Question Of The Month: How Can Flying Clubs Encourage Members To Stay Proficient?

Pilot proficiency relates to all pilots, whether in a club or not. Members of flying clubs, can, however, gain some useful help and guidance if their club really embraces the notion of a structured pilot proficiency program as part of its safety culture.

During the popular AOPA flying clubs workshops (keep an eye out for emails about these events, and also visit the PIC Events page), we ask a True|False question: “All flying clubs have a safety culture?” Most responses are “False”, suggesting that not all clubs have a (formal) safety culture, but the stinger is that such a club definitely does have a safety culture, and it’s not a good one.

Before we dig a bit more into this topic—and present a solution—we need to resolve the common confusion between currency and proficiency.