I never knew I could be as cold as I was last night, camping out in Florida, but today’s temperatures in the high 80’s made up for the shivering 40’s of last night. And things were hot at the SAFE exhibit today as well. The traffic was constant at the tent until the air show started, and we were not only selling memberships, but shirts, hats and patches as well.

I was honored to represent SAFE at the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee, which took place all morning long. Being on the committee will be a great opportunity to present many of SAFE member concerns for and about the state of education for the general aviation pilot. In particular, the opportunity to participate in brainstorming for ways to change the quality and content of not only the FAA Handbooks, but the knowledge exam question banks, the Practical Test Standards, and many of the AC’s will allow SAFE ways to help change things for the better.

While I was at the morning long meeting, our Treasurer, Larry Bothe manned the tent, along with help from Ron Galbraith and Mark Adams. This afternoon, Mike Coligny and Michael Garrison were busy communicating with the people who stopped by to find out about us.

Late in the afternoon I received a telephone call from the Hills, giving me the joyous news that they had the Letter of Authorization from the FAA, good for two years, giving Master Instructors LLC the authority to issue flight instructor renewal, concurrent with Master Instructor accreditation, in hand. So another milestone in the growth of SAFE has been achieved.