Rob Dumovic

Your aviation bio/resume with years and ratings? *
Please include all affiliations, ratings, approximate hours, and past experience with aviation organizations.
Ratings and Certificates Private – Multi Comm and CFII earned at Kent State University. Earned
a tailwheel endorsement from Master CFI-A John Dye in 2006. Graduating in 2009 I continued
with the University as a CFI-II/Check Instructor before leaving in 2013. I was hired by Michael Goulian to takeover the Aerobatics Instructor position for Executive Flyers Aviation in Boston in the fall of 2013. From there I fulfilled the duties of CFI-II, MEI, Check Instructor, Director of
Safety and Standards, UPRT Instructor, as well as ran the monthly CFI meetings. When the company was sold to New Horizon Aviation in 2017 I became the Assistant Chief Flight Instructor and served in that position while also starting the Plane Talk Podcast with a former student. I left Horizon Aviation in 2019 to focus full time on Spread Aviation, an education and training company that evolved out of the Plane Talk Podcast. In 2019 I was selected by the Boston FSDO to be a DPE and attended initial training in June of 2019. I am a current member of AOPA, EAA, IAC, and SAFE. I also am an avid aerobatic competitor, coach, and regional judge. I have aircraft specialties in the Super Decathlon, and all variants of the Extra 200/300.
With over 8,000 hours total and more than 7,000 Dual Given, I have honed my aviation knowledge by studying the works of others, being a 4 year old and asking “Why?” constantly, and always seeking a deeper level of understanding in order to improve my andragogy. I’ve never been motivated by going to the airlines, though I’ve made my fair share of airline pilots. And frankly I was terrified of becoming a CFI until I realized that it was just an opportunity to share this love for the field of aviation, with other people who also share that same love. Once I realized that fact, being a CFI was a natural fit.
How long have you been a SAFE member and why do you want to serve on the S.A.F.E. Board of Directors? *
The earliest records I have date my membership to at least 2017. Potentially earlier as there was a corporate email that was registered to my account, but it was deactivated when I left that company. I have been working at Spread Aviation on my own for the last couple of years and the goals of SAFE and SA are significantly aligned. First meeting and speaking with David at Oshkosh in 2019, there was a significant chord struck and our messages and methods jived. I feel that I have reached the limit of what can be done by an individual, and being able to work with like-minded groups to improve aviation knowledge, training, and thereby safety is the best way forward.
How will your aviation and professional background, special talents, and leadership skills help to further SAFE’s mission and goals?  Please be specific. * Any previous board experience? Are you a professional in law, accounting, publicity, media…we have specific needs 🙂
I’ve served on the Board of Directors since 2023 when I was appointed to fill a vacancy. The time I’ve spent working with the other directors and talking with members at Oshkosh and Sun N Fun has been amazing in helping guide my decisions for SAFE’s future. In working with the fantastic volunteers from SAFE at Sun N Fun, I was able to share their experiences and advice in a YouTube video to help prospective student pilots. Going forward I wish to help not only with the aviation knowledge aspects of SAFE, but with technical and social media aspects as well.
What do you see as the most pressing concerns and/or tasks for SAFE and for SAFE’s
Board of Directors in the next 3 years based on SAFE’s current mission and vision
Statements? * We are looking for imagination and vision here; tell us your best vision of SAFE!
High-quality, accurate, digestible training content. High quality so it’s visually stimulating and not dismissible. Accuracy of information is key and colloquialism are to be avoided. Yes some things may be a bit complicated, but it's better to have the students presented with correct information, rather than something that will have to be unlearned down the road. Digestible comes in 2 forms, amount of information and time. People will binge watch 10 minute videos on YouTube. If we can make 10 minute videos, with quality content and visual aids, we can change the training world much like the Kings did.
What other thoughts, suggestions, or ideas do you have to keep S.A.F.E. growing and thriving as a professional aviation education organization? *
Partnerships with Universities and Training Centers are a must as well as growing the social media presence. Helping aircraft manufacturers develop SAFE branded training resources for their aircraft to be used with new aircraft owners.

