LAKELAND FL- In each of the past 49 years, the General Aviation Awards program and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have recognized a small group of aviation professionals in the fields of flight instruction, aviation maintenance, avionics, and safety for their contributions to aviation, education, and flight safety.
This awards program is a cooperative effort between the FAA and more than a dozen industry sponsors (http://www.generalaviationawards.org/ ). The selection process begins with local FAA Safety Team managers at Flight Standards District Offices (FSDOs) and then moves on to the eight regional FAA offices. Previous national awards winners from each of those four fields then select national winners from the pool of regional winners.
2012 FAA Southern Region Certified Flight Instructor of the Year- "Bert" Mackentepe, Head of Wallace State Department of Flight Technology in Cullman, AL
This year's FAA Southern Region winners are, Bert Mackentepe of Cullman, AL, Certified Flight Instructor; Aviation Maintenance Technician, Jack Lynn Haun of Port Orange, FL and Betty Meyer of Clanton, AL, FAASTeam Representative. An awards ceremony was held on Thursday with Ken Spivey, Regional FAASTeam Manager and Mike Costa, National FAASTeam Manager at the FAA Safety Center on the Sun N Fun campus.
Support and sponsorship for the General Aviation Awards program is provided by Women in Aviation International (WAI), The Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE), the Professional Aviation Maintenance Assn (PAMA), the Ninety-Nines International (The 99s), the National Business Aviation Assn (NBAA), the National Assn of State Aviation Officials (NASAO), the National Air Transportation Assn (NATA), the General Aviation Manufacturers Assn (GAMA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Experimental Aircraft Assn (EAA), the Aircraft Maintenance Technology Society (AMT Society), the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn (AOPA), and the Aeronautical Repair Station Assn (ARSA).