I am starting to see the true colors of the founders of this organization. The recent announcement of yet another big ego name (Patty Wagstaff) as a supporter is a bad example for the aviation community after her drunken fiasco in Oshkosh last year.
Complaints and accusations have spewn from this group about NAFI over the past few months, but in reality it seems that the true problem really lies in the desire of a few people to have their ego stroked and to make themselves feel more important. The more one looks at what is happening here, it seems less like this group wants to do good for flight instructors, but in reality just wants control and couldn’t handle it when NAFI didn’t let you have your way.
Impatience, rash decisions, and rhetoric are all I have seen from this group. We were fed BS that NAFI was unresponsive and would never let members be elected to the board of directors. NAFI said they would, just that it would take time. Now I see that NAFI last week agreed that this would happen at the last meeting they had like they said they would all along. The “founders” of the MCFI claim they are doing what is right for the “masters”, but have tried to undermine and take away a program that was running under NAFI for long time and now are charging to do their own version. This doesn’t seem like a good way to help the masters, but instead a way to keep the money that was being charged for the program flowing to their own pocket.
This group should be ashamed of itself, what it is doing to flight instruction is not helpful, it is self aggrandizement.
While I have concerns of where things are going, it's far from just this organization. Probably the biggest critic of the flight training industry is Bob Miller of OverTheAirwaves.com. He doesn't have just one organization in his sites. NAFI, EAA, AOPA, NBAA, GAMA, every manufacturer and more all play a part in this. Without safety being a primary concern to all involved, those attempting to sell aircraft can kiss away their futures.
Those valuing their freedom to enjoy their tickets also need to get their own rears in gear. There are others ready and willing to take away our priviledge.
As I said in another post, there is no place for competition among organizations which claim their goal is to promote safety. Any member of any organization which does not see this becoming the primary goal should be speaking up. If there is failure, it's not just the board to blame.
As to the claim of egos getting stroked, from my knowledge there are quite a few involved who already had such involvement in aviation on a nationally reknown level, they were surely getting egos stroked without request. With regard to Patty Wagstaff, people make mistakes. She was ripped pretty well in various sectors over last year's events. Now, it's her responsibility to do everything in her power to not only keep the reputation of general aviation in a positive light but to also build her own character. I'm quite certain she will go out of her way to do what is right. She has just as much to lose though part of it may have other basis.
Nothing will be helping here to build up a new organization if effort is made to tear it down in the beginning days. Give SAFE a couple years to see where it goes. It took a lot longer than that to take NAFI down the wrong road.
