--by Tom Hoffmann, FAA Safety Briefing

Research shows that pilots benefit when they feel like they are part of a group or family. Safety records of airmen that belong to type clubs or aviation associations suggest that these pilots are less likely to have an accident than their non-member colleagues. Less measurable but equally vital is the strong sense of community and camaraderie that comes with being in the company of like-minded aviators. It becomes a safe haven to ask a question, bounce off an idea, or to just share your latest, “There I was ... ” story to eager ears. More importantly, it becomes the ideal environment for safety attitudes to develop and an aviation safety culture to flourish.

Despite their benefits, not all type clubs or aviation organizations are the right fit for some pilots. It could also simply be that geography or finances are limiting factors in your ability to join forces with your fellow airmen. If either is the case, don’t despair. The FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) has you covered — in all 50 states, gratis! You are also covered for whatever you might fly — from an Agusta-Bell 47 Ranger to a Zenith Zodiac.

For nearly 50 years, the FAASTeam, including its previous formats, has been building a multi-faceted safety community that is highly regarded worldwide. Its mission statement says it all:

Improve the nation’s aviation accident rate by conveying safety principles and practices through training, outreach, and education while establishing partnerships and encouraging the continual growth of a positive safety culture within the aviation community.

Notice that last part on safety culture. But how exactly does the FAASTeam promote and improve safety culture for participants? The following are five distinctive elements that help define the FAASTeam’s role in the aviation community and make them ideally situated to positively impact safety culture.

1. WINGS and AMT Awards Program

The WINGS Pilot Proficiency Program and AMT Awards Program are undoubtedly the flagship elements of the FAASTeam. Both programs help inspire professionalism, proficiency, and continuing education for pilots and mechanics. By encouraging and incentivizing training and learning activities in specifically targeted areas of emphasis, the programs are able to focus on top accident causal factors in hopes of reducing their occurrence.

The WINGS program awards eligible pilots with a basic, master, or advanced phase of WINGS based on completion of a specific set of knowledge topics and flight activities. As an added bonus, you can satisfy the requirement for a flight review by simply completing any phase of WINGS. For more details on the program, see Advisory Circular (AC) 61-91J at go.usa.gov/xmfGB (PDF download).

The AMT Awards program issues a bronze, silver, or gold phase to eligible AMTs that meet a minimum requirement of training hours and coursework. The program is designed to also encourage and reward employers who take proactive roles in training their technical workforce. See AC 65-25F at go.usa.gov/xmQFA (PDF download) for more details.

2. Seminars and Webinars

Educational outreach is the cornerstone of the FAASTeam’s efforts to improve safety, its primary tool of trade being the familiar seminar/webinar. Whether you’re trying to achieve a WINGS or AMT Awards phase, or just shore up your knowledge on a particular aeronautical subject, FAASTeam seminars and webinars can be a great asset to any airman. Last year alone, the FAASTeam conducted more than 4,200 approved safety seminars and more than 260 webinars that reached about 180,000 members of the aviation community.

According to Louisville FAASTeam Program Manager (FPM) and Airworthiness Aviation Safety Inspector Chuck Holsclaw, the seminars are also a chance for the FPMs and FAASTeam volunteer representatives (or Reps) to interact directly with pilots and mechanics on both local and national issues. “I help to educate, promote, and instill a positive safety culture by writing presentations directly related to these safety issues, providing that information through those presentations, and encouraging open discussions with local individual airmen, groups, and organizations,” says Holsclaw.

3. FAASafety.gov and Online Resources

FAASafety.gov is the FAASTeam’s online hub for airman education and premier safety resource. The site provides important GA-related updates and notices, lists airman activities and seminars in your local area, and hosts hundreds of online aviation safety courses. The site currently has more than 930,000 account users and in the last year topped 1.6 million course completions!

In addition, FAASafety.gov hosts the email messaging system that can rapidly issue ad hoc nationwide safety updates as well as deliver localized seminar notices. It’s also the home base of the WINGS and AMT Awards programs mentioned earlier.

If you’re a user of social media, you’ve probably noticed a few other FAASTeam online safety resources that play an important role in promoting safety culture. For starters is the new Facebook GA Safety Group that was created last August. The group provides a constructive online forum for you to share thoughts, ideas, and questions when it comes to aviation safety. We recently hit the 10,000-user mark, more than 80-percent of which are active users. Go to facebook.com/groups/GASafety to sign up.

