The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s (AOPA) You Can Fly initiative has opened the 2018 Flight Training Experience Survey. It will remain online until Aug. 13.
Each year, AOPA requests feedback from recent student pilots and pilots who have received instruction within the last year about their experiences and the quality of instruction from flight schools and CFIs nationwide.
AOPA uses the survey results to recognize outstanding individual aviation educators and flight-training businesses that deliver top-notch service.
AOPA also uses the data from the survey to provide “report cards” to flight schools and CFIs. The report cards help schools and instructors identify their strengths, as well as opportunities for improvement.
“Each year, we look forward to reading the feedback from pilots and pilots-to-be about the training and customer service they received at their flight schools,” said AOPA’s Vice President of Aviation Program Operations Elizabeth Tennyson. “It’s rewarding to recognize top industry leaders who are delivering excellent training and are also working hard to set a good example for new pilots.”
Based on AOPA’s research, the Flight Training Experience Survey considers four key factors of an optimum flight-training experience: Educational quality; focus on the customer; community; and information sharing.
The 2018 Flight Training Experience Awards will be presented at AOPA’s new You Can Fly Academy at the Frederick Municipal Airport in Maryland during Redbird Migration 2018, Oct. 9-11.
In 2017, survey participants reviewed 1,048 flight schools and 2,012 certificated flight instructors. Award recipients included Zoan Harclerode of Rocky Mountain Flight Training Center at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, honored as the Best National Flight Instructor; and SkyTrek Alaska Flight Training, of Anchorage, Alaska, earning the title of National Best Flight School.
Participants in the Flight Training Experience Survey will be eligible to win donated sweepstakes prizes, including a 12-month subscription to Pilot Preferred (mid-tier) weather from Sirius XM (a $720 value); Sporty’s Learn to Fly course or Instrument course (Online, $200 value); PilotWorkshops Real World VFR (USB version, $149 value); PilotWorkshops Real World IFR (USB version, $149 value); PilotWorkshops Real World Coast to Coast (USB version, $149 value); an Aircraft Spruce Gift Card ($100 value); and a Hertz rental certificate ($100 value).
Try another flight school. It sounds like you had the bad luck to run into a real jerk. It is, after all, their job to teach you the skills and things you need to know, not to mock you because you didn’t walk in the door with them.
This is nothing new. In 1982 I was buying my first airplane, I had a pocket full of ready cash and couldn’t get anyone to talk to me at the local FBO. Can you imagine walking into a car dealer and announcing “I have a pocket full of cash and I want to buy a car today!” and not getting EVERYONE’S full attention? There’s no way you’ll get out of there without buying something. The FBO had a line of airplanes with for sale banners on the props, and they evidently weren’t interested in selling one of them to a real, live customer who already had a pilot license and had ready cash in hand. They’re out of business, I bought from a private seller who had no problem whatsoever accepting my money.
There’s a reason for the saying about if you want to make a small fortune in aviation you want to start with a large one, and it is LOUSY and almost non-existent customer service skills.
I’d suggest finding an independent CFI and renting an airplane from someone else. Those guys were jerks. Non illegitimi carborundum – don’t let the b*st*rds wear you down . . .
Why did the FAA have the Sport Pilot? You can’t find many CFI’s interested in teaching the Sport Pilot. The Sport Pilot has a weight limit that very few people can comply. So the Sport Pilot just seems to be dieing. And everyone seems to be stuck in the old ways of,Private Pilot or forget flying.
Talking to EAA officials they feel in the next year there is a good chance to increase the allowed gross of 1320 to over 2000 plus pounds in the LSA category based on safety records. This will allow even lower medical costs and less expensive trainers. Don’t give up hope on LSA.
The Sport Pilot program along with the aircraft evolved because we were losing pilots from age related lroblems at a tremendous pace. Ultralighters want a little more weight for safety puposes and FAA said no. In actuality the plan was to give pilots the self med program and kill ultralights. The rules for training and retraining every two years are so complex they are sucessfully killing sport pilots also, just as they intended. Good luck finding someone for the bi-ennial AND a plane to take check ride in. Thanks FAA. “We are not happy till you are not happy”
I just started driving 70 miles one way to one of the only schools in the area that still has a Sports Pilot program. I think the biggest problem is you can buy 3 used 172’s for the price of one new LSA.
The two airports with in 15 miles of me that had LS had all there planes written off do to bad landings. Composite don’t take the abuse that a 172 or a 152 can. Now if they do raise the gross to over 1320 and the 152 meets LS then it may be popular again.
The FAA Private Pilot – Airplane Airman Certification Standards (FAA-S-ACS-6A, Change 1) indicates +-100 altitude requirements for Traffic Pattern, Performance & Ground Reference Maneuvers, Slow Flight and Stalls. If you love to fly, you will figure out a way!
Thought I would get back into the groove. Tried local school, and was told after about 6 hours that if I could not maintain +/- 50 altitude, I had no business flying. Not commercial, just a private pilot. I will go back to driving fast cars.
Flying is love, but I can’t just dump thousands of dollars to be put down.
Try sailplanes! They won’t lay that bravo Sierra on you. And it is a lot more fun than single engine.
Ultralights are a great, affordable option as well. It sounds like the biggest problem you had was getting an “instructor” that has NO business instructing.