Project Preflight
Program Overview
A professional 6-page promotional document designed for campus administrators, Greek life coordinators, student affairs offices, and event planners.
What Is Project Preflight?
Project Preflight is a one-hour safety education program developed by Captain Robert Polakoski — a former United States Air Force Instructor Pilot and United Airlines Captain. The program applies the same systematic frameworks that keep millions of airline passengers safe at 35,000 feet to the daily personal safety challenges faced by college women.
Unlike conventional campus safety programs that focus on awareness and empowerment messaging, Project Preflight delivers a concrete, skills-based operating system. Students leave with specific protocols, decision frameworks, and vocabulary they can apply immediately.
Agency vs. Empowerment
Most campus safety programs give women feelings of empowerment. Project Preflight gives them a system.
"Empowerment is what someone hands you. Agency is what you build for yourself. One is a gift. The other is a tool."
— Capt. Robert Polakoski
The Four Modules
Project Preflight is structured as a one-hour interactive session across four sequential modules, each building on the last to form a complete personal safety operating system.
Agency Protocol
The foundational module. Students learn the distinction between passive empowerment and active Agency — the actual capability to assess threats, make decisions, and change outcomes. Includes the Three Pillars of Agency and a side-by-side Empowerment vs. Agency analysis.
The Four Threat Levels
Modeled on aviation threat assessment protocols. Students learn to identify and respond to four escalating threat states: Routine, Warning, Critical, and Impact — each with a specific pilot-style response protocol and action checklist.
The Flight Deck — Three Pilot Terms
Three concepts used in every cockpit worldwide, now applied to personal safety: Expectation Bias (seeing what you expect, not what's real), Unsafe Condition (environments that compound risk), and Situational Awareness (the continuous Observe → Orient → Decide → Act loop).
Sovereignty — Agency & Alcohol
The most statistically relevant module. Students learn how alcohol degrades every safety instrument they possess, and receive a six-point Personal Flight Rules checklist for maintaining Agency in social environments where substances are present.
The Four Threat Levels at a Glance
Students learn to recognize and respond to each threat level before it escalates. Like pilots who never wait for an engine fire to read the checklist, Project Preflight graduates have a pre-loaded response protocol for every threat state.
Routine
Baseline AwarenessFamiliar, low-risk environment. Active baseline monitoring. Maintain awareness, note exits, vary routines.
Warning
Unsafe Condition DetectedSomething has changed. Acknowledge, move toward people and light, announce location, identify nearest exit.
Critical
Active Threat MitigationThreat confirmed and escalating. Do not de-escalate with words — act. Make noise, break contact, call 911.
Impact
Immediate Agency / ActionImmediate danger. Fight, create distance, get to safety. Report immediately — evidence and memory fade fast.
"A pilot never ignores a warning light. Neither should you. The moment you feel something is wrong — you are already at Level 2. Act accordingly."
— Capt. Robert Polakoski
Sovereignty — Your Personal Flight Rules
Alcohol is a factor in the majority of campus sexual assaults. The Sovereignty module gives students a concrete, non-judgmental checklist for maintaining Agency in social environments.
Ideal Audiences & Venues
Universities & Colleges
Greek life, orientation programs, resident advisor training, campus women's centers, Title IX offices
High Schools
Senior year transitional programs, college-prep orientations, student wellness curricula
Community Organizations
Women's safety organizations, civic groups, corporate HR departments, faith communities
Athletic Programs
NCAA women's teams, club sports, travel sports — any group of young women in social environments
About Capt. Robert Polakoski
Captain Robert Polakoski is a former United States Air Force Instructor Pilot and a retired United Airlines Captain with decades of flight experience. He developed the Project Preflight program after recognizing that the same systematic, protocol-driven safety culture that has reduced commercial aviation fatal accident rates by over 95% since the 1970s could be directly applied to the personal safety decisions made by young women every day.
Capt. Polakoski has delivered the Project Preflight program to university campuses, Greek organizations, and student groups. His approach is direct, evidence-based, and built on the same frameworks trusted by military and commercial aviation professionals worldwide.
Credentials
- Former United States Air Force Instructor Pilot
- Retired United Airlines Captain
- Developer of the Project Preflight Campus Safety Protocol
"You are not a victim allowing a situation to happen. You are a pilot. And you are in charge."
— Capt. Robert Polakoski
Book a Project Preflight Briefing for Your Students
Available as a 60-minute webinar or in-person keynote session.
Contact Capt. Polakoski directly to discuss scheduling and availability.