2024 NW Aviation Conference Speaker Line-up

Wow! What an amazing line up of speakers. I am so excited to be able to offer all this interesting, relevant, and dare I say, VERY IMPORTANT, aviation content as part of the 2024 speaker schedule. As the old adage goes, you never know when you may need to use that important bit of safety information. It never ceases to amazing how cooperative and supportive the aviation community is. In my other life, I spend ten months of my year organizing events for everything from seafood festivals to Christmas events –and I gotta say, you guys are my favorite.

This year every gathering space is filled for every hour of the event hosting aviation topics from airplane maintenance to donning a life jacket in an over water ditch. We are especially honored to welcome back our keynote speaker, aviation legend and humorist, Rod Machado. It’s been a few years since Rod joined us in Puyallup but he is a perennial favorite for all generations of attendees. Rod will be speaking both Saturday and Sunday.

Rod Machado

Rod Machado, the Learn to Fly Guy, has taught millions the basics of flying through flight lessons, simulation, and training materials. Since 1973, he has been teaching and speaking to pilots in the 50 states and Europe. He simplifies the complex, makes bland topics interesting and educates with humor. Rod was a columnist for AOPA Pilot for 18 years and Flight Training magazines for 25 years. Rod’s 40-hour Online Private Pilot Course is used in flight schools and high schools, and his 50-hour Online IFR Course is used in flight schools and a must for pilots heading for the airlines. With over 34,000 active YouTube followers, Rod’s courses are reputably the most comprehensive available in the industry and, not only are they helpful and well-researched, they are a fun refresher for any pilot. For more information on Rod’s program offerings online visit becomeapilot.com.

Rod will be speaking Saturday at 2:30 PM in the Keynote area to share some of the most practical and useful lessons he’s learned from over five decades of giving flight instruction. On Sunday at 1:00 PM, come prepared to laugh and learn as Rod shares “A Half Century of Aviation Tales.”

Steve Bateman

Steve is Director of the Flying Clubs Initiative, which helps start, grow, and sustain flying clubs nationwide. He started flying as a teenager in England and has flown in the UK, USA, Australia, and Canada.Prior to AOPA, Steve owned and operated a flight school and before that had a fun career in high tech, in Silicon Valley, California, and before that was a university professor in England. Steve is currently Treasurer and Safety and Maintenance Officer of The Westminster Aerobats Flying Club (KFDK).An active AOPA staff CFI and check pilot, Steve is also a Lead Representative for the FAASTeam, Baltimore FSDO. Steve will be speaking at 4:30 PM in the Heritage Room on Saturday, Feb 24.

Curtis Edwards

Dr. Edwards is a FAA Aerospace Medicine NW Mountain Regional Flight Surgeon. He has been an active FAA Safety Team partner for many years and has conducted numerous outreach discussions in helping Airman understand the medical certification process.

Mike Klotch

Mike is the CEO and Chief Instructor Pilot for Specialized Aero Works, where he teaches UPRT, aerobatics, formations flying, and more. He is a Master CFI - Aerobatic (MCFI-A), a former Marine Corps F/A-18 pilot, combat veteran, and school trained Aviation Safety Officer (Naval Postgraduate School). Mike is also a contract test pilot and instructor for Epic Aircraft, a two-time NAFI Master CFI/CFII/MEI and an FAA Safety Team (FAAST) Representative. Mike has a Bachelors of Science degree from Oregon State University and 2 AAS Aviation degrees from Central Oregon Community College.

Wayne McGhee

We are pleased to once again welcome Northwest Regional Sales Manager for Garmin, Wayne McGhee. An instrument rated private pilot, Wayne has decades of experience working for avionics manufacturers. Wayne is an annual staple at the NW Aviation Conference, our authority on updates on all things avionics – and not just Garmin. McGhee speaks at 9:30 PM SAT.

Shawn Pratt

Shawn Pratt grew up in Sitka, Alaska with his family routinely flying to explore SE Alaska in a rented seaplane, and it was there that he got his first taste of the freedom of general aviation. Shawn has flown in and around the Appalachian, Rocky, Cascade, Olympic, and Sierra mountains, as well as Alaska. Shawn has additionally flown a number of small aircraft across the country through challenging terrain and weather conditions developing his passion and excitement for mountain flight. Shawn is the Director of Operations/Chief Pilot at Safety in Motion Flight Center located at Thun Field in Puyallup WA. He holds ATP, CFI Gold Seal, and AGI certificates, manages two flight schools and FBOs, and additionally working as a charter and corporate pilot. He is passionate about passing on his knowledge and experience to his fellow aviators. Visit with Shawn and Safety in Motion Flight Center in booths 117-118 during the Conference. Shawn provides support for the Career Forum Saturday with his seminar on military transition for pilots at 11:45 AM.

