Plan web pages at http://www.safepilots.org/game-plan/. (If you haven’t visited the page in a while, might I suggest that you “refresh” the page.) What are YOU doing to recruit new members and possibly win one of our great GaMe Plan grand prizes? We want to know — please send me your stories!

Member Renewals: Reaching our one year anniversary, we have had to “spring ahead” with sending out membership renewal notices for those GREAT people that stepped up to the plate at the very beginning of our organization. Our current system of renewals necessarily relies on the efforts of many hard working volunteers. Until we fully automate SAFE’s information management system (scheduled for later this year), we ask you to please bear with us through the current renewal cycle. The process will run along these lines for now:

1. An initial renewal notice and Renewal Packet will be e-mailed just prior to the month in which your membership is due for renewal.

2. A follow-up reminder notice will be e-mailed near the end of the month in which you are scheduled to renew. You will receive this second notice whether or not you have already renewed; unfortunately, this is a limitation in the current system we are using to manage renewals.

3. Once your renewal has been processed — almost instantly if you renew through SAFE’s secure online Store (the preferred method!) — longer if you mail in your renewal – an auto-generated receipt will be sent to your e-mail address from SAFE. The body of the e-mailed receipt contains a link to a document with important Membership Information. Please download this document for your reference. In the future, we expect that members will be able to receive this document automatically, without having to click a link from the auto-generated receipt. Also in the body of the receipt is a link to a SAFE contact form should you have any questions or any issues with your membership. Again, we apologize for the fact that you might receive more than one notice, and ask for your patience and understanding as we work to improve the system for future renewals.

International Learn To Fly Day: International Learn To Fly Day is just two months away (May 15th) and SAFE has been busy working with CESSNA formulating ways in which we can work together in this promotion. If you are a SAFE instructor working with or for a Cessna Pilot Center, we will have a SAFE Power Point presentation aimed at aspiring pilots available for your use, called “Fast Track To Your Pilot Certificate”. This presentation not only presents tools and resources for ensuring them an effective and efficient path to obtaining a pilot certificate, minimizing the chances of attrition, but also gives the aspiring pilot tips on how to find and choose the best instructor. This can be a wonderful opportunity for you to market yourself to a captive and enthusiastic audience. Stayed tuned for more information on this project, as well as some other very exciting plans that we are working on with CESSNA for YOUR benefit!

Insurance: The SAFE Flight Instructors Insurance Plan is a project that is taking much longer to put in place than any of us might have imagined, but news from Jim Anderson, our Starr Aviation underwriter, indicates that we are “springing ahead” here as well. In an email from him last week he said: “… Chubb has given the green light and we should begin filing soon… This is a big step forward and we should be able to move quickly from here. We should be in good position for SNF…” I know that we all had hoped to have this insurance a long time ago, but I can assure you that Jim is hard at work moving this forward, and I think it is SAFE to say that we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Library: The Members Only Library is getting ready to open it’s virtual doors later this week. Alan Davis and the rest of his LERCers (Library Editorial Review Committee) along with Jenny Furst, (a webmaster who really knows how to multi-task!) have put everything in place for our “official opening”. While you might find the “shelves” a little empty at this point in time, this will be an opportunity for you to share your knowledge, expertise and creativity with the rest of your fellow members, for with the opening comes the solicitation for materials. Not only will you be able to go to the “checkout desk” to take things from the library, but you can also help us build what has the potential to become one of the greatest resources of materials written and created by and for aviation educators! Don’t be shy. The time to submit articles, essays, syllabi, power point presentations, videos and other media to the SAFE library is here. It’s time to “spring ahead” as we build our library!

Sun N Fun: For so many pilots suffering from “cabin fever”, Sun N Fun is always eagerly anticipated as a chance to spread one’s wings, after a long winter’s hibernation. More so than changing a clock, Sun N Fun heralds the arrival of spring. And SAFE has some opportunities and events planned for Sun N Fun to help celebrate this vernal change. On Friday, April 16th, we will be holding the 2nd Annual SAFE Sun N Fun breakfast. You are all cordially invited to attend this gathering which will be held in the “Events Tent #3″, located right near the Florida Air Museum, from 8 – 9 AM. It will provide you with opportunities to meet with fellow members, as well as guests that have been invited from our many “Member Benefits Partners”, as well as others from within the FAA and industry. To help me with the planning please go to the sign up page on our website (http://www.safepilots.org/events/safe-sun-n-fun-breakfast-sign-up/) to register.

