AOPA Project Pilot

Mentoring program enhanced with magazine subscriptions

You remember AOPA's Project Pilot Mentor Program. It was created five years ago to help AOPA members mentor friends, relatives, and coworkers interested in learning to fly.

Launched in April 1994, Project Pilot's original goal was to bring 10,000 people into the world of general aviation through AOPA member involvement - and the program has exceeded all expectations. Through the middle of this year, some 30,847 prospective pilots were nominated into the mentoring program by 22,602 AOPA members.

Becoming a mentor represents a serious commitment. Many AOPA members accepted the challenge after taking someone for his or her first flight in a light airplane. When a passenger is awed by the sweeping vistas that we regularly enjoy from our cockpits, impressed by the utility and flexibility of general aviation travel, and amazed at our freedom to fly where and when we want to - well, that passenger has already been bitten by the "flying bug." If the individual is goal-oriented and ready for a challenge, enjoys an active lifestyle, and has the time and resources to undertake flight training, you have found the perfect candidate.

Enrolling your student nominee in Project Pilot couldn't be easier. Simply fill in and mail the postpaid card found opposite page 18 in this magazine, call AOPA at 800/USA-AOPA (872-2672), or complete an electronic registration on AOPA Online. Your nominee will now receive, at no charge, the new six-month AOPA Flight Training Trial Membership, which includes AOPA's Joy of Flying video, an information-packed brochure, and six issues of AOPA Flight Training magazine. This trial membership makes many of AOPA's benefits available to your nominee - including access to the members-only section of your association's Web site, AOPA Online, and the ability to discuss flight-training issues with the flight instructors staffing the AOPA Pilot Information Center. With easy access to so much information, combined with your mentoring support, your nominee is more likely than ever to complete his or her flight training.

To help with your mentoring responsibilities, you will receive a series of newsletters that offer tips on how to help your student through those rough spots that we all face in our flight training.

Eventually, your student will receive an invitation to become a full member of AOPA, and we hope you will encourage him or her to accept. Research shows that student pilots who join AOPA are three times more likely to complete their training and receive a private pilot certificate than those who don't join. Why? A subscription to AOPA Pilot or AOPA Flight Training helps to keep the student excited about flying, and the wealth of information just a toll-free telephone call or a mouse click away can help fledgling pilots over almost any learning hurdle. Members can also utilize the many AOPA Certified services, which can help to reduce the cost of their flight training.

Why don't you enroll a friend or acquaintance and see them through their journey into the skies? Fewer than one member in 10 has accepted this challenge, and there are countless aspiring aviators who need little beyond that nudge, and maybe some help in finding a flight school or selecting an instructor. Imagine the impact on general aviation if every one of AOPA's 350,000 members was to nominate just one prospective pilot, and see him or her through the flight-training process.

Students and mentors alike report that their Project Pilot experiences are highly rewarding.

Becoming a student

Mentoring has made Darl Chapman into a student again. Chapman, who operates a bond business in Fort Worth, Texas, owns a Cessna 180 and often makes lunchtime flights over the city. "I hate to fly with an empty seat if I can help it," he said. "[Taking people flying] has really opened up some eyes and got some people going. I think that's what got George Mackey going."

Mackey, a Fort Worth attorney, had begun flight training in 1979. "I soloed, and then I was handed off to an instructor who took me up and did three spins," Mackey recalled. "I walked away."

But when Chapman took Mackey and his family for a flight in May 1998, the urge returned. "That got me interested and made me want to complete my training," Mackey said. He passed his private pilot checkride on January 30.

The assistance of a mentor proved invaluable. "The radio seemed a lot more difficult this time than it did in 1979," Mackey noted. To help solve the problem, Chapman got Mackey some tapes of air traffic control transmissions. "I listened to those, and they helped me a lot." Mackey said that he and Chapman had many long discussions at the courthouse. "We'd go on for an hour and a half, easily," he said. Another friend, Jim Craft - an American Airlines pilot - also helped to boost Mackey's confidence.

Chapman, who has been flying for 24 years, really enjoyed the mentoring experience. "I think I enjoyed it more than George did," he said. "He put me to the test. It got me back to studying and learning. All the little questions that you forgot about, new pilots will ask you."

Mackey is already working on his instrument rating. "Actually, both of us are students now," Chapman said. "The experience has rejuvenated me - I had always been a fair-weather flier, and now I'm working on my instrument rating. I think I'll get my commercial certificate, too."

That's not all that will keep Chapman busy. He also plans to mentor more students through Project Pilot. "As a matter of fact, I've got two more who are ready to sign up," he said.

Overcoming setbacks

Fred Russell met Stanley Ward at their church in the Norfolk, Virginia, area two years ago and discovered that they both had started flight training in the mid-1970s - but had to quit because of family responsibilities and financial considerations. Russell had resumed his training in 1990 and earned his private pilot certificate.

"I took Stan flying practically every time that I went," Russell said. "He got so interested in it that he became discontent as a passenger - he wanted to learn to fly." So, Russell helped Ward to find a flight school and a CFI. He had just heard about Project Pilot, so he called AOPA and enrolled Ward. "That videotape and reading material [from AOPA] motivated him to continue with the lessons. It gave him that vision, that goal."

