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Safety Topic of the Month: Preflight in a Box

Every month we provide resources for flying club safety officers to keep their clubs informed and safe.   We also include links to slides that we use for our own meetings, so that you always have a topic for your club’s next safety meeting.  Along with the slides, we also provide links to relevant articles, videos, and other media that you may also find useful.

Okay then, let’s get on with this month’s safety topic!

Here is the link to the PDF of the presentation slides—please use them at your next club meeting:

February 2024 Safety Topic of the Month:  FAA Community Outreach, and Preparing for the Flying Season

Summary:

As many of you may know, the National FAASTeam provides WINGS reps with slides and notes in order for them to create in-person and remote presentations.  I modify greatly the provided slides to “localize” them, and also include some experience-based content and suggestions. 

This month’s provided Topic of the Month slides are different again, in that it they introduce two community outreach ideas—the idea being that FAASTeam Program Managers and WINGS reps put on in person, on airport, events to discuss, initially: “Preflight in a Box” and “First Responder Training”. 

Our February slides will also include some material for you to use at your next club safety meeting on the topic of Preflight Inspections, for both club aircraft and club members.  This is especially important if your club’s plane has been static in the hangar for a while, or it has undergone some pre-season preparatory maintenance.  We’ll also enquire whether members have looked after some of their own human maintenance and inspections needs.

Consideration Points:

  • Did you know that flying clubs, on average, flew more last year than any other year on record?
  • Are your airplanes ready to break the record, again?
  • Are your aircraft engines approaching the (recommended) time between overhauls?
  • How about your members?
  • Are they all ready to fly, with current medicals and flight reviews?
  • Have all members received adequate transition training on the new-late-last-year addition to the fleet?
  • If members have been wintered-in for months, what can a club do to get them back into the groove?

Other Safety Resources:

Here is a reminder of just some of the resources available to all pilots:

FAASTeam:

faasafety.gov

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 down, 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.

Highly topical is the FAA’s new Human Factors course.  This ten-module course (with WINGS credits) includes videos, quizzes, workbooks, and tests.  If you are serious about understanding the role of human behaviors in aviation safety education, then please, invest the time to complete this course.

Log into faasafety.gov, go to activities-> courses-> all available courses and scroll to find these ALC codes—one per module:  ALC-730, 731, 732, 825, 826, 827, 828, 829, 830.

Here is a link to get you to modules 1 and 2 (ALC-730 and 731): https://www.faasafety.gov/gslac/ALC/CourseLanding.aspx?cID=730

Don’t forget to regularly visit these FAA safety gems:

Pilot Minute

57 Seconds to Safer Flying

FAA Safety Briefing Magazine

From the Flight Deck

 

AOPA Air Safety Institute:
https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/air-safety-instituteAOPA’s 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.  There, 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 introduced the program to 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.

Stephen Bateman
Contributor, You Can Fly Program
Steve retired from AOPA in April 2024, but continues to contribute to You Can Fly programs. Contact Steve at [email protected]

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