Application Packets Due At Local FSDOs By September 30th

The deadline for applications for the 2012 General Aviation Awards Program (GAAP) is September 30, 2011. Begun in 1963, the GA Awards program has evolved into a joint program between the aviation industry and the FAA to recognize excellence in four categories: Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year, Aviation Maintenance Technician of the Year, FAASTeam Representative of the Year, and Avionics Technician of the Year. Applicants are evaluated against at least four required metrics: professional involvement, pro bono service to the aviation community, continuing education, and the strength of three letters of recommendation.

The annual awards process begins at local Flight Standards District Offices (FSDOs), where applications are collected and local FAA personnel select their FSDO winners. FSDO winners are forwarded to FAA Regional offices where FAA personnel then select their Regional winners. Regional winners are then forwarded to the GAAP committee, which passes that information on to four panels of judges (one panel for each awards category). These industry judges—themselves previous National GAAP winners—then select the year’s National winners, whose names will be announced on March 1, 2012.

Those wishing to nominate deserving individuals in any of the four awards categories must ensure that application packets are received by their local FSDOs no later than September 30, 2011.

Nearly four decades after it began, GAAP was in serious trouble. A memorandum issued to all interested parties pinpointed the major issues and offered solutions that not only would keep the program alive, but would also allow it to thrive. Subsequently, JoAnn Hill was appointed GAAP Committee Chair and the program underwent significant restructuring. Finding a consistent home for the awards program was a key concern; consequently, National winners since 2003 have received an all-expenses-paid trip to Oshkosh, WI, for the week of AirVenture. Among other wonderful perks, the week at AirVenture has included an evening awards ceremony during which the FAA Administrator presents plaques to the winners, and a luncheon during which past and present awards recipients gather and the current National winners receive gifts donated by numerous industry sponsors. The GAAP perpetual plaque was created in 2008 and has been housed at the EAA Museum in Oshkosh ever since.

By 2009, eighty-nine percent of the sponsoring organizations not only reaffirmed continued support of GAAP, but 78 percent also supported opening the program up to additional sponsors. And sixty-two percent reported being happy with how the program was now being run. JoAnn Hill was reappointed Committee Chair, and FAA National Safety Program Manager Kevin Clover was appointed to the committee. A dedicated website was deployed in 2010, hosted by the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA). Future plans include the establishment of a standalone legal entity that allows for a board of directors, a succession plan, and a separate bank account to receive and disburse GAAP-related funds. The legacy of volunteerism associated with running GAAP, however, will remain unchanged.

It should come as no surprise that those who participate in the Master Instructor Continuing Education Program (MICEP) have distinguished themselves particularly in the Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year category. During the period 1999–2011 for example, 43 of the 93 Regional CFIs of the Year—all chosen by FAA personnel—were Master Instructors. And a Master Instructor has gone on to earn the National CFI of the Year honor each of those years.

Consider that Master Instructors represent less than half of one per cent of all certificated flight instructors. Yet this small group is remarkably overrepresented in terms of its impact on flight training and aviation safety. For example, Masters responding to a survey had provided 200,000 hours of flight and at least 120,000 hours of ground/simulator instruction. They had administered 6,700 check rides/stage checks and mentored 4,900 other aviation educators. Respondents also reported:

• 4,300 safety seminars given
• 2,800 articles/white papers authored or edited
• 1,700 books, newsletters, etc. authored or edited
• 670 audio-visual programs hosted, scripted, or produced
• 60 aviation-related products, services, and processes developed
• 43 “saves” of other pilots, where the successful outcomes of emergencies were attributed, at least in part, to these instructors

It is important to note that FAA personnel choose all of the FSDO- and Regional-level CFIs of the Year. A panel of volunteer judges representing the aviation industry is then tasked with selecting the National winner from the pool of Regional winners supplied by the FAA. Though neither a requirement nor a judging criterion in and of itself, participation in MICEP has served as a de facto mentoring program for the GA Awards Program, fostering well-rounded bodies of work that have translated into national caliber awards applications. Even so, it is important for those of us in the aviation community to nominate all instructors who deserve recognition as CFIs of the Year; the same goes for the other three awards categories as well.

Rich Stowell, MCFI-A and 2006 National CFI of the Year, contributed to this report.

FMI: About The Program, Nomination Forms