In addition to the breakfast, we will be having a contest / drawing sponsored by Lightspeed Aviation going on all week at our exhibit. This contest, which will be open to all aviation educators, is a twenty question quiz on aviation communication. Everyone who scores 100% will be entered in a drawing to win a Lightspeed ZULU headset. Not only will you have the opportunity to win this GREAT headset by entering the contest, but if you volunteer to help at the tent, you will increase your chances of winning one of our great prizes in the GaMe Plan. If you can spend a morning or afternoon at the SAFE tent, helping to recruit new members, each new member you recruit will count towards a $2.00 reduction in your own membership renewal fee, as well as counting towards becoming one of our top three recruiters and winning one the fantastic prizes being offered for that!  Best of all, volunteering to help at the tent will provide you with an excellent opportunity to network with all the many aviation educators who will be stopping by the tent.

As a special promotion during Sun N Fun, we will be offering numerous “perks”  with a value that exceeds the cost of membership, to anyone who joins as a new, or renewing SAFE member during Sun N Fun. If your membership renewal is coming up, taking care of it at Sun N Fun will get you the perks, even if your renewal date comes up later in the year. The renewal will not become active until your renewal date.

To date I have only had a few people volunteer to help out at our exhibit, and we can definitely use many more. If you can spend at least one morning or afternoon volunteering to help please let me know, giving me the day(s) and time(s) you would be available. Remember too, that serving at the SAFE tent also qualifies for credit in the “Service” category for your Master CFI portfolio. Considering all the wonderful opportunities available to those who volunteer at the SAFE tent, how can you refuse?  See you there!

Nominations: The Nominations Committee, ably chaired by Sherry Rossiter, completed their assigned task of selecting candidates for the upcoming elections to the Board of Directors for a three year term, and presenting these candidates to the Board for their approval. This was not an easy task and I can assure you that a careful “process” of evaluation and deliberation took place in screening the applicants for the Board positions. The four nominees, selected out of the eight that applied, include incumbents Mark Adams (Vice-Chairman) and Larry Bothe (Treasurer) and running for the first time, Cliff Chetwin, and Gary Padussis.  Expect to see the nominee’s bio / statements up on the website by May 1st. Voting instructions will be emailed to the membership by May 10th, and posted in the “Members Only” area of the website as well. Then the voting will take place from May 15th to the 25th.

ANPRM: Secretary Pat Knight is in the final stages of preparing the official SAFE response to the FAA’s Advance Notice of Propose Rule Making in which the FAA has solicited comments relative to their proposals to increase pilot training and qualification requirements. Many of you have sent in your comments, not only to us, but to the FAA as well. There is still a little time left to submit your own comments, and I strongly encourage you to do so. When submitting to the FAA, please be sure to include the fact that you are a SAFE member with your comments. For more information you can go to: http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/rulemaking/recently_published/media/2010-02643_PI.pdf

Part 23 CPS: SAFE had the opportunity to take part in the recent Part 23 Certification Process Study public hearing conducted by the FAA’s Small Aircraft Directorate in Wichita, KS. One of the big changes being considered is switching certification standards from being weight and horsepower based, to performance and complexity based. With the advent of more and more Technically Advanced Aircraft being manufactured it would certainly seem that this is the way certification should be considered. As your representative at this hearing, I was able to provide input relative to the “operations” side of the equation, in particular to the challenges of training in TAA, as well as a discussion about the merits of stall / spin training, especially in light of the fact that some aircraft manufacturers are pushing to get away from some of the spin recovery requirements now mandated for their certification. This was a good opportunity for SAFE to make it’s presence known, and to play a role in an important segment of the General Aviation community.

Member Benefits: Our list of Member Benefits continues to grow, and we now have more than two dozen SAFE partners offering a variety of different types of benefits to the membership. The most recent to join that growing list is Virtual Accounting Service, which is run by our webmaster, Jenny Furst. She is offering members a free one-hour consultation, as well as website and bookkeeping services to SAFE members at a discount of 10% off her normal hourly rate. Please take some time to check out our many benefits providers and take advantage of their offers. For example, Sporty’s has just significantly expanded their list of discounted product offerings to SAFE members, now including: Complete Pilot Training Courses;  Sporty’s What you Should Know Series; and their Flight Gear Collection. Remember that what goes around… comes around… we need to support our partners, as much as they support us.

