Daddy, I Really, Really Gotta Go! - September Safety Meeting
2025-09-24 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Harper College, 1375 S Wolf Road, Prospect Heights, IL, 60070, United States
Young and old alike, when you gotta go, you gotta go! And there are all kinds of urgent situations that pop up. And these can create these in unexpected, sudden, and urgent ways! No problem, there’s an airport nearby. The issue is the two other aircraft in position to land ahead of you—both of whom happen to be gliders. Flying into non-towered airports is one thing, but when you’ve got gliders and ultralights mixed into the traffic pattern, things get way more complicated!
Continuing with the theme of safety with mixed traffic, let’s discuss the thinking about diversions, traffic flows, priorities, and (always) risk management!
Speaker Bio:

Michael Baraz holds ATP, CFI, CFII, AGI, and IGI certificates. He is an active flight instructor and FAA Safety Lead Team Representative. He loves helping people achieve their flying goals and staying safe, current, and proficient by continuous training with WINGS credits. Michael flies a Mooney Rocket 305 because life is too short to fly slow. He is a member of several flying clubs and pilot associations around Chicago and is the treasurer and past-president of CEPA.

MOSAIC What's In It For Me? - October Safety Meeting
2025-10-22 19:00 - 20:30
Light Sport Pilot and Light Sport Airplanes will soon mean entirely different things from how you know them. “Light” used to mean significantly reduced privileges and capabilities, respectively. The Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (aka MOSAIC) regulation is going to fix most of that. And, by the time we meet, the first set of changes will kick in on October 22nd, for pilot certification. By next year’s AirVenture, on July 24, 2026, the aircraft rule changes will kick in. What’s in it for you?
Speaker Bio:

Michael Baraz holds ATP, CFI, CFII, AGI, and IGI certificates. He is an active flight instructor and FAA Safety Lead Team Representative. He loves helping people achieve their flying goals and staying safe, current, and proficient through continuous training with WINGS credits. Michael flies a Mooney Rocket 305 because life is too short to fly slow. He is a member of several flying clubs and pilot associations around Chicago and is the treasurer and past-president of CEPA.

CEPA Election, Annual Meeting & November Safety Meeting
2025-11-12 19:00 - 20:30
Evening topics:

CEPA Director’s Election
Annual Meeting
November Safety Meeting: Ice and Aspects of Winter Operations

Speaker:
Lou Wipotnik, Master CFI, CFII, MEI, has earned his Master CFI designation for the 10th time and was the 1996 National CFI of the Year. Holding the Master CFI designation continuously since 1998, Lou was granted Master Instructor Emeritus (MIE) status in 2016, following his induction into the Illinois Aviation Hall of Fame. This recognition was given in appreciation of his many years of commitment to excellence, professional growth, service to the aviation community, and quality aviation education. He has taught for several distinctive flying schools during his aviation career and has logged over 15,000 hours as PIC in over 60 years as a pilot. Lou also served in the Civil Air Patrol, flies Young Eagles, and is a recipient of the distinguished FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award.

7 Times Lucky - How to Survive a Low-Altitude Engine Failure (Hopefully)
2026-01-28 19:00 - 20:30
Join CFI Daniel Feldman for an exploration of low-altitude engine failures and the lessons he has learned after seven of them.

Speaker Bio:
Daniel Feldman is a CFI Sport with more than 3,500 hours of dual given and over 5,000 total flight hours. He is the owner of Foxtrot Aero, which specializes in light sport instruction in both fixed-wing and gyroplanes with a focus on vintage and experimental aircraft.

Flight Following Or Go Rogue?
2026-02-25 19:00 - 20:30
You take off for your VFR one-hour cross-country. You’re about to head into a TRSA, so you call for flight following. It’s crazy hot and bumpy, so you tell them your destination, and you are climbing to 8,500 feet. Unfortunately, that’s not what ATC has in mind. They say maintain at or below 3000′. Whoa! What do you do?
Speaker Bio:

Michael Baraz holds ATP, CFI, CFII, AGI, and IGI certificates. He is an active flight instructor and FAA Safety Lead Team Representative. He loves helping people achieve their flying goals and staying safe, current, and proficient through continuous training with WINGS credits. Michael flies a Mooney Rocket 305 (because life is too short to fly slow). He is a member of several flying clubs and pilot associations in the Chicago area and is the treasurer and past president of CEPA.

Situational Awareness: How Good Pilots Lose It, and Get It Back - Penny Levin, PhD, CFI
2026-04-22 19:00 - 20:30
Join Penny Levin, PhD, CFI, for Situational Awareness in Single-Pilot Flying: How Good Pilots Lose It, and Get It Back. This practical program for general aviation pilots will explore how distraction, workload, routine, and cockpit screens can erode situational awareness in small airplanes, and what pilots can do to recognize the signs early, stay ahead of the airplane, and fly more safely.
Speaker Bio:

Dr. Penny Levin has combined her two professional passions-psychology and aviation. She presents on flight instruction, flight safety, and pilot mental health. She is a member of the Olympic Mental Health Registry. A longtime member of the Civil Air Patrol. Dr. Penny has flown as an instructor, a mission pilot, and a mission pilot instructor, and as the Pennsylvania Wing Assistant Director of Safety, responsible for creating an innovative aircrew safety seminar series. She is an instructor in the AOPA Flight Instructor Refresher Course
