Aopa Air Safety Foundation

Programs: Pilots nationwide rely on the aopa air safety foundation for the information, tools, and analysis they need to make their flying safer. As a nonprofit pilot education and safety organization, the aopa air safety foundation (asf) provides free and low-cost education programs to pilots and flight instructors nationwide, analyzes safety data, and conducts and distributes safety research. The aopa air safety foundation focuses on continually expanding its reach to any and all pilots who want to improve their awareness of safety issues, enhance their understanding, and learn from the mistakes of others. We work tirelessly to identify the subjects that are most critical to pilot safety; create and distribute high-quality and cost-effective training products addressing those subjects; take advantage of special research and development opportunities that serve pilots; and provide industry-leading ga safety information to aopa members and all pilots. The aopa air safety foundation represents general aviation and aopa members at industry and government meetings where safe flying is a core topic and takes advantage of new media and technology to reach as many individual pilots as possible with safety information and tools. In the first nine months of 2010, the aopa air safety foundation touched 1. 4 million pilots through online courses (362,000), the accident database (306,000), publications downloads (329,000), safety quizzes (295,000), pilot safety announcements (55,000); live and online safety seminars (30,000), and other educational products (19,000). In october of 2010, the aopa air safety foundation merged with the aopa foundation. Information for the final three months of the year is available through the aopa foundation, inc. The aopa air safety foundation's interactive courses are provided free of charge to all pilots and are extremely easy to use. Most courses take approximately one hour to complete, but users control the pace and can save their progress at any time, allowing them to work in short increments, completing a course over multiple sessions, if that works better with their schedules. In 2010, asf offered more than 30 interactive online courses on topics ranging from evaluating the risk of a specific flight and mastering radio communications to decision making skills for pilots and using gps for both visual and instrument flight operations. Each course is self-paced, interactive, and engaging, enabling pilots to learn, review, and test their understanding along the way. In addition, the aopa air safety foundation's web site offers dozens of presentations to help pilots take advantage of the collective wisdom of the ga community. These include a comprehensive accident database of national transportation safety board accidents from 1983 through the present. The object of providing this material is to help pilots learn from the mistakes of others. Similarly, real pilot stories offer detailed first-person accounts of the challenges pilots have faced, the mistakes they have made, and what they learned from those experiences. Asf also creates special reports from high-profile or common accidents to help pilots avoid the situations that can lead to disaster. Other presentations available on the web site include: -the vfr gps guide: garmin 430/530-a self paced, 15 minute presentation focusing on the gps functions regularly used by a typical pilot in vfr flight. -fuel management resources-a guide to helping pilots avoid accidents involving fuel exhaustion, starvation, and contamination. -accident statistics-graphical representations of the latest statistical data available from the faa and ntsb. -asf safety quizzes-a quick, easy, and interactive way for pilots to assess and expand their knowledge of dozens of aviation subjects, including weather, airport lighting, ifr and vfr flying; stalls and spins; collision avoidance; charts; emergency procedures; mountain flying; spatial disorientation; preventive maintenance; wake turbulences; special use airspace; and many more. The aopa air safety foundation also hosts approximately 200 live, free safety seminars nationwide each year. The seminars qualify for the faa wings program and can help pilots qualify for aviation accident forgiveness programs through aig aircraft insurance. Asf also creates pilot safety announcements, or psas. Following the model of televised public service announcements, these short videos raise awareness of common accident causes, often with a pinch of tongue-in-cheek humor to keep pilots watching and make the message memorable. Each of the 10 available psas includes resources and tips to help pilots avoid accidents. For certificated flight instructors (cfis), asf offers both live and online renewal programs, called flight instructor refresher clinics (fircs). These faa-approved courses are available in person in more than 90 locations as well as online and meet the faa's renewal requirements. For those who want to read more about ga safety, asf offers a broad range of safety publications and articles, both printed and available online and for download. All of these safety publications are available to the public at no charge. They include: -safety advisors-find need-to-know information and a wealth of practical advice in asf's safety advisors. A variety of topics are available, including airspace, weather, instrument operations, and gps. -safety briefs-safety briefs are short (2-4 page) publications designed to offer expert guidance and useful tips to pilots. -nall report-an annual overview of the previous year's general aviation safety statistics, including trends and contributing factors that bring perspective and analysis to the trends affecting ga accidents. -airport/taxi diagrams-in conjunction with the faa runway safety program office, asf is pleased to provide free airport/taxi diagrams for the busiest u. S. Towered airports. -airspace at a glance card-notams and tfr's are more common than ever. This card can help keep you out of trouble. -intercept procedures card-notams and tfr's are more common than ever. Take this card on your trips so you'll know what to do when that f-16 pops up in your window. -flight planner form-a guide to help with efficient and complete flight planning, ready for you to print and use. -pilot report (pirep) form-unlike forecasts, pilot reports tell other pilots what's really happening, right now. Pireps are an invaluable source of weather information for the decision making process. We need your help to create more pireps; this handy form makes it easy. -runway flash cards-the runway safety flash cards help pilots better understand runway signage and markings. The front of each card displays an airport sign or pavement marking, while the back provides a description and information on the required pilot action. -airspace flash cards-the airspace flash cards help pilots keep the different types of airspace straight. Each card includes a color depiction of the airspace, a description of its characteristics, and a discussion question. -aircraft flash cards-the aircraft flash cards are designed to help new, seasoned, and transitioning pilots gain knowledge of aircraft speeds, profiles, systems, and emergency procedures. Each card includes a subject area on the front and fill-in-the-blank spaces and a helpful tip on the back. -cfi to cfi newsletters-both pilots and instructors will benefit from the air safety institute's quarterly newsletter to instructors. -safety highlights-browse type-specific aircraft reviews and find information about safety records, technical details and more. For those new to general aviation, the aopa air safety foundation offers guides to the private pilot and sport pilot checkrides, including frequently used test standards, eligibility and experience requirements, logbook endorsements, and more. Finally, asf provides a comprehensive annual report, detailing the foundation's progress and accomplishments for the year.