A look at what makes AOPA Project Pilot tick
First launched in 1994, this unique and highly successful program enlists you, our members, to recruit people to learn to fly. Project Pilot provides all of us who love to fly with a way to enthusiastically share our passion with others. For a dozen years, AOPA members have been successfully identifying adults who they feel have the interest, time, and money to begin flight lessons. AOPA Project Pilot gives experienced pilots a way to pass along their skills and knowledge. In the most important element of the program, members agree to become a mentor, providing support and encouragement through the journey of learning to fly.
Many of us talk with nonpilots about our own flying experiences. During these conversations, I have frequently discovered people with the time, resources, and interest, but often they just need encouragement and some information on how to take the first step. Think about it for a moment. Today, security signs and fences often become a barrier to the average person who might be seeking a flight school. As a mentor, you make it easy for a prospective student to learn about flying.
Once you make the commitment to mentor someone, AOPA e-mails the prospective pilot an invitation to join the program. When they accept, they receive a kit that includes a personal welcome letter from me, a copy of the newly created Invitation to Fly magazine, a DVD that outlines what they'll learn during flight training--and five more chapters, including a section to help explain it all to family and friends--and a free six-month subscription to AOPA Flight Training magazine. Your student also receives access to AOPA services, such as the members-only portions of both the Flight Training Web site and AOPA Online, plus access to our toll-free Pilot Information Center.
AOPA provides valuable materials to assist you with the important task of being a Mentor, which is quite different than being a flight instructor. Perhaps the greatest resource is the Project Pilot Web site, which offers a variety of information to help you be the best Mentor that you can be. As a bonus, for every student you enroll and Mentor, you receive two additional entries in the AOPA membership sweepstakes.
It wasn't until the early 1990s, when my wife decided to take flying lessons, that I really learned the value of being a Mentor. Throughout her experience with three flight instructors, when she wanted to quit on numerous occasions, I was there to pick up the pieces--not as a flight instructor, but as a friend and pilot who had been through the same emotional roller coaster. Since then she has proudly Mentored several people through the Project Pilot program herself; some of them have obtained advanced training and purchased airplanes.
One of the first was our neighbor. Jim had the intense interest, time, and discretionary income to take lessons. But a huge hurdle was encountered when he visited the local flight school to inquire about lessons. Jim was born with no right arm below the elbow. The flight school said that it could give him lessons, but the FAA would never approve him for a medical certificate. When Lois heard this, she turned to our AOPA Medical Certification department for advice, and Jim got the answers he needed.
I've personally mentored two dozen students over the years. The last student I mentored recently obtained his private pilot certificate, and I provided advice to him on buying his first airplane. I had as much fun reliving my similar first experience as he was having!
The stories from around the country are similar: "A friend of mine...indicated a willingness to serve as my Mentor. Thanks for moving me from thinking about it to doing it," wrote a new pilot from Connecticut. "The package I received from AOPA fired my enthusiasm," said a new pilot in Michigan.
The AOPA Project Pilot Mentor and student are a team, moving confidently in the same direction, with one goal in mind--ultimately gaining the student a pilot certificate. Share your passion for flying by serving as a Mentor to a new student pilot. The time is not right if you're just starting your own training; we don't want your Mentoring to distract you from your own goal. But if you have the finish line in sight, identify and sign up an interested new student today. It's just like the ad for one of the national home-improvement chains: "You can do it, we can help."
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