The FAA will conduct a national Safety Stand Down Saturday, April 17, with programs at Sun ‘n Fun and locations in all 50 states.
The Stand Down will focus on four areas: Owner-performed maintenance; approach and landing; runway safety; and risk management, according to Bryan Neville, who is on the national staff of the FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam).
The Stand Down is part of the FAA Safety Team’s mission of decreasing the number of fatal accidents, runways incursions, the number of homebuilt accidents and the accident rate in Alaska, Neville said.
“Decreasing accidents is our No. 1 goal,” he said. “We believe an educated pilot is a safer pilot.”
Besides the national Stand Down program, the Safety Team offers a number of online safety-oriented courses. “That’s one of our most important tools,” he said, noting that in the last four years, there have been 150,920 course completions. The courses qualify for credit in the Wings program, he said, noting the program now requires three knowledge activities and three flight activities.
The FAASTeam has 120 program managers around the country, who are supplemented by more than 2,300 volunteers, Neville said. “We couldn’t do it without the men and women who volunteer their time and resources to put on these seminars,” he said, noting there are more than 100 volunteers at Sun ‘n Fun this week.
Working with the FAA on the Stand Down is the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), King Schools, Sporty’s and Tulsa Tech.
For more information: FAASafety.gov.
