President's Perspective

You can share your dream of flight

If you're like most readers, the primary reason you're learning to fly is because you've had an intense desire to become a pilot for many years. You may have other reasons, too; perhaps you want to be able to fly because of the utility that general aviation transportation can offer to your family, or the convenience it can bring to your career, or maybe you're interested in becoming a professional pilot. Yet, years of AOPA research and my personal experience both indicate that in addition to these practical considerations, you have an underlying passion for flight--it's something you've always wanted to do.

Unfortunately, fewer people who share your passion are making their way to the airport. As I mentioned last month (see "President's Perspective: Ideas, Please," June 2008 AOPA Flight Training), the U.S. pilot population has dropped below 600,000 for the first time since 1966--and it's still declining. I asked that you take five minutes to complete a short online survey designed to capture your ideas and opinions on how AOPA might address the problem.

I have to tell you that I've been amazed at your response. We received more than 6,000 survey responses and literally hundreds of e-mails and letters. If yours is among these, I can't thank you enough. Many of your suggestions reinforced plans that already were under way at AOPA, and there were a lot of ideas we hadn't considered.

You told us loud and clear that the best way to get someone interested in learning to fly is to take that person up for a flight--and to explain what you can do with a pilot certificate once you earn it. Nonpilots just aren't aware of the practical benefits. In addition to the romance of flying, it can be a means to an end, whether that's personal transportation, business flying, or a career. Over the coming months, AOPA staff and I will continue to review and prioritize your ideas.

Young people move around the Internet differently than most adults--I only have to talk with my grandsons to be reminded of that. Have you heard of Facebook, MySpace, or the term social networking? A social network in the online world is the structure connecting an individual's content page (or, in some cases, an organization's) with those of others who share the same interest. One person can have many areas of interest, each of which can connect, or link, to countless related sites. As you might imagine, these structures can become pretty complex. Facebook and MySpace are two huge social networks that are especially popular among younger people.

We're working to leverage this phenomena and communicate our message in a way that's appropriate to that audience. For example, AOPA has a profile on the popular social network site Facebook. If you are a member, search for AOPA--you'll find a half-dozen pages related to the association. One of them is an "official" AOPA profile, and another belongs to AOPA Project Pilot, created to help encourage people to learn to fly. The others were created by individuals who share your passion for flight. And that's the wonder of these social networking sites; could there be anything better than enthusiastic pilots and student pilots, promoting the concept of flying to their peers? That's the kind of advertising money can't buy.

Project Pilot also has a profile on MySpace, where you'll find several video clips hosted on the popular video-sharing site YouTube.com. Many of them are of student pilots; in their own words, they talk about their passion for flying and experiences in learning to fly.

The number of online videos about the topics of learning to fly and GA are almost mind-boggling. Of course, some are far better than others, but a search of YouTube.com for "AOPA" turns up more than 100 clips. You may even find clips of television news programs--or even NBC's Today Show--on which enthusiastic reporters share their introductory flight experiences with their audiences. Students will find it refreshing to know that there are hundreds of positive stories out there about learning to fly, both in the traditional electronic media and on the Internet's social networks.

Many people are also using the Internet to establish "meet-ups," informal gatherings of people with like interests who never would have found each other without the Web. The organizer of one such meet-up brought a half-dozen students and prospects to my recent Pilot Town Meeting and Invitation to Fly seminar in Chicago. These take "hangar flying" to a whole new level.

Check out some of these online resources--and if you're into social networking, be sure to share your passion for flying with your friends. Some may be surprised to know what you've been up to--and a few may ask you how you got started, because they too may be holding tightly to that dream of flight.