Ward went through four flight instructors before settling on the one who was right for him - and as he was finishing his training, that instructor was offered an airline job. The instructor made completion of Ward's training a top priority, and Ward passed the private pilot checkride the day before his instructor left for the airline. "I found myself talking to Fred all the time," recalled Ward, who said his mentor's encouragement was invaluable.

"Flying was a dream that Stan had had all of his life - but it was just hit or miss until he was finally able to do it," Russell explained. "Stan's taken off and gone with it. We continue to fly together, and he challenges me now. He really likes it - and I was enthused to be able to help him out. There's a lot of emotion, a lot of enthusiasm - it's been a lot of fun."

Some of Russell's enthusiasm has rubbed off on Ward, who is already mentoring a friend in Texas who recently started flying lessons. Ward is also studying to become a ground instructor.

Knowledge helps fulfill a dream

Jody Grigg of Boise, Idaho, became interested in flying at the age of 12, when he went flying with an uncle who owned a Beech A36 Bonanza. "I told my uncle, 'I want to fly - this is what I want to do.' He told me, 'Well, gee, Jody, you're a diabetic - you won't ever be able to fly.' I was crushed."

Grigg, who has been dependent on insulin since childhood, decided to make the best of the situation and started flying ultralights five years ago.

Meanwhile, he met Bruce Altig, a salesman who called on Grigg at the printing business where he worked. "As we were talking, Jody found out that I was a pilot," Altig recalled. "He said he'd never get to be one, but he was learning to fly ultralights."

Shortly after Altig took Grigg flying, he telephoned the aspiring pilot. "He told me he had just read an article in AOPA Pilot magazine about insulin-dependent diabetics - that they had changed the rule and would allow class three medical certification," Grigg said (see " Sweet Victory," January 1997 Pilot). Six months later, he had finished the required tests and completed the paperwork.

"Before I had the medical I started my flight training - in fact, I had to wait for the certification to come through before I could solo," he explained. "I soloed in an Aeronca Champ, with a stick. Before I soloed, my instructor asked me to demonstrate that I could check my glucose in the air [as required by the revised rule]. I was kind of nervous about that - but it worked out fine; it wasn't as difficult as I thought."

Grigg said that Altig was inspiring and very helpful, recommending several flight schools and instructors. "He introduced me to the people at his flying club, and I ended up joining." Grigg received his certificate in December 1998.

"We did a lot of flying together," Altig commented. "Jody went flying with me between his flying lessons." Altig shared videotapes with Grigg and helped him to master the information required for the knowledge exam. "We just talked airplanes for a year. Jody started his training in a tailwheel aircraft, which is what I was flying. Mastering landings was a bit of a challenge."

But Grigg would not have been able to meet that challenge if Altig hadn't noticed the article in AOPA Pilot. "My being able to fly was because of that article that Bruce told me about," Grigg said. "I attribute that to AOPA. Being able to fly is the most exciting, wonderful thing that's ever happened to me."

Distance not a hurdle

Distance shouldn't be an impediment to a successful Project Pilot experience - just ask mentor Michael Knight of Owensboro, Kentucky, and his nominee, Jon Arnett of Knoxville, Tennessee.

Knight, who received his private pilot certificate in February 1998, discussed the process with Arnett, a friend since childhood. "He'd ask me, 'How's the flying going?'" Knight explained. "Then, as I was finishing up, he started asking a lot of questions."

Arnett lives near Knoxville Downtown Island Airport, Knight continued. "I talked him into going down there and taking an introductory lesson, to see if he'd like it. I knew he would.

"Like a lot of students, when it came to actually getting the written [knowledge exam] done, he needed some reinforcement," Knight said. "We did a lot of quizzing and [practicing] questions and answers."

Arnett said that learning to fly is something that was "always in my head, but I had to work out the proper time to do it."

Their mentoring was accomplished through e-mail messages over the Internet, with a few phone calls for good measure. "It was a form of communication - and any time you can talk about flying, whether by e-mail, by phone, or in person, that's the key to it," Knight explained, adding that he thought his encouragement got somebody into aviation who otherwise wouldn't have been there.

"It helped out quite a bit to be able to talk to somebody who had been through it and was able to help me out," Arnett said. "We talked every day when I was doing my training. He'd ask me questions and I'd quiz him back, to verify what I'd learned."

Like many students, Arnett struggled with his first landings. "We talked some about technique, but mostly I was able to say, 'Yeah, I had trouble with that too,'" Knight said. "I'd keep on him - if he hadn't flown in a week, I'd tell him to get in the plane, and he would. He attacked it with a lot of enthusiasm and did really well."

Knight flew to Tennessee a couple of times while Arnett was training, and Arnett has flown to Kentucky a few times since earning his wings. "Flying has become an important part of our relationship," Knight observed.

Arnett enjoys flying so much that he's decided to pursue a career in aviation. He has been studying for the instrument rating knowledge exam, and he is getting ready to start work on his instrument flight training. "My goal is that within the next year, I'll have my commercial certificate, CFI, and CFII - that way I can find a good FBO, settle down, and earn my hours."

He also looks forward to introducing people to aviation. "I've got several friends here in Knoxville who are really starting to get excited about flying," Arnett said. "I've had the opportunity to take a couple of them flying myself. When they start flight training, I'll make sure to make myself available to them."

Links to additional information on AOPA Project Pilot may be found on AOPA Online ( www.aopa.org/pilot/links/links9908.shtml). E-mail the author at [email protected].