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