Offer 17 Hours Of Free Online Training Sessions

On Friday, the AOPA Air Safety Foundation unveiled its ASF SafetyCast series of web-based General Aviation (GA) safety seminars. A first in aviation safety training, AOPA says the 17 hours of free webcasts bring the benefits of ASF’s acclaimed live safety training sessions covering a range of vital flying topics to all pilots worldwide, 24 hours a day.

"No longer do pilots have to physically be near the location where we present our live seminars, or even in the same time zone," said AOPA Air Safety Foundation Executive Director Bruce Landsberg. "ASF SafetyCast webcasts put pilots in the seminar room virtually where they can see and hear the course materials, the give-and-take between the presenters and the audience, and even the camaraderie between the pilots sharing their love of flying and commitment to safety. This is the aviation equivalent of an online Ivy League education with the best professors at the best universities and making it available free to anyone. Even better, the webcasts will lead pilots to explore the material in greater detail either by attending a live seminar or through the library of interactive courses at the ASF Online Safety Center. This is a significant step forward for connecting pilots to essential safety information that can and does improve aviation safety and save lives."

Funded entirely by a grant from Hartford, CT-based United Technologies Corp., the ASF SafetyCast webcast series uses professionally produced video and audio recordings of live seminars as presented at AOPA Expo in October 2007. Presenters include recognized GA experts including aviation author and humorist Rod Machado (shown below), ASF Executive Director Bruce Landsberg, AOPA Medical Certification Services Director Gary Crump and AOPA General Counsel John Yodice.

The ASF SafetyCast webcasts serve as introductions to the Foundation's live seminars, and to the extensive array of additional online training courses available from the ASF.

Premiering during the week marking the Air Safety Foundation’s 57th anniversary, the ASF SafetyCasts expand the Foundation’s long-standing tradition of researching problem areas, and then funding the production and distribution of high-quality training materials through pilot and industry donations. Most ASF programs are available free of charge to all pilots and to the public.

The AOPA Air Safety Foundation’s interactive internet-based training courses continue strong increases in usage, now with nearly 17,000 courses taken every month. Live seminars also are highly popular with private and professional pilots and flight instructors. However, live seminars typically are limited to attendance by pilots close to the seminar location.

A full list of available seminars (and AOPA says more are on the way) is available on the ASF website.

The AOPA Air Safety Foundation, the world’s largest non-profit GA safety organization, was founded in 1950 with the sole mission of helping general aviation pilots improve flight safety. Since that time, the GA total accident rate has dropped by more than 85 percent despite a large increase in GA flight hours.  ASF produces live seminars, online interactive courses, training DVDs, written Safety Advisors and other aviation safety materials for free distribution to all GA pilots.

FMI: www.aopa.org/asf/