Phil Boyer has mentored several new pilots during his tenure as president of AOPA.
This month from the front cover and throughout AOPA Pilot magazine, attention has been brought to the new Project Pilot program being undertaken by your association. My personal involvement and commitment started as architect of the original program, with my mentoring several new students along the way. Most recently we commissioned research to help us understand who might be interested in learning to fly and where AOPA might place its resources. So, as you read through your magazine this month, be aware that substantial study has gone into the available market of "wannabe pilots" and what their characteristics, motivations, and fears might be.
Late last year we contracted an outside firm to update a study that the industry undertook 10 years ago in preparing for the Be A Pilot program, which over the past decade has been largely responsible for arresting the decline of student starts. However, the program has been on the decline with waning industry financial support. Our new research had several objectives: Determine the size of the interested population; understand the characteristics of people with an interest in learning to fly and the changes that have taken place since these matters were last studied; and identify approaches that would facilitate interested people becoming pilots. We talked to almost 6,000 adults between the ages of 25 and 60 who were not current pilots or students. And, as many of you have correctly pointed out, the cost of flying is an issue not to be ignored by those of us who currently fly, or those who might think of joining our ranks. Therefore, we interviewed by zip codes people in the top 10 percent of income for each state. Because not every man or woman on the street is a candidate for mentoring, or learning to fly, we appropriately titled the survey "Needle in a Haystack."
What we found was there are more than 3 million Americans in this demographic who answered they would be "very interested" or "somewhat interested" in learning to fly. That's not an insignificant number, and it provides AOPA members ample opportunity to find their needles in the haystack who are friends, relatives, or business associates. The most likely individuals are married with children and fall between the ages of 40 and 49. They have an annual income of more than $100,000, they are college educated, and almost a third are self-employed. This would indicate a possible business use for flying after getting their ticket. Our research should be helpful when you look at the characteristics of a person you might enroll in Project Pilot and when you become his or her Mentor. Those most interested in flying are described as take-charge, professionally successful, extroverted, and intelligent. They describe themselves as eager to learn, reliable, independent, and hard working. As would be expected, these people are heavy users of the Internet, which is the reason our new program is heavily Web based. (See the new site at: www.AOPAProjectPilot.org.)
Comparing these results to those of 10 years ago, the primary reasons people want to learn to fly have remained constant: "always wanted to," "fun," "challenge," and "adventure."
You support your association whenever there is an acknowledged and targeted need for letter-writing campaigns, e-mails, financial support, whatever the need. That is why when we looked at our greatest asset, members, you became the key to taking action to address the shrinking pilot population and ensure that there is a general aviation around in the future when today's Young Eagles and others have the time and dollars to take the flying lessons they dream of taking. In our survey 44 percent of respondents state they would be influenced by a friend or relative, and almost 80 percent know someone who is a pilot. This supports our Mentor concept with a need for reliance on local support and resources. Current prospects don't spend time now looking into flying lessons, and are not well informed on the basics of what it would take. But when presented with the costs and the time it takes, prospects are pleasantly surprised by the reality.
There are many barriers to motivating someone to learn to fly. But it appears quite clear that the premise of the new AOPA Project Pilot program, providing solid information and having a Mentor, does address the needs of today's significant population of those interested in learning to fly.
If not now, when? After the pilot population shrinks to such a small special interest group that we lose our clout on Capitol Hill? If not your association, then who? Trying to get aviation associations and businesses together over the past three decades has proven short-lived and time consuming. Consider this just as you consider other calls to action from AOPA, and help GA by finding at least one "needle in a haystack."
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