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SIERRA VISTA — A local pilot and instructor was designated Monday as the Federal Aviation Administration’s lead Safety Team representative for the local Western Pacific Region.
Bill Turner, owner and operator of Turner Aviation Associates of Sierra Vista, will serve to monitor and assist the FAA and all the Regional Safety Team representatives as liaisons between the regions pilot community and the government, working toward a common goal of reducing accidents.
Turner described the FAA Safety Team representatives as a nucleus for aviator concerns when individual aviators may not necessarily want to get involved with federal policy, for example.
FAASTeam representatives are the only ones authorized to sign certificates that pilots have attended certain ongoing-authorization events.
 Bill Turner, owner of Turner Aviation Associates, stands in a hangar at the Sierra Vista Municipal Airport. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review) |
The representative position started out in the 1960s under the title of “accident prevention counselor.” In the 1980s it became known as “aviation safety counselor.”
The position has evolved into that of the FAASTeam representatives.
These representatives can facilitate remedial training if a pilot makes a mistake, for example.
“And now we’re more involved with industry, mechanics and avionics,” Turner said.
FAASTeam representatives are senior flight instructors who have often been around for many years. They are typically former accident prevention counselors or aviation safety counselors, Turner said.
To reduce accidents the FAASTeam works with data compiled from accident and incident reports involving airmen from the region and from hazards identified by inspectors at local U.S. Flight Standards District Offices, as well as information from the local aviation community.
HERALD/REVIEW reporter Gentry Braswell can be reached at 515-4680 or by e-mail at gentry.braswell@svherald.com.
