With the terribly horrendous weather the last month in Chicago I've barely been able to fly. Low ceilings, icing risk and generally bad weather have thrown a wrench into my IFR training regimen. And now the plane is going in for annual in about a week. To try and keep some modicum of aviation in my life I signed up for the "Chicago 99s Aviation Expo 2023" hosted by the FAASafety group this Saturday. Seems like they have a number of interesting sessions for both VFR and IFR pilots. My question is has anyone done these seminar/training sessions before and have any feedback or guidance on what to expect? Alternatively any advice for how to get the most out of it? I'd read about the wings program before but never pursued it - have people found it to be a good time investment?
I've participated in a Wings activity almost every month for over 10 years, and have been using the program in lieu of flight reviews most of the time for the past 28 years. Of course, you can just attend the seminars for interest and education and still do the traditional flight review thing. There is no obligation to do the Wings program just because you attended a seminar. The program content and presentation vary greatly. The vast majority are informative and well-presented. Of course there will occasionally be a dud (most often when a last minute speaker cancellation happens and they have a substitute). If you don't already have one, set up a Wings Program account online first at: https://www.faasafety.gov/wings/pub/learn_more.aspx When you login, you need to click on the little tiny link called "My Wings" in the small box in the middle titled "Wings". Yes, these links should be WAY more prominent (FAA...are you listening???). The email that you use for this account is what you will provide at the seminars to get Wings program credit. Usually the organizer will handle getting you the credit, or they will give you a certificate or email certifying you attended the event, and you'll need a CFI who has a Wings program account to log in to issue you the credit. Be patient with the Wings website. It works, mostly, but is in desperate need of a redesign. A key thing to understand is that, if you are trying to complete a Wings program phase, it will suggest activities, but you can easily select from a long list of alternative activities to complete that component. It sometimes isn't obvious finding all of the alternative activities, but if you spend a few minutes poking around you'll learn how to use the website effectively.
Thanks, Jeff. Based on your attendance I'm guessing you get some value out of them, that's good to know I just signed up for the Wings program, too. Appreciate the guide there. Might as well get credit if I'm going to be there! I'm not sure if I'll end up using the credits for anything, but if nothing else I guess it's just proof of participation! I just did my BFR and will be doing ifr checkride in the near future, so using it towards the next flight review isn't really top of mind at the moment (though maybe in a couple years it could be a time saver). My key motivation for doing it is just to stay plugged in, and maybe hear some perspectives about this stuff from someone aside from my instructor. Do they normally do Q&A after the sessions? Or is it sort of a brain dump and then they queue up the next speaker?
Any of the offerings with scenarios, risk assessment, risk mitigation and aeronautical decision making are well worth your time.
I’m a believer in the wings program. Started it way back when you got a miniaturized set of wings after completing a phase.
This is very speaker-dependent. There is rarely no Q&A. That would only usually happen when they are seriously behind schedule.
I've been to several Wings seminars and they have all been really good. What's not really good about Wings is figuring out the website to get enough credit for a stage. Pain in the butt.
It's government generated, whatever you would call it. That is a good idea for our intrepid new app developer.
I have used the WINGS program in lieu of a flight review since i got my cert about 8 years ago. Every two years, go through some on line videos/courses while eating lunch at work. Then take a couple flights with instructors. In one renewal round, I combined the WINGS credit flights with getting my complex endorsement and I am currently knocking out another round of wings flights while getting my high performance endorsement. I'm guessing in two years, I'll be getting a tailwheel endorsement while completing another wings rounds. The web site is not terribly user friendly but, it works. As my dad ( a corporate finance guy) used to say, "don't buy a ferrari when need a ford".
I learned to drive on the driving school base model. I think the only things electric were the light bulbs, the radio, the vent fan (I doubt it had AC) and the wipers. Distracted driving avoidance consisted of not staring in the rear view mirror worrying if you were going to get run over by everything faster behind you.
PIREP on the program: It was a solid Saturday activity. WINGS credit is a bonus, but worthwhile even if you're not pursuing that. Honestly the best part was having multiple subject matter experts gathered in one place as speakers and resources that I could unload all my questions on: a top-notch CFII, an aviation weather forecaster w/30 years experience, a C90 app-dep controller, and our friendly FSDO head -- among others whose sessions I wasn't able to sit in on. I feel like it's a pretty stacked group. Rather than bouncing questions off your CFI(I), who sometimes might be giving you their best guess or based of fuzzy memory, it's nice to walk away with authoritative responses . No offense to CFIs by the way, but hard to be an expert in everything!
