Redbird Flight Training Conference Migrates to Oshkosh

October 19, 2017 - Pilot proficiency was the recurring message at this week’s Redbird Migration Flight Training Conference, held at the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for the first time this year.

The conference for flight training professionals, now in its seventh year, includes a number of large and small group sessions geared toward solving the problems currently facing flight schools and universities.

Josh Harnagel, Redbird Flight Simulations’ vice president of marketing, said the company has committed itself to safety in aviation through pilot proficiency.

“It’s critical to both maintaining the current pilot population and also growing it,” he said. “Accidents are bad even from a growth perspective. It’s bad publicity [for aviation]. And we want to save lives.”

Redbird has shown its commitment to that mantra in the past few years by allowing EAA to use 12 of its simulators in the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, where pilots can hone their skills in a number of simulated scenarios.

Josh said Redbird is currently working on an initiative to make those scenarios available for flight schools around the world to download remotely to help teach their students.

EAA CEO and Chairman of the Board Jack J. Pelton, in his opening remarks to Redbird Migration attendees on Tuesday morning, talked about EAA’s history of encouraging safety in general aviation, sharing that one of EAA founder Paul Poberezny’s goals in developing the experimental-amateur built (E-AB) category was to encourage pilot proficiency through continuous training.

Other keynote speakers included the CEOs of AOPA and GAMA and famed aerobatic pilot Sean D. Tucker.