Missouri Pilot named CFI of the year
When you talk to Jeff Edwards, the 2003 Flight Instructor of the Year, you realize how important the airport kid is to aviation's survival. He was recognized by the General Aviation Awards Committee, a cooperative effort between the FAA and industry sponsors including AOPA, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Women in Aviation International, and the Experimental Aircraft Association.
Edwards, an AOPA member who lives in Chesterfield, Missouri, grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he and his father built model airplanes together. His first exposure to general aviation was to accompany his father to Blue Ash Airport to watch the airplanes take off and land. His father later earned his private pilot certificate and offered Edwards flying lessons when he was 15. Edwards soloed a month after his sixteenth birthday, explaining that bad weather prevented him from soloing sooner.
He's been a flight instructor since 1982 and is currently an aircraft accident investigator and president of AvSafe, a company that specializes in aviation safety consulting services. A former Naval flight officer and corporate pilot, Edwards is a regular contributor to the American Bonanza Society's monthly publication and teaches in the society's pilot training program.
"When you're a flight instructor, you're a leader, and you have to get out in the forefront of activity," he says. For example, when his local airport, Spirit of St Louis, was recently threatened with noise restrictions, he helped lead an advocacy group that successfully reconciled the noise issues. He explains, "I went to city council meetings, and urged other flight instructors to come with me. It was hard to get my cohorts to the first meeting, but easy to get them to the second. Soon, we outnumbered our critics three to one. I enjoyed getting up and saying, 'I'm Jeff Edwards, and I represent 150 flight instructors.'"
He also serves as an FAA designated pilot examiner as well as an aviation safety counselor. Edwards' latest project was flying his newly completed Lancair kitplane to Florida in April for the Sun 'n Fun EAA Fly-In. Edwards and his wife, Shelby, an instrument-rated pilot whom Edwards taught to fly, ordered the kit in December 1999; the finished aircraft received its certification on December 2, 2002. The trip to Florida was his first long excursion in the Lancair, requiring 15 flight hours for the round-trip. "It's a fantastic airplane. It's everything I thought it would be - and more," Edwards says.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey will present Edwards his award in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on August 1, during EAA AirVenture 2003. At the same time, Tom Hendershot of Littleton, Colorado, will receive the Aviation Maintenance Technician of the Year award, and Al Ingle of Tallahassee, Florida, will be named Avionics Technician of the Year.
-Patricia Luebke
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