Help Wanted: As you are all probably aware, SAFE can always use all the help it can get, being the volunteer organization we are, however we can especially use the help of someone who would like to take on the job of News Editor. The duties would entail keeping an eye out on the many different news sources, such as Aero-News, AvWeb and GA News for items about SAFE members, or of specific interest to SAFE members, and then writing a short news article and posting it on our own “News” webpage. The hours are interminable, the pay non-existent, but the rewards are humongous, knowing that you would be filling an important role for our expanding organization. If you might be interested in serving your fellow SAFE members in this capacity, please send me an email, or give me a call

As I mentioned at the beginning of this update, the time for changing our clocks and watches has just passed. Regardless of whether you changed your clock or not, the simple fact of the matter is that no matter what your watch says, the time is NOW! NOW is the time to go out and recruit a new member for SAFE! NOW is the time to renew your membership! NOW is the time to sign up for the Sun N Fun Breakfast! NOW is the time to volunteer to help at the SAFE exhibit at Sun N Fun! NOW is the time to submit your original content for the SAFE Library! NOW is the time to send in your comments on the ANPRM!

In short… Now is the time to have a SAFE day!!

My best to you all,

Doug Stewart, Chair

Society of Aviation and Flight Educators

The Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE) has initiated an incentives-based membership drive where SAFE members themselves are being tasked with recruiting new members. The goal of the Member Get-a-Member campaign – dubbed The GAME PLAN™ – is to add 500 new members to the organization’s ranks before AirVenture in July 2010.

According to SAFE Chair Doug Stewart, “This is a highly ambitious and novel program for such a young organization. But member-centricity and member involvement are two of our founding precepts.” In addition to increasing the ranks of the organization, recruiters become eligible for prizes donated by several aviation sponsors:

• The number one recruiter receives a Zulu ANR headset provided by Lightspeed Aviation
• The number two recruiter receives a Garmin Nuvi 765T Car GPS provided by Avionics Specialists LLC
• The number three recruiter receives The Ultimate FIRC Package consisting of:
  • FAA-approved Online FIRC provided by Aviation Supplies & Academics (ASA)
  • The book “Stall/Spin Awareness” provided by Master Instructor Rich Stowell
  • The book “GPS and WAAS Instrument Flying Handbook” provided by Master Instructor Max Trescott

In addition to the grand prizes, SAFE will also hold a random drawing for all GAME PLAN™ recruiters during its annual dinner-meeting scheduled in Oshkosh, WI on Thursday, July 29th. The membership drive is scheduled to run from March 1st through July 5th, 2010.

Started in early 2009, SAFE is a dynamic organization made up of many of the aviation education industry’s leaders. For more information on SAFE and The GAME PLAN™, please visit http://www.safepilots.org/game-plan/

END

FMI:
http://www.lightspeedaviation.com/
http://www.avspec.aero/
http://www.asa2fly.com/
http://www.richstowell.com/
http://www.maxtrescott.com/

Greetings SAFE Members,

This past month has brought many parts of the country to a virtual standstill, what with measurable snow in all 50 states. But whereas aviation came to a halt, with airplanes grounded, and airports closed, even in parts of the country where they “never” get snow, SAFE has continued to grow and move forward, sometimes at what seems like “warp” speed. Here’s a rundown on what we’ve gotten done over the last few weeks:

SPONSORSHIP: As you are probably aware, negotiations with Cessna finally came to a successful conclusion, and we now have Cessna as our website sponsor. If you haven’t been there, check out the footer on every web page of the SAFE website ( http://www.safepilots.org) to see their handsome advertisement. In addition to their sponsorship, we are working together on other projects to advance the cause of aviation safety and promote aviation education. Another wonderful company has come on board with SAFE both as a sponsor and as a partner in furthering safety and education, and that is Lightspeed Aviation, Inc.. For starters they are sponsoring our exhibit at Sun N Fun, which will include a contest / drawing, open to all aviation educators,  with a Zulu headset as the grand prize. We will also be working together to create seminars on effective aviation communications, for national dissemination. For this project we will also be partnering with the FAASTeam.

MEMBER BENEFITS: I am also happy to announce that we are not standing still finding more partners for our Member Benefits. Pilotworkshops.com has stepped forward to offer a $100.00 discount on any of their products to all SAFE members. This now brings the number of companies offering benefits to the membership to 22, and we are far from finished in this endeavor.

MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT: As I mentioned in last month’s update, the “Member GaMe Plan” has been under development and is now set to launch at the beginning of March. In this plan every one of you will have the opportunity to help SAFE more than double it’s membership. Our goal is to recruit 500 new members by AirVenture 2010, by having our members Get a Member (GaMe).  And if you are one of the top three members to recruit the most new members, you could win a Zulu Headset, a Garmin Nuvi 765T  GPS, or an “ultimate FIRC” package. Look for the full details to be coming to your email inbox at the beginning of March.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS: For many of you, your first year of membership is just about over. The first memberships were begun in March of 2009, and many of the original members will find that the time to renew memberships is coming upon us. In preparation for this we have been working on a membership renewal package that should make your renewal process a simple and seamless event. Look for an email in the early part of March announcing how to go about renewing your membership. This email will include a “year in review” listing our many accomplishments over the past year, our plans and initiatives for the coming year, as well as the top five reasons to belong to SAFE. Needless to say it will also include a renewal application.

FORUMS AREA: Last month I mentioned that the FORUMS area was just about ready to go “live” and almost before I could click “send” on that update, the FORUM was up and running. This is a “members only” portion of the website that can have fantastic value for all of us. It is an area where we can discuss important training issues, ask questions, get answers, and in so many other ways network with each other. Thus I am a little disappointed to see that not all of you have registered to use this wonderful SAFE tool. Why not head over to http://www.safepilots.org/networking/discussion-forums/ and register now!

LIBRARY: For any of you who might have clicked on the Library page on the website in the last day or two, you would have noticed that the library has gone “live”. Just please be aware that this is the very mere beginning of a most incredible resource. The Library Editorial Review Committee (LERC) has been very busy setting up the categories and listings for the library, and this is no easy project. So what you are seeing on the website right now, is just the “tip of the iceberg”, the start of a major “work in progress”. Please be patient as this outstanding member benefit grows and takes shape. The next step will be to build the library with content submitted by SAFE authors. With the wealth of talent and knowledge within the SAFE membership, this library has the potential to become one of the greatest sources of information for the entire aviation education community.

STANDING COMMITTEES: 

                GOVERNANCE: One of the responsibilities of the Governance committee is to conduct nominations and elections for the Board of Directors. Today was the last to day to submit nominations to the nominations chair, Sherry Rossiter. In correspondence from her, the committee has not been flooded with nominees, but has enough that they will now be starting the process of interviewing the nominees so that they can present a slate of six nominees to the Board of Directors at their next monthly meeting, scheduled for March 10th. The next step in the process will be to set up the elections, so that every member of our organization will have an opportunity to help decide who sits on the Board of Directors.

         FINANCE: After soliciting for members to volunteer for the Finance committee, I had the honor to select Dr. Parvez Dara, and Stan Burkes to fill the member positions on the committee. Per the by-laws, the Treasurer, Larry Bothe serves as chairman, and I fill the last seat on the committee. The committee got right to work, and has already drafted the budget for our coming fiscal year.

AD HOC COMMITTEES:

            FLIGHT TRAINING SAFETY COMMITTEE: Prior to the last Board of Directors meeting held on Feb. 10th, member Steve Lasday came forward to suggest the formation of a committee to deal with the many issues of Flight Training Safety. As Steve said; “flight training will very soon be receiving intense scrutiny from the public, media, governmental groups, and, perhaps most importantly, regulatory agencies. This focus demands that SAFE have a voice, as concerns such as these are one of the core reasons of SAFE‘s existence. We have to be at the pointy edge of the spear on this, or else we’ll end up being subjected to ultimately rather undesirable results.” Considering that Steve is not only so motivated and passionate about this topic, but also somewhat of an expert, having extensive experience with safety in flight training operations. event reporting system development, Safety Management Systems (SMS), safety education, and event investigation, the Board asked, and Steve accepted, that he chair this very important committee. Other members appointed to the committee include Rich Stowell, Michael Maya Charles, Mark Adams, and myself. 

The Committee has identified four areas to address initially, in order of priority: Development of a General Aviation Flight Training Safety Audit Program; Development of a Safety Management System aimed at flight training operations; Enhancement and widespread implementation of General Aviation Flight Data Monitoring Systems; and Development of a comprehensive Upset Recovery Training package for pilots of light airplanes. If you share a passion for these topics, and truly have the time to invest in being a part of this strategic committee, please let me know.

