Chad Brewer
Operational Safety Analyst, FAA Integrated Safety Teams Branch
by Paul Cianciolo, FAA Safety Briefing Associate Editor
When he was a child, Chad Brewer considered walking through the airport and getting to fly in an airplane for his family’s annual trek to Daytona Beach, Fla., the best part of the vacation.
In high school, Chad had a physics teacher who loved to talk about aviation. That teacher was a former Air Force pilot who also taught an aviation course in school, which sparked Chad’s interest in becoming a professional pilot. Chad went on to graduate from Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University — the other “best part” of Daytona Beach.
During his flight training, Chad was lucky enough to find a mentor through a family friend who happened to be the director of the FAA’s Flight Standards Service. The mentor encouraged Chad to apply to the FAA after graduating, which he did. Now, Chad’s passion for safety has a home in the Integrated Safety Teams Branch under the FAA’s Office of Accident Investigation and Prevention.
Chad and his team provide technical expertise and input to government/industry collaborative efforts including the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST), the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee (GAJSC), and the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) program. This job includes working with industry stakeholders like the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), and the General Aviation Manufacturer’s Association (GAMA).
One of his team’s accomplishments was achieving the GAJSC goal to reduce the general aviation (GA) fatal accident rate by 10-percent from 2009–2018. Another was surpassing the 100-mark of GA stakeholders providing voluntary flight-safety data into the ASIAS program, which has now amassed more than one million flight hours of recorded data.
Chad’s branch, along with other FAA and industry experts, recently finished developing safety enhancements to prevent controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). These include augmented visual technology for GA pilots, steps to overhaul the FAA’s WINGS Pilot Proficiency Program, awareness of pressure to complete the mission, improvements to terrain awareness and warning systems, and navigation guidance for nighttime VFR approach in mountainous terrain for instrument-current pilots.
Chad strongly encourages all pilots to take a CFIT-related course through FAASafety.gov or from the aviation community. It is critical to be familiar with the causes of unintended flight in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) and use best practices to mitigate the risk.
When it comes to challenges in information sharing and preventing accidents, Chad explains that the GA safety culture and myths surrounding flight data monitoring are on the top of his list.
“With a large number of GA pilots, their safety learning stops after they receive their airmen certificate — they don’t attend safety webinars, workshops, or take advantage of the latest technology,” he said. “Many GA pilots also think that it is too costly or overly complicated to analyze their own flight data, when in fact the aviation industry has come a long way in making this accessible to everyone.”
Chad is excited to be a part of that solution and looks forward to new ways of sharing and leveraging data to benefit the aviation community.
Last but not least, Chad reminds pilots that if they witness or hear of a fellow pilot unintentionally behaving in a way that may put themselves in danger, they shouldn’t be afraid to say something. Be an active safety mentor, and you could save a life.
Paul Cianciolo is an associate editor and the social media lead for FAA Safety Briefing. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran, and an auxiliary airman with Civil Air Patrol.
