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Storm Clouds Building Up Over NAFI Controversy

Tue, 21 Oct '08

Are "Master Instructors" Being Forced Out?

A number of sources tell ANN that there are some serious issues about to come to a head at the National Association of Flight Instructors. With a board meeting set for this Friday expected to come to some sort of "showdown," the CFI community seems pretty antagonized over what many perceive as an attempt to oust two much-favored members of the NAFI hierarchy and potentially affect the future of the Master Flight Instructor program -- which some NAFI Board members reportedly feel to be "elitist."

The NAFI community is getting vocal about what they perceive to be a threat to the Master Instructor program and to those who support it. The NAFI Board is internally appointed and not elected from the rank and file, so a sense of powerlessness is starting to infect a number of CFIs who feel that they need to be heard (and are unlikely to, under the status quo).

As ANN understands the matter, two primary NAFI Board members who have devoted considerable time and attention to concepts like the Master Instructor program, may be asked for their resignation this Friday... or voted out if they do not agree to step down. An alert email sent to members of the NAFI community alleges that, "I have been advised that an attempt will be made during the upcoming NAFI board meeting to remove Sandy & JoAnn Hill from the Association's board of directors while also taking the Master Instructor program from them and relocating it in Oshkosh. In addition, an attempt will be made to remove them from the administration of the General Aviation Awards program."

The missive also alleges that, "Because of a quirk in NAFI's by-laws, it appears that four of the 11 board members may be able to follow through on this threat. We must all consider the serious implications this could have to the future of the Association as well as the Master Instructor program and the General Aviation Awards program. It appears the Hills will be given the option of resigning prior to the board meeting or being terminated as a result of 4 to 3 vote."

Many see this as not just an attack on the Hills from members of the Board that have been "part of the landscape for a long time," but as the first step in a series of threats to the Master Instructor designation earned by a very few, highly accomplished and respective Flight Instructors who have made the profession as much a personal calling as a vocation.

So strong is the sentiment about this issue, that a number of Master Instructors have announced their intent to resign NAFI and lose their hard-won Master Instructor designation in protest of the issues at hand.

One well-known Master Instructor (once an FAA Flight Instructor of the Year) with significant support, has called upon NAFI to do the following:

  1. The immediate resignation of the entire NAFI Board of Directors. Replacement Board members will then be duly and fairly elected by the NAFI membership.
  2. Immediate changes to the antiquated and secretive NAFI bylaws that will both open the NAFI Board up--and hold that Board accountable--to the entire membership.

ANN has emails and calls out to those affected in order to gain additional insight and understanding into this story...

Founded in 1967, NAFI's boilerplate states it is dedicated exclusively to "raising and maintaining the professional standing of the flight instructor in the aviation community."

NAFI documentation also claims that it is the 'only the national association that serves the full spectrum of the flight instructor community, but also maintains the finest benefits package available for everyone from the independent instructor to those teaching at flight schools. NAFI recognizes that flight instructors are truly the "teachers of flight" as well as the front line for "quality control" in our aviation world.'

NAFI is affiliated with the EAA.

More info to come...

FMI: http://www.nafinet.org, www.eaa.org