For me, this is a big step forward, as SAFE is finally reaching that stage where we can now start to move beyond the logistical requirements of creating infrastructure, and start to truly advocate to fulfill our mission and vision statements. As part of that effort, I will be going to Wichita next week to be a part of the FAA Small Aircraft Directorate public meeting to hear “Recommendations for General Aviation for the Next 20 Years” based on the Part 23 – Small Airplane Certification Process Study. This study has looked at not only the certification and maintenance of the GA fleet, but the operations as well. I look forward to being able to have input representing the viewpoint of those of us who spend the majority of our time in the right seat of an airplane.

ANPRM: Two weeks ago I sent out a notice that SAFE was soliciting comments so that we could draft an official response to the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule Making that the FAA has announced would be addressing issues raised by the Colgan Air accident in Buffalo. To date I have received 10 very well thought out and worded comments. These will certainly aid us as we prepare the SAFE response. However we can certainly use some more comments. There are many different viewpoints relative to the FAA’s proposed changes, and we would like to know what you think. So keep those cards and letters coming, folks! For more information go to: http://www.safepilots.org/2010/02/05/safe-solicits-member-input-to-respond-to-faa-anprm/

SUN N FUN: News having to do with Sun N Fun, is that we have set the time and date for our Annual Sun N Fun Breakfast. It will be on Friday, April 16th, at 8:00AM. I am trying to secure the same venue as we had last year, but have not had confirmation as of this writing. As we did last year, we will have a sign-up sheet on the website for those of you who plan to attend. Also, as I mentioned in the last update, we will not be as hard to find as we were last year. You will find us at space E-6, just east of Hangar A. We will be in a 20 X 30 tent this year, right on a main thoroughfare. We’ll have some flutter flags standing tall to help you find us. Go to http://www.safepilots.org/events/safe-at-snf-2010/ to see a map of where we’ll be. As I mentioned earlier we will be conducting a contest / drawing sponsored by Lightspeed Aviation, with a Zulu headset as the grand prize. Needless to say we are going to need SAFE volunteers to help staff the tent, and administer the contest. If you will be attending Sun N Fun this year, please try to set aside a morning or afternoon to lend a hand, and let me know when you could help, so that I can start to put together a schedule of exhibit volunteers.  Also, if you will be presenting any seminars at Sun N Fun please let us know, so that we can post them on the website.

BROCHURE: Last week I sent out an “urgent appeal” for photos to use as we create our new brochure. The response to that appeal was absolutely overwhelming. I received over 125 photos in less than two days. It was feast or famine for our graphic designer as she now was faced with the problem of having to choose from so many great photos, rather than not having anywhere near enough. But she has done that, and the final draft will be on it’s way to the membership committee for final approval before going to the printer. However, with so many photos of SAFE members now in our archives, we are going to go ahead and use many of them to upgrade and enhance the website header. My sincere gratitude to all of you who participated in this fantastic show of member support!

INSURANCE: Jim Anderson, our underwriter from Starr Aviation tells me that he is hoping for approval from Chubb executives this week to move forward with the legal department and then finally file with all the states. It would appear that he is “on spot, on speed” in getting us our insurance program before the first quarter of the year is over. As was said: “ this is like turning the Titanic, but once we clear the iceberg it should be smooth sailing.”

INTERNATIONAL LEARN TO FLY DAY: ILTFD is May 15th, three months away, but I am already pursuing several partnerships and initiatives so that SAFE members will be able to take an active part in a day set aside to exposing as many people as possible to the joys and rewards of learning to fly. Stay tuned for more news on this exciting project in the next update.

That just about sums up what we have been doing for the last four weeks. It’s been a very busy time, and we have accomplished quite a bit, but that doesn’t mean that we can now sit back and relax.In fact we are just starting to get warmed up, and there is still so much to do.  Remember too, that we are entirely driven by volunteers. The only paid staff is our webmaster. So once again I will remind you that we can use your help. Being “all about our members” means not only that we are here to serve the membership, but that the membership is encouraged to take part in all that we do. Please take a contributing part in our initiatives. Even if you don’t have the time,  or inclination to serve on a committee, you can at least take the time to write a response to the ANPRM;  you can register and participate in the forum discussions; you can make a submission to the library; you can vote for the Board members of your choice;  and once the “Member GaMe Plan” is active you can go out and recruit several of your peers to our GREAT organization.

Until the next update may your days be happy and SAFE!