Michael Phillips

What other thoughts, suggestions, or ideas do you have to keep S.A.F.E. growing and thriving as a professional aviation education organization? *

As a mostly all volunteer organization we need to understand how to ask for help from the membership and to take full advantage of genius of this group.

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Ellen Quist

 

Your aviation bio/resume with years and ratings? *

Please include all affiliations, ratings, approximate hours, and past experience with aviation organizations.

After graduating college in 2017 with a degree in biochemistry, I started working at the local FBO as a line tech and customer service rep. I started in flight training in March 2018 and became a flight instructor in July 2020. I’ve been a full-time instructor and contract commercial pilot since 2021, and my current instruction pool includes student pilots, instrument applicants, and aspiring seaplane pilots. I also co-manage four airplanes and do a lot of contract flying in SR22s and Piper Meridians. To date, I’m up to about 2100 total flight hours, including almost 900 hours of instruction. I’m also a member of the 99s, EAA, Women in Aviation, and Civil Air Patrol. See https://flyhalf.aero/

How long have you been a SAFE member and why do you want to serve on the S.A.F.E. Board of Directors? * Trying to judge commitment here and motivation; no wrong answers!

I joined SAFE in January 2021, so I’ve been a member for just over three years now. I want to serve on the Board of Directors because I want to have a meaningful role in an organization that is focused on improving flight instructor professionalism and industry safety. I think I’m in a unique position, due to my age and shorter tenure in the aviation industry, to provide the perspective of younger CFIs that are newer to the game, which really describes a significant percentage of the national instructor base these days. I’d like to work on how SAFE as an organization can better support newer CFIs, including those that are only teaching to build hours to get to the airlines and have different goals and priorities than long-term instructors or experienced pilots who instruct as a retirement or side gig purely because they want to.

How will your aviation and professional background, special talents, and leadership skills help to further SAFE’s mission and goals? Please be specific. * Any previous board experience? Are you a professional in law, accounting, publicity, media…we have specific needs 🙂

I served on the board of officers for the local EAA chapter for three years, and I have already served one term on the board of SAFE as the secretary. I have good organizational skills and am very social media-literate. I also think my millennial perspective can be useful in making sure that SAFE’s programming doesn’t alienate or miss our very large but possibly less-vocal membership demographic of young CFIs.

What do you see as the most pressing concerns and/or tasks for SAFE and for SAFE’s Board of Directors in the next 3 years based on SAFE’s current mission and vision Statements? * We are looking for imagination and vision here; tell us your best vision of SAFE!

I think the membership program’s recent revamp is off to a great start and will continue to do great things (thank you Dorothy!), and is absolutely a priority. I think finding ways to implement supplemental CFI training (“okay you’ve passed your CFI checkride, but there’s more to learn!”) for new/young CFIs, especially in large flight school environments, would be a great use of SAFE resources and expertise. I know it’s a complicated issue with the FAA and Congress, but I also think SAFE should (as much as and in any way we can) work with the other aviation alphabet groups toward finding a solution to the current DPE shortage.

What other thoughts, suggestions, or ideas do you have to keep S.A.F.E. growing and thriving as a professional aviation education organization? *

I know in instructor circles we often have conversations about the problem with time-builder CFIs not being invested in their students and providing poor-quality instruction. I think it would be a productive avenue to first, acknowledge that under the current 1500-hour rule and limited low-time-pilot job market, we are going to see lots of time-building CFIs who have no interest in instructing long-term, and second, find ways as an organization to engage them where they’re at, and provide support and professional development to them not just as CFIs but as budding professional pilots. Sometimes I wonder if we focus a bit too much on the long-term CFIs who we know have a passion for instructing. I think we could also provide benefit to the CFIs who are only instructing to get to the airlines by finding ways to help them build skills that will be useful beyond just an instruction context.