Surveys show the program is working
When AOPA Project Pilot was launched last April, AOPA President Phil Boyer emphasized that one of the things that would differentiate this program from other "learn-to-fly" efforts would be careful tracking of participants in order to measure the program's effectiveness. As part of this undertaking, AOPA recently surveyed both students and mentors as a sort of "howgozit" exercise. This month, we thought we'd share some of the highlights of the responses with you.
One set of questions sought to determine how far Project Pilot students had come to date. Of the students surveyed:
- 87.2 percent had already started training.
- 86.2 percent had already logged five hours or more, and 44.1 percent had logged at least 20 hours.
- 45.1 percent had soloed.
Students were also queried about their time frame for passing particular milestones in their training:
- 67.4 percent planned to complete their long cross-country flight within the next six months.
- 75.8 percent planned to take the private pilot written examination within the next six months.
- 93.9 percent planned to earn their private pilot certificate within the next year.
When asked to identify the biggest obstacles facing them were, 37.9 percent of the students cited financial issues, while 31 percent cited time constraints. In this area, Project Pilot students differ markedly from students who are not participating in the program. An earlier survey of student pilots found 71 percent citing money and 46 percent citing time as major obstacles. The significance of this difference is that Project Pilot mentors are clearly nominating students who are better positioned in terms of financial and time resources to complete their training than the average student.
The students had high marks for their mentors, as 94.8 percent said their mentors were providing ongoing support and encouragement, while 77.3 percent also said their mentors were assisting them by discussing lessons and answering questions.
When we surveyed the Project Pilot mentors, 54.6 percent said they were in touch with "their" students at least biweekly. Asked in what ways they were assisting their students, other than providing encouragement and answering questions, the mentors responded that:
- 64.1 percent had helped their students find an FBO.
- 58.9 percent had arranged a first flight for their students.
- 55.9 percent had helped their students find a CFI.
- 42.2 percent had helped their students with ground lessons and book work.
It would appear that students and mentors alike deserve a heartfelt "way to go!" Keep up the hard work, and remember: AOPA is just a telephone call away with whatever assistance we can provide.
Project Pilot receives green light for continued service
The original goal of AOPA Project Pilot was to enlist 10,000 new student pilots in a year. But by the end of January (the latest month for which complete data are available), 8,754 Project Pilot mentors had already recruited 9,252 new students, fewer than 750 short of the program goal, with two months still to go. With the 10,000 level clearly in sight, AOPA is looking forward to continuing Project Pilot into its second year.
"The success of Project Pilot thus far is very gratifying," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "The sobering fact is that, in 1994, the number of new students declined by 13 percent from the number that started flying in 1993. And student starts were down 16 percent in 1993 compared to 1992. The precipitous decline in new blood entering the aviation community is one of the greatest challenges facing general aviation. It's truly impressive that 20 percent of the new student pilots in the past 10 months are AOPA Project Pilot participants. That's why we have to continue this important program."
Boyer promised that the program would not only continue, but expand, with an announcement on Phase II of Project Pilot scheduled to appear in the April issue of AOPA Pilot.
AOPA members interested in joining Project Pilot as mentors should call the association at 800/USA-AOPA or mail in the nomination form found on p. 107.
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