And the winner is…you! At least that’s the plan behind the AOPA Flight Training Excellence Awards. By putting a spotlight on what we know really works, we hope to enhance the flight training experience for the thousands of individuals who elect to learn to fly every year.
So, just how did we get here? We started by getting frustrated—really frustrated.
All of us at AOPA spend a great deal of time and resources encouraging people to explore learning to fly. We’ve always known that people are fascinated by flying. And many people would like to become pilots. So why has the number of certificated pilots been steadily falling for decades?
One reason, we discovered, is that of those who actually made it to the airport, passed through the exploratory phase, and became “student pilots,” almost 80 percent dropped out of the training program before earning a pilot certificate. That’s right, 80 percent!
For almost two years now we’ve been studying in depth what’s happening. And after listening to hundreds and hundreds of people—some of whom became pilots and some who didn’t—we made an interesting discovery. We learned that there are more than 40 factors associated with a successful flight training experience. When most of those factors are present in a flight training program, the chance of earning a pilot certificate is pretty high. If those factors aren’t present, the chances of success are low.
We took our research findings and validated them in discussions with flight training organizations and instructors all over the country. Those conversations confirmed what we had learned. What kinds of things can make a difference? A clear curriculum, reliable aircraft, access to a flight simulator, and other fairly simple factors can make all the difference.
With the elements of a good program set out clearly, we knew we needed to share this information. We could have just published it—and we did (you can read our findings online). But we also wanted to do more.
The approach that proved most attractive is one used in management and in health care. The idea is to offer an award for institutions that best exemplify the model of flight training that works, based on our research. We examined the Baldrige Award in management as well as the work of the Leapfrog Group in health care.
We reached the conclusion that if we could not only share the data we uncovered, but also provide that information in ways that could be put to practical use by flight schools and students alike, we could change the training paradigm for the better. That’s why we’ve launched the AOPA Flight Training Excellence Awards, brought to you by Flight Training magazine.
You can go online right now and learn more. Even more important, you can go online right now and nominate a flight training program to receive this award. You’ll be asked to take a short survey about the key components in a successful flight training experience. If you act now, we’ll send you an AOPA Flight Training Excellence Award Challenge Coin. We hope you’ll show the coin to others, tell them that you accepted the challenge, and are serious about improving the flight training experience—for yourself, your friends, and every future pilot.
Go ahead. Take the survey. Nominate a school or instructor. And start making a difference today.
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