Got Students?

July 5, 2002 By Rod Machado

I have a suggestion for those who want to teach more students: participate in the FAA's aviation safety program. This is one of the very big secrets I learned long ago, and it helped me to dramatically increase my student base. Several of our sharpest instructors still do this, and their instruction schedule is always full. Yours can be too. Here's one way to do it.

Start by contacting your local FAA Aviation Safety Program manager and express an interest to participating in these safety programs. Offer to help in any way you can, from posting brochures to volunteering to help park aircraft. Then show up and participate. Get the feel for these programs and start thinking about the type of educational program you could do. Once you've learned the ropes, offer to do a safety program on a topic that you and the aviation safety specialist feel would be of interest to local pilots.

How do you go about creating such a program? If you don't have any original material, then find some well-respected people in aviation and ask them for their best bit of advice on the topic that you want to present. For instance, if your program is on preventing runway incursions, ask others with experience how they keep from stumbling onto a runway. Many experienced pilots enjoy sharing their wisdom. Ask for permission to quote them. Now, with quotes in hand, create a program based on this advice. For the program to be a success, you probably wouldn't need to do much more than present and discuss each tip.

What do you get in return? Exposure. Pilots get to know you and you get to know them. Because you've handed out your business cards and mentioned your Web address, it won't be long before you have people calling you for training.

Rod Machado

Rod Machado is a flight instructor, author, educator, and speaker.

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Got Students?

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