Doug Stewart 

Chairman

Society of Aviation and Flight Educators

SAFE Chairman, Doug Stewart, announced this afternoon, that Cessna and SAFE had signed a contract for Cessna to provide the exclusive sponsorship of the SAFE website through December, 2011. 

According to Cessna Pilot Centers Manager, Julie Filucci, “Cessna has long recognized the important symbiotic relationship between building airplanes and teaching people how to fly them. This is embodied in the philosophy behind our Cessna Pilot Centers, the Safety Stand Down Flight Instructor Refresher Clinic Cessna developed last year, and now in our relationship with SAFE.”

“I look forward to our partnership with Cessna”, Stewart said, “and in having their support as we move ahead, together, to improve the safety of flight through quality aviation education.”

To see the Cessna footer that appears at the bottom of each SAFE webpage, please scroll down to the bottom of this page.

The FAA, In an effort to enhance airline safety following last year’s Colgan Air accident in Buffalo, NY, has announced an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) which will be published next week in the Federal Register and will have a 60-day comment period. The FAA is soliciting recommendations to improve pilot qualification and training requirements. Specific areas that the FAA is seeking input on are:

·   Should all pilots who transport passengers be required to hold an Air Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate with the appropriate aircraft category, class and type ratings, which would raise the required flight hours for these pilots to 1,500 hours?

·   Should the FAA permit academic credit in lieu of required flight hours or experience?

·   Should the FAA establish a new commercial pilot certificate endorsement that would address concerns about the operational experience of newly hired commercial pilots, require additional flight hours and possibly credit academic training?

·   Would an air carrier-specific authorization on an existing pilot certificate improve safety?

SAFE will definitely be a part of this process and is soliciting input from it’s membership as it prepares it’s official response. I would encourage all of you to take part both in submitting your own recommendations to the FAA, as well as sharing any thoughts or comments with the SAFE committee as it prepares the official SAFE NPRM response.

Please send Doug Stewart your input (SAFE@dsflight.com) so that we can be sure to prepare a response that truly reflects the entire membership’s thoughts on this matter that will truly affect all of us.

Read the official FAA release

Dear SAFE Member,

 I am pleased to announce that SAFE’s new, moderated, and pop-up-ad-free Forum is open for business! To kick things, off, we’ve seeded the new Forum with more than forty sub-topics divided into the following half-dozen broad categories:

* Features Check-out

* General Discussions

* Nuts, Bolts, & Electrons

* The Paperwork

* Type-Specific

* Education Issues

We have set up permissions to use the Forum as follows:

Guest — read-only access to Forum discussion topics.

Member — full access to Forum discussion topics, which means you can:

            a. Reply to and start topics

            b. Upload images, including an Avatar

            c. Have signatures

            d. Private Message

            e. Edit your own topic titles and posts

            f. View member profiles

            g. Report Objectionable Posts

            h. And more!

Guest refers to anyone who has not registered on the SAFE website, whether you are a card-carrying SAFE member or not.

Member refers to anyone who is a SAFE member and has also registered on the SAFE website. You must be registered and logged in to the website to post to the Forum.

Just because you are a SAFE member does not mean that you are registered on the SAFE website — you must register for that separately! To date, approximately half of our members have also registered on the website. If you have not yet registered on the website and you want to have access to the Members Only area as well as full access to the Forum — both of which are benefits you are entitled to as a SAFE member! — please submit the registration form available at http://safepilots.org/request-members-only-access/

Otherwise, please proceed direct to the Forum: http://safepilots.org/networking/forum/

Enjoy!

Doug Stewart, 

Chairman

Society of Aviation & Flight Educators

Dear SAFE Members,

The Governance Committee is seeking nominations for the following board positions for 2010. You may nominate yourself or someone else, if the person is agreeable to run for the specified terms and meets the requirements listed below. The prospective candidate should provide Sherry Rossiter, member, Governance Committee, at ssrossiter@aol.com  a one to two page resume that highlights their expertise and experience that you feel would qualify them for consideration as a Board member including participation activities and any awards or recognition received in the Aviation industry. When emailing your resume to Sherry please include SAFE NOMINATING COMMITTEE in the subject line. No more than one person from one institution will be represented on the Board at one time.  All nominations will be considered up through Tuesday, February 16th, 2010.
The following positions are open for nominations: 

Three Directors. Three year term to begin July 2010. New Board members will be seated at the Annual Members meeting to be held at Air Venture 2010.  The following describes the duties required from the members of the Board of Directors: Board of Directors

 Function

• As representatives of the membership, be the primary force pressing the organization to the realization of its opportunities for service and the fulfillment of its obligations to all its constituencies.

