Summary: Doug Stewart is a Master Certified Flight Instructor, a Gold Seal Instructor, and a Designated Pilot Examiner. He’s a Founding and Charter member of the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators and is the current Executive Director of SAFE. SAFE seeks to create a safer aviation environment and a reduction in aviation accidents. They do this through increased professionalism, enhanced education, mentoring, support, and professional accreditation for aviation educators. We talk with Doug about SAFE and the Pilot Proficiency Project which addresses the fact that GA pilots are not flying as often as they used to. At quarterly regional events, students, instructors, and pilots can benefit from a series of seminars designed to improve proficiency. The next event is March 8-9, 2014 in Melbourne, Florida. We discuss the pilot profession and today’s student expectations compared to those of year’s past. Also, the dwindling number of flight instructors, dropout rates for students and pilots, working to include aviation in STEM topics for young people of K-12 age. SAFE is on Twitter as @SAFEPilots, and you can visit Doug’s business at Doug Stewart Flight Instruction, Inc. The week’s aviation news: American Airlines training next generation of pilots as shortage looms Russia, China Plan Joint Widebody Effort The New F-35 Fighter Jet Can Be Taken Down Without A Bullet Ever Being Fired David Vanderhoof’s Aircraft of the Week: The P-8A Poseidon. In this week’s Australia Desk: Getting right into the spirit of the Poseidon Adventure, Steve and Grant report on the recent news confirming that the RAAF will indeed be getting the P8A Poseidon (and some HALE UAVs such as the Triton). After that, the conversation inevitably moves back to Qantas and the current brinkmanship & positioning going on around the Qantas Sale Act and requests for government backing of Qantas’ debt. Maybe it’s time for Alan Joyce to join the list of 1,000 to 3,000 Qantas employees being retrenched? Speaking of retiring from Qantas, the last 737-400 in Qantas colours recently flew its final revenue flight. VH-TJS joined Australian Airlines in March 1993 as Qantas was in the process of buying & merging the airline into its ranks. Finally, the founding commander of the Roulettes (the RAAF’s current formation aerobatic team) died recently in Canberra aged 79. Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu. Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124. Rob Mark’s The Aviation Minute: Regional Airline Safety. In this week’s Across the Pond segment: Pieter looks again at the busiest airline growth area, the Middle East with Oussama Salah from Oussamas Take. They talk Air Arabia, Etihad and Emirates. Can this area ever stop growing? They finish talking about the new Abu Dhabi based USA Customs Pre Clearance facility. Is it fair and what’s Oussama’s take on the situation? Oussama is also on Google+ and Facebook. Find Pieter on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on Facebook at XTPMedia, and at the Aviation Xtended podcast. Mentioned: Why children need restraint systems on board Cabin Operations Safety Conference in May in Madrid The Fastest Growing, Least Popular Airline In America Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.