Karlene Petitt

Karlene Petitt is an international airline pilot, retired Delta Captain, author, pilot advocate and aviation safety subject matter expert, who lives in Seattle Washington with her husband. She has three grown daughters and 8 grandchildren. She holds two masters degrees, and a PHD in Aviation Safety from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. Her research identified concerns with safety culture and pilot training worldwide which is impacting pilot performance and operational safety. Karlene is type rated: in B747-400, 747-200, 777, 767, 757, 737, 727, A350, A330. Karlene will be speaking Saturday at 1:00 PM.

Gary Reeves

Gary “GPS” (Guy in the Pink Shirt) Reeves is the 2019 FAA National CFI of the Year. He is the most experienced avionics instructor in the world for teaching autopilots, Avidyne, Garmin, Glass Panels and ForeFlight for Single-Pilot IFR. With 20 years and over 8,500 hours of real-world experience, in all 50 states and internationally, he helps pilots in everything from twin turbine rotorcraft, jets, turboprops and, piston airplanes develop a true Mastery, Not Minimums understanding and control of avionics to make IFR easier and safer. Learn more at: www.PilotSafety.org

Philip Mandel

Mandel had no idea flying could be affordable for someone with an average income, or possible for someone with an IQ under 200 – until he met a pilot, just a “regular guy” with an average job, who flew for fun and owned a beautiful Mooney. The very next day, Phil drove to his local flight school and signed up for lessons. The bug bit so deeply that sometimes he went for two or even three flight lessons per day! That was back in 1981. He earned his Private Pilot certificate, followed by an Instrument rating, Commercial Pilot certificate, CFI, CFI-I, and MEI certificates. Through the years he has owned nine different airplanes. Now a “recovering engineer,” Phil is an independent flight instructor based in the Portland, Oregon area. Mandel will speak both days at the NWAC.

Tom George

AOPA Alaska Regional Manager, Tom George, has covered Alaska issues for AOPA since 2001. He is a commercial multiengine rated pilot who flies a Cessna 185 for fun and to acquire vertical aerial photography. Saturday, 2:15 PM, Tom will present on Alaska’s weather cameras. Weather cameras were first deployed by the FAA in Alaska and are now making their way across the country, as a tool to help pilots evaluate the weather along their route during flight planning.  Recent developments, supported by AOPA, has the program poised to add 160 sites in thirty-nine states over the next few years, greatly increasing access to weather data. The nature of this system and how to use it will be explained, with examples from multiple locations.  In a separate activity lead by AOPA, the FAA has approved adding new features to VFR flight charts to improve situational awareness for VFR pilots when navigating and communicating while flying through mountain passes. These developments will be presented, along with a look at how they are expected to improve aviation safety. Catch Tom at the AOPA booth, #610-611 during the NW Aviation Conference and Trade Show.

Bruce Williams

Bruce Williams is the owner of BruceAir, LLC, an aviation consulting, training, and pilot-services company based in Seattle, WA. He has been a pilot since the early 1970s, and he is a certified flight instructor and FAASTeam representative in the Seattle area. Today, he focuses on training in technically advanced aircraft (TAA), the Beechcraft Bonanza series, and stall/spin/upset recovery courses in an Extra 300L aerobatic aircraft (recently donated by Bruce to AOPA’s Foundation. He also instructs at Galvin Flying Services at Boeing Field. During a 15-year career at Microsoft, he worked on six versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator. In the 1980s, he edited the Western Flyer (now the General Aviation News). Bruce is also the author of two books about using PC-based simulation to complement flight training, plus many features on a variety of topics for aviation-focused periodicals. Bruce publishes an aviation blog at BruceAir.Williams will speak Saturday, 3:30 PM, on his concept of adapting a chef’s techniques to manage IFR workload. Sunday he will discuss “Practicing Partial-Panel in the PFD Era: Realistic Training with Electronic Instruments.”