 Duties

 Planning:

• Approve the organization’s philosophy and review management’s performance in achieving it.

• Annually assess the ever-changing environment and approve the organization’s strategy in relation to it.

• Annually review and approve the organization’s plans for funding its strategy. Review and approve the organization’s five-year financial goals.

• Annually review and approve the organization’s budget.

• Approve major policies.

 Organization:

• Elect, monitor, appraise, advise, stimulate, support, reward and, if deemed necessary or desirable, change top management. Regularly discuss with the Executive Director matters that are of concern to him or her or to the board.

• Be assured that management succession is being properly planned and provided.

• Be assured that the status of organizational strength and human resources planning is equal to the requirements of the long-range goals.

• Approve appropriate compensation and benefit policies and practices. Propose a slate of directors to members and fill vacancies as needed.

• Annually approve the performance review of the Executive Director and establish his or her compensation on recommendations of the personnel committee and chair of the board.

• Determine eligibility for and appoint board committees in response to recommendations of the governance committee.

• Annually review the performance of the board and take steps (including its composition, organization, and responsibilities) to improve its performance.

Operations:

• Review the results achieved by management as compared with the organization’s philosophy, annual and long-range goals, and the performance of similar organizations.

• Confirm that the financial structure of the organization is adequate for its current needs and its long-range strategy.

• Provide candid and constructive criticism, advice and comments. Approve major actions of the organization, such as capital expenditures on all projects over authorized limits and major changes in programs and services.

Audit:

• Ensure that the board and its committees are adequately and currently informed—through reports and other methods—of the condition of the Organization and its operations.

• Confirm that published reports properly reflect the operating results and financial condition of the organization.

• Ascertain that management has established appropriate policies to define and identify conflict of interest throughout the organization, and that it is diligently administering and enforcing those policies.

• Appoint independent auditors subject to approval by members.

• Review compliance with relevant material laws affecting the organization.

The ideal candidate should possess excellent leadership and teamwork skills, a strong desire to further the mission of SAFE and the ability to commit the necessary time required to fulfill these requirements. Successful nominees will be contacted to set up a time for a phone interview by the members of the Nominating group.

Thank you, in advance, for providing qualified nominations to the committee!

Mark R. Adams

Governance Committee Chairman

Society of Aviation and Flight Educators

Greetings SAFE Members,

SAFE Booth at SNF, April 13-18, 2010:

Greetings SAFE Members,

Here we are at the end of the year and in the midst of the Holiday Season. It is a time for rejoicing and giving, a time for reflecting on things achieved during the past year, and a time for thoughts on future growth and plans. For many of us it can also be a hectic time of the year, and thus the pilot’s ability to multi-task becomes a very useful skill. For those of us involved with the evolution of SAFE that skill has been a definite prerequisite.

Heading the list of accomplishments would certainly be the work of Director Donna Wilt. I am thrilled to report that Donna has submitted a proposal to the Wolf Aviation Fund through the Hampton University Department of Aviation, for working with SAFE to develop an aviation instructor mentoring program. A decision from the Wolf Fund is expected in the spring. If her proposal is approved, it would greatly aid SAFE in being able to host a mentoring program that would not only improve the quality of aviation education, it wouldprovide ways for educators in one area of aviation to share knowledge with educators in other areas of aviation. It could also lead to a reduction in student pilot attrition, a reduction in the accident rate, and help to make aviation education a more viable career goal. Where Donna found the time to do this, what with all her other responsibilities leaves me in awe. Kudos to Donna for a job well done!!

Director Alan Davis has been busy as well. As the Chairman of the Library committee he, along with the rest of the committee, areworking on the mechanics necessary to provide protection for contributors and their materialas well as contribution agreements. Theyhope to have something up fairly soon pending that work being done. In the meantime I would like to ask all of you to give some thought as to whether you might have anything to contribute to the library in the way of documents, power point presentations, syllabi, etc. Thus as soon as the committee is ready to accept documents for review, you will be ready to send them. We have the potential within the SAFE membership to put together one of the greatest sources of aviation information available to aviation educators. To achieve that it will require all of us to participate. Forewarned is forearmed.

