Welcome to the Safety Section of the Flying Clubs Newsletter, Club Connector!
Each month we provide resources for flying club safety officers so that they can keep their clubs informed and safe. We also include links to the PowerPoint slides that we use for our own club meetings, so that you always have a topic for your club’s next safety meeting. Along with the slides, we often provide links to relevant articles, videos, and other media that you may also find useful.
Alright then, let’s get on with this month’s safety topic!
June 2023 Safety Topic of the Month: Regulatory Roadblock Reduction
The General Aviation Joint Steering Committee has determined that GA is going through a technical revolution that started in the mid 1990’s and is accelerating today. Taking advantage of the rapidly expanding technical revolution is an important component of reducing GA accidents. The GAJSC believes the FAA must find ways to help reduce the cost to install safety enhancing technology as the installation may have minimal risk but can offer substantial safety benefit.
Reducing regulatory roadblocks:
- In 2016, the FAA took a major step toward easing the approval requirements for installation of non-required safety enhancing equipment. The policy statement acknowledges the benefits of equipping with safety gear and makes it easier for aircraft owners and manufacturers to do so. (see link to FAA Policy Statement below)
- The GAJSC hopes that a large percentage of the general aviation aircraft owners will elect to purchase and install safety enhancing equipment such as GPS navigation and moving map displays, angle of attack indicators, synthetic vision equipment, and autopilots.All of these technologies make flying easier and safer for General Aviation pilots.
- FAA delivers on its promise to implement forward-looking, flexible rules that encourage innovation. Specifically, the new part 23 revolutionizes standards for airplanes weighing 19,000 pounds or less and with 19 or fewer passenger seats by replacing prescriptive requirements with performance-based standards coupled with consensus-based compliance methods for specific designs and technologies. (See Part 23 Amendment 23-64 Implementation below)
- As with all technologies, pilots must be thoroughly familiar with limitations and proper operation of the equipment. Pilot proficiency is still the most profound influence on flight safety!
References:
Other Safety Resources:
Here is a quick reminder of just some of the resources available to all pilots:
- The FAASTeam website is the portal to a vast array of courses, videos, links, and much more.Remember that WINGS not only encompasses “knowledge” activities, but also flight activities.Use the various search options to narrow done, to, say flight activities for a basic phase of WINGS and you’ll be able to find a syllabus and often a worksheet for each flight activity.
- AOPA’s own Air Safety Institute, which by the way, is funded by the AOPA Foundation just like the Flying Clubs Initiative, is packed with amazing content, including exceptional videos, podcasts, accident analysis, online courses, recorded webinars and more.Completing these activities may also earn WINGS credits.Of particular interest to flying club safety officers is the recently updated Safety to Go section.Here, you can download a selection of topics, each coming with PowerPoint slides and speaker’s notes!
WINGS for Clubs:
If you are interested in using the FAASTeam WINGS program with your flying club, feel free to contact Steve, who is a Lead Representative and WINGSPro, and uses the program in his club. More on WINGS for Clubs can be found here in Flying Clubs Radio Episode 8 and the May 2020 Question of the Month.
