All for you

Photography by Richard Morganstein

San Carlos Flight Center’s slogan is “Safety—Community—Adventure.” While it strives to place equal emphasis on all three of those standards, SCFC might as well trademark the “community” part. Offering everything from fly-outs to barbecues to support groups for student pilots, the flight school puts out the welcome mat in innovative ways. That emphasis on community is one of many reasons why SCFC was named Best Flight School in the 2013 Flight Training Excellence Awards.

“If somebody comes by the office, it should be like stopping by your buddy’s house,” says Dan Dyer, owner and chief flight instructor. He founded SCFC at California’s San Carlos Airport in 2012, starting with one airplane, one staff flight instructor, and a half-dozen clients. Twenty months later, SCFC has 14 aircraft; three simulators; three staff instructors and another 23 independent CFIs on call; four line employees; and a receptionist. The six or so clients mushroomed to about 175.

Yet, even as the Part 61 flight school expanded, SCFC never lost sight of its community. For example, even though the school uses an online scheduling system, Dyer still wanted a friendly face at the front desk as a first point of contact.“The connection is key,” Dyer says. “Somebody has to walk in and say, ‘Hey, Bob, how was your flight to Monterey last week?’”

The club model. SCFC is a for-profit flight school that utilizes a membership model widely practiced among flight schools in the San Francisco Bay area. Customers pay a monthly fee in addition to hourly aircraft rental and flight instructor charges. Depending on the flight school, they may or may not receive additional benefits for their membership fee—and they may belong to multiple clubs so that they can rent and fly out of different airports.

SCFC offers two levels of membership. The base ($20/month) yields access to members-only events, web streaming of safety seminars, and unlimited use of the school’s office areas for Internet use, weather briefings, or flight planning, plus discounts on merchandise and certain training events. The next level ($40/month) includes those benefits plus discounts on aircraft and simulator rentals, access to the school’s online flight scheduling system, and ability to act as pilot in command of a SCFC aircraft following a checkout. Dyer likens the membership levels to Netflix.

“We run it as a club,” he says. “I think that’s what pilots want to be a part of. Even pilots who own their own airplane want to be part of a club. Being a pilot is a solitary responsibility, and yet it’s so much fun to be alone in that responsibility with a bunch of people. When you can bring a bunch of lone wolves together, it’s an exciting energy.”

All hands on deck. That energy extends throughout the organization. SCFC’s schedule is bursting with events—safety seminars, fly-outs, support groups, and more (see “Seminars Like Nobody Else,” page 36). And, in true club fashion, Dyer and his staff invite all to become involved in SCFC’s many programs in whatever capacity they choose.

“What drew me initially was [Dyer’s] enthusiasm,” says Herb Patten, a club member who joined SCFC after earning his private pilot certificate at another flight school. “He’s got such an attitude of ‘Let’s just do this!’ Every day he would eat, think, and dream how to be the best flight school, offer the best flight-line experience, and the best ground-school experience.”

Now working on a flight instructor certificate, Patten belongs to a committee that administers a flight training scholarship and, because he loves teaching, has begun to assist Dyer with ground school classes. He appreciates the camaraderie, too. “I like walking into a flight club where either I feel like I know everyone, or if I don’t know someone, I feel like I can strike up a conversation with them. It seems like it’s encouraged here.”

Lisa Dyball joined SCFC’s roster of independent flight instructors in 2012. While she has teaching privileges at other flight schools, she estimates that she spends about 95 percent of her time at SCFC.

“The big thing is the community of flying [that] is one of the core values that Dan has brought into aviation,” Dyball says. “Other flight schools might just be rental centers or have some kind of social events here and there, but Dan tries to make aviation an opportunity for other people to build on their skills and explore the world.”

The member experience. Beyond the friendly atmosphere at SCFC is a level of customer service that Dyer and his staff refine continuously. As an example, line service workers coordinate maintenance, fuel, and reposition aircraft—as well as keep them spotless for the next person on the schedule—and shuttle pilots to their airplanes in a golf cart named Flighty.

There’s never a hard sell of products or services—in fact, SCFC doesn’t even have a pilot shop because there’s already one at the main airport terminal.

Dyer says he is a fan of Disney and its ability to manage the customer experience at its theme parks. He flew his staff to Disneyland for two days of customer service training. “We spent a lot of time talking about what is good customer service and what’s not,” he says, and they brought back ideas that they could incorporate at SCFC.

Marketing for the long haul.Dyer believes in marketing and brand awareness. He works with Terry Fiala, a marketing and events manager, to ensure that SCFC’s website, advertising materials, and newsletter perpetuate the school’s image in a consistent fashion. “We see that as a way of communicating the way we want things to be: professional, respectful, but let’s not forget how fun this is,” Fiala says.

SCFC had a marketing intern in 2013, and Dyers says he’ll look for another one this year. He invests in things like branded merchandise and aerial tour advertisements placed in hotel lobby kiosks.

“It took a long time before the first referral came off those cards,” Dyer says. “We could have pulled the plug on it after six months, but awareness building is a long-term game and you just have to stick it out.” He equates marketing to mining for gold: “It’s nothing, nothing, nothing, and then you hit a nugget. If we build the brand and the culture, it will be easier for people to find us, since it’s hard for us to find them.”

SCFC Facts

Launch date: March 2012

Number of members: 175

Aircraft: 14

Instructors: 23 (20 independent; three staff)

Line personnel: Four