Pilots in training now have the opportunity to rate their CFI and their training experience in the Aircraft Owners ad Pilots Association’s 2021 Flight Training Experience Survey.
Anyone who has taken flight training — initial or recurrent — during the past 12 months is asked to “candidly assess the process and rate their individual experience” in the survey, according to AOPA officials.
“From new student pilots to experienced aviators shaking off rust or taking on new challenges, participants in the (usually) annual survey can help AOPA identify and acknowledge flight schools and flight instructors that stand out as examples of excellence in their fields,” officials noted.
In addition, data collected by the survey allows the identification and monitoring of emerging trends in the flight training industry that help schools and instructors to adapt, officials add.
The 2021 Flight Training Experience Survey will be open until noon Eastern time on July 15. National and regional winners in individual and flight school categories will be named during Redbird Migration, a conference for the flight training industry, which will be held in October.
To be eligible for an award, an instructor must have received at least five valid entries and a flight school must have 10 submitted by clients through the Flight Training Experience Survey and must receive the top overall score from survey results for the region and category. A national winner will be selected from among the six regional flight school and flight instructor award recipients. Regional winners will receive a Zulu 3 headset, compliments of Lightspeed. Instructors and flight schools receiving five valid reviews will be provided with report cards of their customers’ feedback.
The survey wasn’t held in 2020, “in consideration of challenges flight schools and pilots were facing as aviation wrestled with how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic,” AOPA officials noted.
In place of the usual competition, AOPA asked pilots to send in stories of how and where aviation inspired us, how it demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity, and how it highlighted the flight training community’s contributions to aviation and to communities at large. Some of the stories were shared in a video put together by AOPA.
The Flight Training Experience Survey and Awards are part of the AOPA You Can Fly program, a set of initiatives designed to get people flying and keep them flying.