I too have managed to find time to continue discussion with two major sponsors for SAFE. I am very happy to report that those discussions are moving ahead in a very positive fashion. I cannot disclose who these sponsors are, pending the signing of agreements, but I hope to have that accomplished before the end of the year. Just know that this mouse will keep on stirring through the night, regardless of what night it might be…

I am very aware that many of you are eager to hear that our insurance program is ready to be cleared for departure. Unfortunately we still have to “hold short”. But… in a communication from Jim Anderson, of Starr Aviation, last week, he told me that he had “sent a detailed executive summary to Chubb (per their request) which explains in detail the product we are offering, market, expected experience etc. This will be put in front of one of the top folks in the organization which should give us a green light to move forward as rapidly as possible.” Jim has been keeping me updated on the progress with weekly reports, and I am able to say that whereas the progress is no where near as fast as any of us would like, we are making definite progress.

This is a time of year when gifts are often exchanged, and I feel as if the FAA has given us a gift in the form of a new Instrument Practical Test Standard. This new PTS brings guidance for instrument instruction and testing into the 21st century. Some of the highlights include the acceptance of an LPV approach as a precision approach; adding the hazards of icing, and the use of anti-icing and de-icing equipment to the special emphasis areas; and providing guidance on objectively evaluating Single Pilot Resource management, automation management, and the use of flight simulators and FTDs in training and testing. To download the new PTS go to this link:http://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/airmen/test_standards/media/FAA-S-8081-4e.pdf

As I said at the beginning of this update, this is a time of rejoicing. Considering that SAFE is not even one year old, and that we are an organization completely run by volunteers, I think we have many reasons to rejoice. We have come an incredible distance in this short time, and have achieved quite a bit. I also said that this a time for giving, and SAFE has some opportunities for those of you who might be so disposed, particularly in giving of your time and knowledge. With the acceptance of the by-laws by a majority vote of the membership we now have to move ahead in the formation of several standing committees. The by-laws task me, as chairman of the Board, to appoint members of three different committees: the governance; finance; and awards committees.So that you might have some sense of your responsibilities if you volunteer to serve, here is what would be expected of you.

The governance committee is responsible for ongoing review and recommendations to enhance the quality and future viability of the board. The focus of the committee revolves around the following five major areas: 1. Board Role and Responsibilities; 2. Board Composition; 3. Board Knowledge; 4. Board Effectiveness; 5. Board Leadership. In addition, per the by-laws, the governance committee also serves as the nominations committee. Thus it is the governance committee that will select the slate of nominees for election to the Board of Directors. Governance committee members shall serve three year staggered terms.

The finance committee is responsible for assisting the board in ensuring the organization is in good fiscal health. The work of the committee revolves around the following six major areas: 1.Ensure that accurate and complete financial records are maintained; 2.Ensure that accurate, timely, and meaningful financial statements are prepared and presented to the board; 3.Budget and oversee financial planning; 4. Safeguard the organization’s assets; 5. Help the full board understand the organization’s financial affairs; 6.Ensure compliance with federal, state, and other requirements related to the organization’s finances.

The awards committee is responsible for the nomination and selection of candidates for all SAFE awards.

The by-laws state that each of these committees shall have two at large members, selected from the membership. So if you would like an opportunity to give to SAFE here is a great one. If you have any interest, and especially expertise. in the areas of governance and / or finance and would like to serve on any of these three committees, please send me an email, letting me know. This can be a great opportunity for you to play an essential role in the growth and direction that your organization takes. Please don’t be shy in stepping up to the plate. As the saying goes… “as ye give… so shall ye receive.”

In ending this update I would just like to say that I, for one, definitely rejoice in the fellowship afforded me by belonging to SAFE. I humbly consider it an honor and privilege to be able to play a part in our growth, and I sincerely thank all of you for being a part of our organization. I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you the Warmest of Holiday greetings and may we all have a SAFE New Year!

Sincerely,

Doug

The FAA has issued a new Instrument Practical Test Standard, effective 01/01/2010, that reflects the many changes that have occurred not only in the equipment found in today’s aircraft, but also in the way that we teach aeronautical decision making.Major changes include: 1. The acceptance of an LPV approach as a Precision Approach; 2. Adding the hazards of icing and use of anti-icing and de-icing equipment to the special emphasis areas; 3. Creating a matrix by which an examiner can objectively evaluate SRM (Single Pilot Resource Management); 4. Guidance on the use of flight simulators and FTDs for the practical test; 5. Guidance on evaluating “automation management” during the practical test;

To download the new PTS go to this link:http://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/airmen/test_standards/media/FAA-S-8081-4e.pdf