This article is taken in entirety from the June 23, 2021 issue of NAFI eMentor newsletter

As reported in last week’s eMentor, NAFI and several other aviation organizations have joined together to express mutual concern regarding the status of flight instructors while providing instruction. This concern arose because of the letter sent to AOPA by Ali Bahrami, FAA Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety. According to AOPA’s website, there are four possible negative implications resulting from the FAA’s opinion (more here).

• Prohibiting owners of experimental aircraft from receiving flight instruction in their own aircraft without specific FAA permission to do so in the form of a Letter of Deviation Authority.
• Prohibiting owners of over 300 limited category aircraft from receiving flight instruction in their own aircraft without an exemption.
• Prohibiting owners of primary category aircraft from receiving flight instruction in their own aircraft without an exemption.
• Limiting access to flight training in a specific make and model of an aircraft.

NAFI is concerned about the implications for both the safety of the National Airspace System and pilots, as well as the concern that instructors remain compliant with regulations. I have sent a letter to FAA Administrator Steve Dickson addressing these concerns.

You may also make your voices heard. Following the instructions below, you may send emails and/or letters to your congressional representatives expressing your concerns for maintaining the safety and proficiency of our clients.  

To send an email to your senators and representatives: Clicking here, you may open a short letter that you may send to your representatives. This link will list your senator’s official website. Click on the “Contact” button for the next step. This link will help you find your representative. For some ZIP codes, you may have to provide your specific address. Click on the email icon below their photograph for the next step.

In both cases, complete the required fields, select “Transportation” as the topic and copy and paste the contents of the letter into the message text of contact form. Please note that there is a limit of 2,000 characters.

To send a letter via U.S. Mail: Clicking here, you may open a letter that you may send to your senators. Clicking here will open a letter you may address to your representatives. Copy and paste the contents of the letter into Word or other word processor, adding their name in the spaces provided. Be sure to sign your letter.

Feel free to cut and paste these NAFI-provided letters or use them for ideas to comment on this important issue in your own words.

Please take the time to make your voice heard.

Bob Meder, NAFI Board Chair