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 https://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 (https://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
