The WINGS Program

The FAA’s WINGS program has been a key element of joint agency/industry safety education efforts for many years. It is considered gospel among many general aviation safety advocates, and the program has indeed produced positive results. Yet, many are concerned it reaches only a fraction of those pilots who need it, and the positive safety results the program achieves would have resulted anyway because of the safety culture embraced by its current “church-goer” participants.

Key Takeaways:

• The FAA's WINGS program, despite evolving to be more accessible online and yielding positive results, is criticized for its limited reach to pilots needing it most and for not adequately focusing on poor risk management, identified as the primary root cause of fatal general aviation accidents.
• The article advocates for a fundamental shift in WINGS' proficiency training from traditional maneuver-based requirements to a scenario-based approach emphasizing aeronautical decision-making and risk management.
• A "PRO WINGS" concept is proposed to allow more flexible flight review intervals for active, high-time pilots based on real-world activity, provided they complete mandatory annual risk management courses.

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