Situation Reaching An Impasse?

In a release to the National Association of Flight Instructors members on Friday, the NAFI Board of Directors outlined its intention to address the concerns of a number of members "centered on the NAFI By-laws in general and member involvement in the governance in particular."

Recognizing the growth of the organization since the current By-laws were written in 1995 when NAFI affiliated with EAA, the NAFI Board "agrees that change is appropriate" and announced that "a thorough revision of its corporate bylaws has begun," promising "all NAFI members that your comments, requests and suggestions will receive full and due consideration in this revision process."

"The Chair of the Governance Committee has been working on proposed revisions to the By-Laws by examining procedures and requirements that were drafted at the time of the affiliation but may no longer be relevant or applicable.

"The proposed revisions will be presented to the entire NAFI Board of Directors when they are finalized," the release said, maintaining the process "is not a simple task" and "likely will take some time to complete."

The statement concluded, "It is the goal that before our next Board meeting we will have a complete revised set of By-Laws to submit to the Directors for their review so that we can discuss them at that meeting and vote on them at that time or shortly thereafter. All of us, including EAA, want this project completed as quickly as possible but also as professionally as possible."

Take Back Our NAFI found the NAFI Board's proposed plan of action unacceptable, calling it "unresponsive" and rejected it, for several reasons. A response to the latest NAFI statement was sent to the Board by Master CFI Rich Stowell (shown below), on behalf of the TBO Committee:

"'By the next Board meeting' is an unacceptable timeline. Furthermore, the lack of inclusion of the entire TBO NAFI Governance Subcommittee (ten members, plus three advisors) in the rewrite process is unacceptable and further demonstrates NAFI's lack of transparency.

"It is unconvincing that NAFI can or will respond effectively and timely. In contrast, TBO NAFI's Interim Governance Subcommittee can produce working drafts of core governance documents quickly and efficiently.

"The rewrite of the By-Laws must include provisions for the entire Board of Directors to be elected expeditiously by the membership. Anything less is unacceptable.

"The entire existing Board must tender its resignation upon enacting new By-Laws. Anything else is unacceptable."

As ANN previously reported, the showdown between the NAFI Board of Directors and the CFI community was precipitated last month by what many perceived 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, were to be asked for their resignation or voted out if they did not agree to step down.

An alert email sent to members of the NAFI community last month alleged 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 Board vote at the October 24 meeting on whether to remove the Hills was deferred. "The Board instead postponed the vote; however, the Chairman retains the authority to call for a vote at any time with a simple phone call to other Board members," TBO NAFI states.

The first informal meeting of TBO Committee members and others who wish to participate is scheduled for Friday, November 7, at 1:00 PM in the entrance lobby of the AOPA Expo in San Jose, CA.

FMI: www.tbo-nafi.org, www.nafinet.org