AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2023 - 6

PRESIDENT 'S POSITION
Safety is in our DNA
Helping all of us be safe pilots
every day and on every flight
BY MARK BAKER / President and CEO
AOPA Foundation Legacy Society member
I CAN'T THINK OF A WORSE DAY than when I get a call telling me
that we have lost a friend, a fellow aviator. That recently happened
to me, and it hit hard. Ours is a tight-knit community. Everybody
seems to know everybody, and when one of us grieves, we all do.
Even the most experienced, proficient, and current pilots run
a risk every time they take flight. Mind you, it's a significantly low
risk as we are experiencing the safest era for general aviation ever.
After I got over the shock and disbelief, my mind naturally
went to what happened, where did the pilot go wrong (if he did
go wrong at all), and what can we learn from such incidents? I try
to separate my personal loss from my professional education. It
can be a challenge, but pilots are learners, and we look for every
instance to keep filling our mental sponge of information. That's
how we stay safe.
As we enter September and the fall season, millions of young
(and not-so-young) adults are headed back to school, continuing
their education, and staying on the path to success. For pilots,
school is always in session. We rarely take time off from our own
education-and when we do have some down time, it's usually
spent in the air, sharpening our skills, and discovering wonderful
new destinations (see " Flying Hood River, " p. 66, for example). GA
pilots are hungry for knowledge-we're curious, we're diligent,
and we never settle for average.
It's no wonder that GA is safer than ever. Since 1950, the general
aviation accident rate has decreased by 90 percent. It's also
no coincidence that the AOPA Air Safety Institute began creating
safety programs for the pilot community that same year.
Under the leadership of Richard McSpadden, the AOPA Air
Safety Institute has a single-minded focus on reducing general
aviation accidents and reinforcing a culture of safety. The ASI
team takes great responsibility in fostering an overall safety
culture in general aviation by educating and inspiring the entire
GA community-pilots and aircraft owners, instructors, and
policy makers.
If you have heard Richard give one of his excellent
presentations on safety, you know that safe GA operations are
based on five core principles: knowledgeable people, who are
trained well, kept proficient, placed in reliable equipment, and
surrounded by a culture that enables good decision making. We've
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AOPA PILOT / September 2023
made progress across all five of those metrics through the past 25
years; and it shows in the numbers and culture.
Just look at the fact that the valuable content our AOPA Air
Safety Institute puts out is consumed more than 10 million times
per year-engaging videos, podcasts, newsletters, articles, online
courses, insightful accident analysis reports, and its recently
updated " Focused Flight Review " program with six different custom
profiles tailored to meet your proficiency goals. The content
is designed for the way we consume information today-engaging
and to the point. And may I add that most ASI content is free
at the ASI page on AOPA's website and YouTube.
For starters, you probably have seen the very well-received
" Early Analysis " series that the team started in 2021. Through
these videos, the ASI team addresses a recent aviation accident,
makes a preliminary assessment of the overall event and notable
portions, and highlights areas the NTSB will likely investigate
to determine a probable cause. These videos are solely intended
to give pilots some real-world application and learning they can
apply to their own flying. We have heard from many pilots that
these videos have given tremendous and practical insights.
If you go to the ASI website (airsafetyinstitute.org), you will see
a lot of other engaging content to make you a smarter, safer, and
more proficient pilot. This includes our " Accident Case Studies, "
exploring why pilots ignored the warning signs and pressed on
under adverse circumstances; " Real Pilot Stories, " in which aviators
share their mistakes so you can learn from their slip-ups
while comfortable on the ground; " Beyond Proficient, " an inspiring
series that helps pilots fly safely while operating in unique
and challenging real-world situations; and the " There I Was... "
podcast, which invites you into the cockpit to encounter unpredictable
scenarios and gain knowledge from how pilots were able
to fly safely out of them.
I often say that safety is in AOPA's DNA. Our team is fiercely
passionate and committed to helping
you be a safe pilot each day and
every flight. AOPA pilots earn a
diploma in safety every day.
Blue skies!
mark@aopa.org
MARK BAKER is a
commercial pilot with
single- and multiengine
land and seaplane ratings
and a rotorcraft rating.
http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2023

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