You Can Fly: Winning has its Rewards

“Our goal with the Flight Training Experience Survey is to provide schools with direct insight into what their customers are seeking,” said Chris Moser, AOPA director of the flight training initiative. The Flight Training Experience Survey and Awards are part of the AOPA You Can Fly program. Awards ensure the best flight training providers get the recognition they deserve.

Game changer

“The awards have been a game changer for Paragon Flight School,” said Chris Schoensee, director of the Fort Myers, Florida, flight school, which was recognized as the top flight school in 2014. “The awards add instant credibility to the Paragon brand; we have had dozens of new students come to Paragon specifically because we were awarded through the AOPA program.”

According to Bob Hepp, owner of Aviation Adventures in Manassas, Virginia, a winning school in 2013, “The award was exactly what we were looking for to differentiate ourselves by the best way possible—our customers. It has become a major part of our identity. Our instructors get recognized at aviation events and proudly wear their red shirt and red shoes.”

Moser refers to the program as a “customer service survey.” He says the Flight Training Experience Survey helps schools and instructors learn “what they should keep doing and where they can work to serve their customers in even better ways.” In 2016, AOPA added report cards to the awards. “We wanted to give schools and CFIs even more detailed feedback into both their strengths and potential areas for growth,” said Moser.

“We take the feedback cards extremely seriously because they come from our amazing clients,” said Schoensee. “Over the past two years the feedback cards have become an essential part of our strategic customer experience improvement plan. Honestly, we believe the feedback cards are more important than the awards themselves.”

Great reviews

Five awards will be presented this year in each category—school and CFI—for the West, Southwest, Midwest, Southeast, and Northeast regions. The awards are presented to flight schools and instructors who receive reviews from at least five students and receive 80 percent of the maximum score possible from at least 50 percent of their customers.

The Flight Training Experience Survey is conducted online (www.aopa.org/ftsurvey) and includes measures to prevent ballot stuffing. Individuals may nominate one school and one instructor. In 2016, reviews of 789 different schools and 1,515 different instructors were received.

“Instructors work long hours, sometimes with little appreciation,” added Kayla Harder, a top CFI in 2016. “This is a cool way for students to support their instructors and it might encourage some to stay in the industry longer, since instructing is often a temporary position.”

“The AOPA awards are one of the most beneficial programs to the flight training industry,” said Schoensee. “The awards not only raise positive public awareness and pride, they drive future pilots to schools and instructors who are the best in the industry.”

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