June 2011
President's Message

May Board Meeting – The May Board Meeting was held 19 May, 2011, at the Spaghetti Warehouse and the event was well attended by board members and guests. Harry Johnson gave the treasurer’s report and topics discussed included the recent S.A.F.E. symposium in Atlanta, the upcoming election of officers, and the July FIRC.
June Annual Meeting – The Annual Meeting is to be at Carl’s BBQ, located on Hwy 290 next to Weiser Airport, on Saturday 25 June 2011. Following lunch, the main item
on the agenda is the election of officers for the coming
year. Anyone wishing to serve or nominate someone should attend or provide the name to Greg White.
S.A.F.E. Meeting in Atlanta - I am forwarding a report
from Tim Short on the SAFE meeting he attended in
Atlanta, 3-5 May, 2011. Tim's report follows:
On May 3rd, 4th and 5th, I had the privilege of
representing GHAFI at the SAFE Symposium in
Atlanta, GA. SAFE (Society of Aviation and
Flight Educators) was founded in 2009 by Doug
Stewart, Richard Stowell and a handful of others to
promote aviation safety through activities such as professional development, mentoring, and
professional accreditation.
Some of the recommendations are:
- Establish, through an Advisory Circular, a best
practices framework for CFI’s.
- Establish certificate-specific flight reviews and
training under FAR 61.56
- Make available more detailed accident data from
- Improve student retention by teaching CFIs
- Emphasize load factor and angle of attack when
teaching stall/spin awareness and throughout all
training. (The Angle of Attack piece was my baby)
- Use instructor and flight school organizations to
develop mentor programs for student pilots.
- Develop doctrine to build a safety culture with
students from day one of their training.
- Fully integrate safety culture doctrine across the
board for all kinds of training and operations.
- Make risk management a specific instructional
- Simplify and overhaul the FAA’s FITS program
(FAA/Industry Training Standards)
- Form a standing industry committee to address
weaknesses in Practical Test Standards.
- Establish continuing education programs for
CFIs to create a persistent safety culture.
- Review and update the use of ATDs, FTDs as
training tools and clarify their potential. (Have
FAA look at giving some flying credit to
instructors and students as incentive to make
greater use of the many types of simulation that
are emerging and getting better all the time.)
- Establish better guidelines for flight reviews.
Overall, the attendees and organizers recognize
safety and shrinking numbers in GA as threats to
the continued vitality of the activity, and brought
the focused attention of a large gathering of
industry experts to brainstorm ways to address
these issues through reforms and improvements
in aviation education.There was considerable
consensus in the group at large that safety in
aviation is partially a cultural issue to deal
with—that certain risky behaviors are viewed as
bravado rather than foolishness—that safe
outcomes of flight need to stem from good
judgment and good planning rather than from
accidents of fate.
The official results of the Symposium will be
published soon on the SAFE website, and when
they show up, I will give an email shout out to
the board to tune in and see for themselves. -- Tim Short
July FIRC – The July FIRC is Saturday, 16 July 2011 at
San Jacinto Community College in Pasadena.
Mark Scott,
President