If micro-blogging is more your style, then be sure to check out @FAASafetyBrief on Twitter. We regularly post important safety news, regulatory updates, and aviation event details, as well as share user and industry content relevant to GA. Thanks to you, we have a community of nearly 60,000 followers.

Other aviation-related social media avenues include FAA’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube channels. Collectively, these mediums enhance our ability to be a more active member of the GA community and help us gather important feedback from airmen like you.

4. FPMs and Reps Local expertise

At the very core of the FAASTeam’s success is a stalwart staff of over 100 FPMs and 2,500 Reps spread across the nation. They do everything from gleaning useful information from accident data, to coordinating runway safety forums, to pressing the flesh with neighborhood pilots and mechanics. To get a sense of how dedicated these individuals are to furthering the cause of GA safety, I asked a few to comment on how they help foster and maintain a positive safety culture in their local areas.

“I strive to identify hazards and make contact with aviation personnel who are potentially at risk in order to seek ideas, actions, and solutions that will reduce the potential of harmful accidents and incidents. By raising awareness of these issues, I believe the FAASTeam helps focus users on aviation safety, thus influencing their values, traits, and practices.”

– Harlow Voorhees, Oakland

“Openness, sharing personal experiences, and placing emphasis on aviation safety during my interactions.”

– Richard Henry, Birmingham

“We establish and participate in workgroups such as the Arizona Flight Training Workgroup, which gathers flight school representatives and individual flight instructors together to discuss and explore local safety solutions. We also assemble flight schools, tenants, and air traffic management into quarterly workgroups at high-activity airports. When we get people together from different organizations, lines of business, and positions, they realize that they ultimately share the same interest — safe operations.”

– Tina Buskirk and Ernie Copeland, Scottsdale

“By visiting the airman on a regular basis and holding events not only generated by our own research, but by local need, we gain interest in the program and therefore can now expose the airman to the solutions to a safer flying community.”

– Eddie Shields, Charlotte

“Lead by example! I fly a Cessna 195B tail dragger, radial engine aircraft, and I am noticed and known wherever I go. I must practice what I preach or risk destroying the very culture I strive to build.”

– Larry C. Wells, Jackson

FPMs are also integrally involved with administering the FAA’s remedial training program designed to address safety issues associated with a regulatory (or in some cases non-regulatory) safety deviation. “We have had six pilots who were recommended for remedial training in 2018 in our FSDO,” says FPM John Carter in Bradley, Conn. “All of the pilots have successfully completed their training and are now active WINGS participants.”

Carter went on to emphasize that all of the pilots are doing well and none have had repeat incidents of non-compliance. “This program [has] helped turn mistakes into a positive teaching opportunity,” Carter continued, “and has helped our local flying community with establishing an effective and ‘just’ safety culture.”

5. Hangar Flying

Finally, a benefit of FAASTeam participation that is often overlooked, but still extremely valuable to a positive safety culture, is the organization’s innate ability to foster a fellowship among airmen. Besides being excellent educational opportunities, FAASTeam seminars and events can also offer a chance to network with fellow airmen and industry members, and in some cases, be a catalyst for forging new friendships. Sometimes it’s those casual “coffee pot” conversations with colleagues that can spark a moment of clarity, answer a burning question, dispel a rumor, or inspire an impromptu mentoring (or mentee) moment. This is especially salient given how often a pilot can sometimes go without any interaction with the aviation community, barring the flight review of course. So, the next time you see a seminar or forum offered in your local area, don’t let the topic be the sole driver of whether or not you attend. Consider the value of the camaraderie and company you’ll share too.

As you can observe with these examples, the FAASTeam is definitely well positioned and firmly committed to influencing safety culture in the GA community. To this team of dedicated aviation professionals, safety culture is not just about promoting policies or programs, or acknowledging achievements and accolades; instead, it’s something woven into the organization’s very fabric and an intrinsic part of who they are and what they do. That’s a culture you can count on.

Tom Hoffmann is the managing editor of FAA Safety Briefing. He is a commercial pilot and holds an A&P certificate.