by Doug Stewart, SAFE Chair
I opened the symposium noting that while SAFE is small and young as an organization, we are used to getting things done quickly and efficiently. Focusing on quality rather than quantity, we have built an organization that represents nearly 600 of the industry's top aviation educators, including the majority of Master Instructors and numerous national, regional, and district General Aviation Awards winners.
As an example, in the two short years that we have been in existence, we have created and launched an industry-first Aviation Educator Mentoring Program and a growing online library of resources for members, and we offer the nation's premier flight instructor liability insurance program. We have also arranged discounts and benefits from more than two dozen partners.
When Bob Wright and I discussed the idea of the symposium during AirVenture last summer, we realized the urgency of what we had to do. Undaunted by the realization that few of us knew anything about hosting such an event, or that the proposed timeframe was "impossible," the process began. We found the right people to get the job done, people who were passionate about improving the state of general aviation.
So it was that in just 8-1/2 months, SAFE members did the planning, raised the money, secured the location, assembled the impressive slate of speakers and panelists (including the FAA Administrator himself), created a dedicated website, and coordinated myriad other logistics. With tremendous cooperation from everyone who attended, the symposium stayed on message and on schedule throughout, except for a welcomed and unexpected opportunity for 15 minutes of Q&A with Administrator Babbitt following his speech.
The results speak for themselves. The symposium proved that our industry can indeed collaborate well together to address issues that will ultimately benefit all of us.
In my closing remarks, I passed on words of wisdom I received from one of my mentors: "Our only limits are those that are self-imposed." The tasks we have imposed upon ourselves to reform pilot training will not all be easy to achieve. That being said, SAFE has proven over and again that it is capable of accomplishing what some have said could not be done. We don't intend to stop now. Let us all work together to get there.