Brendan O’Mara

Brendan O’Mara, a seasoned aviator with over 15 years of pilot experience, turned his personal need for simulator training into a business venture in order to bring the value of emergency proficiency to other pilots in the aviation community. With his company, Got Your Six Aviation, Brendan and his team provide immersive and highly specific training scenarios with Emergency Proficiency Training, Insurance-Required Recurrent Training, and IFR Training Programs. Got Your Six Aviation has also manufactured pilot gear and aircraft accessories since 2009 (formerly CrazedPilot.com). You can find their products and services at Booth #420 or GotYourSixAviation.com. Saturday at 1:00 PM, Brendan O’Mara Flight will present “Saving Seconds, Saving Lives: The Future of Emergency Training through Full-Motion Simulation.” Simulators, claims O’Mara, are often relegated to dusty corners of a flight school, but they offer an immersive training environment unrivaled by real-world flying when used to its full potential. Simulation pushes pilots to their limits, revealing both strengths and areas for improvement, all without the inherent risks of training for actual in-flight emergency scenarios. In this presentation, Brendan explores the ability to tailor training to any proficiency level or situation and presents strategies to harness the power of simulation for recurrent training needs, unlocking skills and boosting confidence.

Andrew George

Andrew started flying the Idaho backcountry after learning to fly at Gowen Field in Boise in the year 2000. Fast forward to today he is current president of the Idaho Aviation Association and is a Multi Instrument Commercial Pilot with close to 3000 hours flying everything from Cubs, 172, 180, 182, 206, 210, 336, 340 B200 and a few hours in the 550. Andrew is currently operating Boundary Aviation as a Single Pilot Part 135 operator in a Cessna TU206 for backcountry missions. On Saturday at 2:15 PM, George will be sharing information on his experience flying in Idaho’s backcountry airstrips. The Gem State is a mecca for recreational aviation with dozens of backcountry strips offering everything from luxury wilderness lodges to camping, hiking, fishing and hunting. Big Creek, Johnson Creek and Moose Creek are three of the most beautiful destination airstrips in the state and amongst the busiest during prime flying season. George’s informative primer on Idaho backcountry and mountain operations including specific arrival and departure procedures for these three gems. The presentation includes pictures and video and Idaho Division of Aeronautics developed approach procedures and tips from aviators who fly to these strips regularly.  

John Swedburg

John Swedburg is a recipient of the FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, for fifty years of dedicated service in Aviation Safety.  He has been an active flight instructor since 1974. He retired from full time flight instruction at the commercial pilot flight training program at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, Washington in 2014. He continues in his philosophical interest of the process we call “teaching and learning.”  John holds an ATP SMEL, a Commercial SES; CFI-ASME&I, A&IGI; and 107 Remote Pilot. He has over 16,000 hours of instruction given, and has taught in 58 FIRCs in the Seattle area. His degrees include a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Theology, and a Master of Arts (Counseling). His aviation career has included responsibilities as a flight instructor, ground instructor, chief flight instructor, Aviation Division Chairman, Airman Certification Representative, Aviation Safety Counselor, and FAASTeam representative. Swedburg is the pivotal force behind the success of the Aviation Career Forum at the NWAC. John is pasionate about teaching and sharing access to aviation careers to all. Along with his Weight and Balance seminars each afternoon, Swedburg will be leading the student career workshop each day in which he makes himself readily accessible to students and eductors.

Eileen Bjorkman

Eileen loves all things aviation, with a particular passion for military and homebuilt aircraft. She is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel with 700+ hours of flying time as a flight test engineer in 25 different types of military aircraft, primarily the F-4, F-16, C-130, and C-141. As a civilian pilot, she holds an Airline Transport Pilot rating and is a Certificated Flight Instructor with more than 2,000 hours of flying time. She owns an aerobatic airplane, a Decathlon. When she’s not writing or researching, she can usually be found doing some sort of outside activity, especially anything involving an airplane! In addition to her books, Eileen has had articles published in Air & Space/Smithsonian, Aviation History, Portland, Equinox: Poetry and Prose, Sport Aviation, the Everett Daily Herald, and many technical Journals. She has both MS and BS degrees in Aeronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in Ohio, and a BS in Computer Science from the University of Washington in Seattle. She also has a PhD in Systems Engineering from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. In her Saturday seminar (3:30 PM) Bjorkman chronicles the actions of a band of women who prevailed against bureaucrats, chauvinists, anti-feminists, and even other military women. Drawing on extensive research, interviews with women who served in the 1970s and 1980s, and her personal experiences in the Air Force, she weaves together a riveting tale of the women who fought for the right to enter combat and be treated as equal partners in the U.S. military.

Don Riley & Greg Young

Don Riley is an Operations Safety Inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration’s Special Emphasis Investigations Team (SEIT). With over 30 years of aviation experience, Don’s specialty is dispatch and operational control. He has been with SEIT since 2005 and has been involved in many illegal air charter cases. Before SEIT, Don was part of the Southwest Airlines Certificate Management Office (CMO) after joining the FAA in 2001. Prior to the FAA, Don worked with Express One and Kitty Hawk Air Cargo in the DFW area. Jobs included flight follower, dispatcher and manager flight operations center. Before that, he joined the Air Force in 1985 and flew as a radar navigator on a B-52 Stratofortress.

