A tearful JoAnn called me a few days ago to tell me my Master CFI was renewed, and that was the last time that she and Sandy would be able to talk to me about it, as they had just received a letter from a law firm representing NAFI. Huh? Sandy and JoAnn are NAFI and the Master CFI program. Over the past few months I have spoken with Phil Poyner and Jason Blair and told them the same thing - but obviously my opinion has fallen on deaf ears. (I spoke personally to Jason in San Jose during the AOPA convention and from that gathered that he served soley at the pleasure of the Board, so that may answer a few of your questions)

And then the Board that elects itself. What planet are we on? Secret funds, buddies electing buddies, the membership shut out? No membership voting for the Board?

And then, the money we pay for our dues - read below and draw your own conclusion!


From: Chuck McGill [mailto:chuckmcgill@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Fri 1/23/2009 7:07 PM
To: Jason Blair
Subject: Public Relations Firm

Jason: Is it correct to assume that the NAFI membership is paying for this firm?

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Blair [mailto:jblair@eaa.org]
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 4:39 AM
To: Chuck McGill
Subject: RE: Public Relations Firm

Chuck,

Thanks for the note and it certainly deserves a resonse. The overall NAFI budgentt is built from a variety of sources, one of those being membership dues, but it is also significantly added to through sponsorship, donations, and funds that were set for the organization by the founding members of the orgnization. Some of these funds have been set forth to be used for special services and needs of the organization and will come into use in this effort. The vast majority of the membership dues goes directly into the services and materials provided to the member. Through allocation to the subscription of Flying magazine, the publication, printing, and mailing of Mentor magazine, and the provision of the membership packet and the materials it contains the bulk of the membership dues are directly allocated to those line items.

This question leaves the underlying question of why a PR firm was chosen unasked and I feel that an answer is also deserved to this question. While NAFI does everything it can to have a large impact in aviation and support flight instruction, overall we maintain a very small staff. In many cases communications needs as are needed in this case to help get information out to our membership to all those involved and interested in the current changes at NAFI can be done through use of staff of EAA through our affiliation agreement. In this instance that service was not available to NAFI. With our small staff, a greater need for communications development was needed in this case that was able to be maintained by the staff so outside help was sought as a contract service. The choice of the agency that is being used was based on a reccomendation from a colleague who knew their work and they are an agency that has worked with EAA and aviation interests before. They have been contracted to supplement the staff workload as we work to effectively communicate the efforts NAFI is making at responding to member input and requests for governance changes along with the changes that are being made in the programs.

I hope this provides more insight on your question and please feel free to get in touch if I can answer more.

--Jason Blair

----------------------------------------------------
Jason Blair
Executive Director
National Association of Flight Instructors MCFI, DPE
(920) 426-6801 (office)
(269) 275-7959 (cell)
jblair@eaa.org
www.nafinet.org

________________________________

-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck McGill [mailto:chuckmcgill@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 6:57 AM
To: 'Jason Blair'
Subject: RE: Public Relations Firm

I guess the answer is yes.

----------------------------------------------------
As of this moment, I haven't had a reply to that email yet.

So fellow NAFI members, draw your own conclusions and act accordingly.

Fly Safely
Chuck

Solitary shots should be ignored, but when they come from several directions it’s time to pay attention. As some one once said, "If one calls you a donkey, ignore him. If two call you a donkey, check for hoof prints. If three call you a donkey, get a saddle."

I can tell you why a PR firm was necessary. Blair’s letter demonstrates it. It took 337 words in the passive voice to say: Our staff was unable to craft a message to the membership. EAA refused to provide a writer, so we hired a consultant EAA recommended. We paid for it with NAFI funds, but I won’t say if it came from dues.

SAFE has a once in a lifetime opportunity to do it right. Let’s not build a bureaucratic institution where fund-raising and butt-covering are the two key activities.