We need more than just instructors
As of this writing I've heard from a couple hundred certificated flight instructors and aspiring CFIs. In May I wrote about the shortage of instructors currently being experienced at some flight schools. To recap, there are many CFIs who keep their instructor certificates current even though they're not actively teaching. What will entice some of these instructors back into the work force?
The shortage of instructors has led a few flight schools to offer their instructors better pay and benefits. And from the e-mails that I'm still receiving, it's clear that approach is appealing--both to current flight instructors and to pilots interested in becoming CFIs. Many currently inactive instructors out there look forward to teaching, full- or part-time, as soon as they retire from their current jobs (and some were planning to do so soon). Personally, I'm very encouraged--and excited--about the number of pilots who do not yet hold a flight instructor certificate and want to earn one, so that they can begin second careers sharing their passion for flight with others.
Even more encouraging to me is the fact that since the May column was printed, I've heard from a couple more flight schools that have decided to provide their instructors with better pay and benefits. I believe this change will allow these schools to hire enthusiastic instructors who are passionate about aviation--and keep them on the payroll longer than they might otherwise. The CFIs and prospective instructors with whom I've been trading e-mails, as you would expect, are encouraged by the possibility of earning a living wage in exchange for their teaching.
What else can we do as an industry? First, we need to continue working to attract and retain students. AOPA is launching a new outreach that will encourage people to learn to fly (see "President's Perspective: Discover Flying," p. 4).
It's equally important that flight schools and instructors treat prospective customers courteously and professionally. Sometimes we're our own worst enemy when it comes to customer service. Flight instructors, flip back to our Instructor Report section and read Ralph Hood's column, "Professionally Speaking: Customer Service" (p. 67). I hope you don't see your flight school--or yourself--in his words. If you do, consider this a call to action. Changing the customer experience he describes won't necessarily be easy, but it doesn't need to be expensive, either. Hood's column appears in the magazine almost every month, as it has for years, and a flight instructor who reads it regularly will be ahead of his or her peers in the area of customer-service awareness.
Don't believe it? Let me relate portions of a letter AOPA recently received from a frustrated student pilot.
"I've just spent thousands of dollars for nothing! Let me tell you about the part of the story you people never talk about. Last September I got really excited about wanting to learn to fly, so I found a school and swallowed the sales pitch. I was turned over to probably the best CFI in the country. Got halfway through the training and I was so happy until the owner of the school started treating me like I was a 10-year-old kid.
"I finally quit the school and went down the street to another school, and asked for an evaluation of my skills. The young CFI put me through my paces and said I had done really well. I was then turned over to another instructor, and I told him I was a fair-weather kind of flyer and didn't like high winds or bad weather.
"To shorten the story I was listed to fly yesterday. The airport winds were 19 knots gusting to 23 knots. My instructor said to me, 'When I'm in the plane who is the pilot in command?' I replied, 'You are.' He said, 'Who says go or no-go?' I replied that I do--it's my life and my money. I was immediately told he couldn't work with me and I was dismissed from the school."
Of course, we're only hearing one side of this story, and we don't know the student's skill level or how far he had progressed in training. And we must recognize that the instructor is obligated to teach his students how to fly safely in the wide variety of conditions they may encounter. Nevertheless, it appears that this student could have been treated more professionally.
Students, what do you like the best about your training experience? How does your flight school keep you coming back? Instructors, how do you strive to treat your students? I'd appreciate your comments on what you believe is working in your flight-training experience. A healthy discussion will help to improve the process for everyone.
E-mail Mike Collins, editor of AOPA Flight Training, at [email protected].