Greg Young is an Operations Safety Inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration’s Special Emphasis Investigations Team (SEIT). After joining the FAA in 2016 Greg worked as a Principal Operations Inspector at the Lincoln Nebraska Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) prior to joining SEIT. In addition, Greg has over 35 years of domestic and international operations in General Aviation with experience as a CFI, a PIC in 135 on-demand operations, and over 20 years with a major insurance company conducting worldwide operations in various jet aircraft. Riley & Young will be presenting Saturday, FEB 24 at 430 PM and Sunday, FEB 25 at 1:00 PM on “Illegal Charter Awareness for Everyday Operations.” This topic will include a general overview of illegal charters and how a pilot/owner or operator might get into trouble. Also included, a discussion on pilot privileges/limitations and how misunderstanding these may play into an illegal charter. They will follow with a popular topic these days, the do’s and don’ts of expense sharing and end with an overview of resources available to go to for help. The goal is not to make illegal charter experts but to bring a heightened awareness on what to look out for BEFORE something happens.

Tom Rogers

Tom Rogers has over 50 years of flying experience, including over 24000 hours of flight time in 70 different aircraft. He is a retired Alaska Airlines Captain and Retired AF F-15 Four-ship flight lead and instructor. Currently Tom teaches tailwheel instruction, CFI candidate spin training, Upset Prevention and Recovery training and a basic aerobatic course at Olde Thyme Aviation, Bremerton. He is also a skilled Stearman Waco Bi-plane. and AT-6 pilot. as well being a National Association of Flight Instructors Master CFI, recipient of the Wright Brothers Master Pilot award, and an FAA Safety Team Representative. Tom speak on non-towered airport operations Saturday, February 24 at 3:30 PM and Sunday at 11:30 AM. Presentation will discuss the current regulations and best practices published by the FAA, and review the non-towered pattern, including entries, exits, and right of way. Tom will wrap it up with his suggestions for keeping safe in a busy pattern.

Richard Kennington

Richard Kennington knew he wanted to be an Air Traffic Controller since he toured a tower at the age of eight. As he waited to get into ATC school, he earned his private pilot certificate and worked as a dispatcher for a flight school. While in school, he took a job as the Assistant to the Airport Manager at a small regional airport. In 1999, Richard joined the FAA and currently works at Portland Tower. In addition to working air traffic, he develops the recurrent training courses for all controllers nationwide. With whatever free time is left over, he referees high school sports.

Jonathan “JJ” Greenway

Jonathan “JJ” Greenway began learning to fly at Boeing Field in Seattle at age 15 in the mid ‘70s. He progressed through his primary flight training and began his professional career as a CFI in the Seattle area. His first flying job was a corporate/industrial position in a twin-engine turboprop in the Western and South Pacific based in Guam. He progressed on to American Airlines where he had an illustrious career flying Boeing and McDonnell Douglas jets. In 2003, he moved on to flying corporate jets, a position he continues in today flying Dassault Falcon jets out of the Washington, D.C. area in worldwide operations. He owns a Decathlon and enjoys tailwheel and light aerobatic flying in his spare time. He just cleared 17,000 hours in his logbook.

Lori MacNichol

Lori MacNichol, owner of Mountain/Canyon Flying LLC. Lori learned to fly in McCall, Idaho in 1982 through her love of fishing. She has logged approximately 14,000 hours which includes 8,000 hours of flight instruction specializing in teaching mountain flying techniques to pilots across the globe. Lori conducts aviation safety training which provides education on the special airmanship skills and knowledge needed to operate safely in mountainous backcountry terrain with off pavement landing. Seminar details page 20.

Trevor Moody

Trevor Moody got his private pilot certificate in 2008 at Boeing Field and since then has gone on to get his instrument rating, commercial single and multiengine, and advanced ground instructor certificates. He is currently a part-time instructor at Galvin Flying and is working on his multiengine instructor certificate. He has been a Command Pilot with Angel Flight West since 2014. The focus of his Saturday, 10:30 AM seminar will be to provide an overview of volunteer flying with Angel Flight West. The Pacific Northwest is a particularly busy region for Angel Flight West in part due to major healthcare facilities in Seattle. Approximately 1000 missions are flown each year in Washington state alone. This seminar will cover what it’s like to fly with Angel Flight West, how to sign up for missions and how it will make you a better pilot!