Preflight

What makes a good one?

The flight school where I first learned to fly was a relatively sleepy place, at least on weekdays when I normally flew. Located southeast of Raleigh, North Carolina, Triple W Airpark was a privately owned, public-use airport with a single paved runway. The flight school was run by the fixed-base operator (FBO), which had a cozy office where the coffee pot was almost always on and you could buy a hot dog or chili dog to supplement the "Nabs"-those packaged cheese crackers of an unusually orange color, first introduced by Nabisco-that you could buy from a snack machine. The flight line was home to two Cessna 152s and a 172 that were easy to schedule on weekdays but tended to stay very busy on weekends.

The people who ran the businesses were all friendly. Even if Ralph, the senior instructor, was in a grumpy mood, the airport dog could be counted on for a wag of the tail and a nuzzle. It's hard to remember, after all these years, how well the business side of things was run, but I don't recall much local advertising. People would find their way out to the airport and look around. However, on many occasions I directed people into the FBO to talk with one of the flight instructors. There were several other businesses in the vicinity, and it wasn't obvious which one might be the flight school. But I still have fond memories of the instructors who taught me there, of the scent of those Carolina pines that always seemed to be on the breeze, and of bad jokes heard-and told-while sitting on the well-worn plaid sofa in the lobby.

Today the airport's still there, but the flight school changed hands several times after I left the area, and finally closed. Later the maintenance shop shut down as well. A major flood several years ago no doubt contributed to its demise. The airport (5W5) is still in operation, but I understand that fuel is not available and that many of the hangars-once full of airplanes-now are home to cars, construction equipment, and other things. I suspect the AOPA's Airport Directory notation "Intensive flight training" is somewhat out of date. (Of course, even when I was flying there, it was unusual to have more than a couple airplanes in the pattern at any given time; three would have met the local definition for intensive.)

When I travel, I visit flight schools whenever I can, and I've seen a wide range of them. At some I'm greeted promptly and professionally. At others, I've felt like I was invisible-a receptionist, or perhaps a flight instructor, will be engaged in deep conversation with someone else (who doesn't always appear to be a paying customer) and barely acknowledges my arrival.

Some schools always seem to have a few students around, studying or just talking about flying before or after a lesson. They like being there and want to hang around. Others appear deserted, with customers arriving just in time to brief the lesson and beating feet as soon as they're finished. Can a flight school influence that behavior? An inviting environment, a personal computer for checking the weather or e-mails, or a simulator for training when the weather's bad could be all it takes. Some of the most engaged students I've seen were at an airport that hosted regular cookouts, and I don't think the free hamburgers were responsible.

What do you like the most about your flight school, and why? If your flight school-or flight instructor-could do one thing differently that would make your training more effective, more efficient, or more fun, what would it be? I'd appreciate your thoughts on these topics. Please send me an e-mail ([email protected]), and I'll share the results in a future issue.

I'd like to introduce Ian J. Twombly, formerly one of AOPA Flight Training's associate editors. Effective with this issue, he will be taking on a significant share of the magazine's editorial responsibilities as our new deputy editor.

Twombly is a flight instructor who also holds a commercial pilot certificate with single-engine land, multiengine land, and single-engine seaplane ratings. He earned his instructor certificate at a small local flight school while he was attending college in Florida, and taught there for a year in Cessna 152s and 172s. Then he went to Daniel Webster College in Nashua, New Hampshire, as a flight instructor, where he worked for a year in the highly structured Federal Aviation Regulations Part 141 environment. He enjoyed the challenging weather and long winter (see "Baby, It's Cold Outside,"), and had the opportunity to teach aerobatics and unusual-attitude recoveries. He continues to do a limited amount of instruction on the side.

Feel free to contact Twombly with story ideas or questions about the magazine ([email protected] ). I'm confident that you'll find him a valuable addition to our team.

Email Mike Collins, editor of AOPA Flight Training, at [email protected]