You Can Fly: Top schools, instructors earn 2018 Flight Training Experience Awards

Take Flight Aviation of Orange County Airport, and Blue Skies Flying Services flight instructor Mike Biewenga from The Lake in the Hills Airport in Illinois, received their awards October 10 at the Redbird Migration Flight Training Conference, held at the AOPA You Can Fly Academy in Frederick, Maryland.

Take Flight’s trophy shelf is getting crowded. The Montgomery, New York-based training center was honored twice previously—in 2017 as AOPA Best Flight School in the Northeast, and in 2016 as a President’s Choice win. Cofounders Ryan Mayo and Chris Graessle teach New York City students to fly from the nontowered general aviation airfield a short drive from the big city. They primarily use newer Diamond aircraft and counted “culture, organization, and updating the fleet” as keys to their success. Mayo previously told AOPA that Diamond’s pilot-friendly lineup made it easier for pilots to “see themselves picking a travel destination and embracing GA to get there.”

Gold Seal Flight Instructor Biewenga of Blue Skies Flying Services learned to fly in 1993. The former airport engineer said he realized “flying was a lot more fun” than engineering and made the switch to the cockpit.

He began teaching about five years ago and said aviation essentially “sells itself” to new students. He added that sharing his passion of flight was challenging but rewarding. The school is at the nontowered Lake in the Hills airport, near Chicago-O’Hare International Airport.

Students complimented Biewenga’s dedication, professionalism, knowledge, preparation, and “uncompromising high standards.” They added that he was a “consummate professional pilot” with an “unbelievable work ethic.”

The 2018 Flight Training Experience Survey received 6,310 complete responses. From that feedback, 954 flight schools and 1,849 flight instructors were reviewed by their customers. Awards were chosen for standout schools and for instructors with at least five independent reviews and consistently superior ratings. Customers highlighted educational quality, customer service, information sharing, and community among the 78 distinguished flight schools and 123 distinguished instructors. A committee of industry experts awarded the top-scoring flight school and instructor in each of five regions—West, Southwest, Midwest, Southeast, and Northeast. The national award winners were selected from among the regional honorees.

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Web: www.aopa.org/flighttrainingsurvey

Red Bull racer Goulian inspires at Migration

Red Bull Air Race World Championship points leader Michael Goulian, hot off his Indianapolis Motor Speedway win, reminded Redbird Migration flight instruction professionals that they were “setting the hook” for future aviators.

Goulian drew comparisons between air racing and flight instruction during the opening keynote for a two-day learning seminar at the AOPA You Can Fly Academy in Frederick, Maryland.

The airshow pilot and AOPA member said he never forgot his roots as a flight instructor. He added that a positive attitude, confidence, preparation, and teamwork were the keys to his competitive success and the secrets to an effective learning experience for students. “That magic just works miracles with students,” he told the 350 flight instructors, aviation educators, and college teachers who participated in the eighth annual conference.

He emphasized that teaching others provided him with an expectation for excellence that he carried over to racing. “I want to be the best, the guy who gave 110 percent and left nothing behind.” Goulian said racing taught him that to be successful you had to “want it more than the person next to you,” and recalled that “dreams do come true. Never, ever, did I think I would roll my little airplane down the track at Indy Speedway like [legendary Indianapolis race car driver] A.J. Foyt.”

“Remember, flying is a dream for a lot of people,” he said. “Our students want to fly with someone who is confident, and we have to inspire trust and faith in them.”

After a social hour that saw knots of instructors exchanging ideas and making new acquaintances, Redbird Migration director Craig Fuller welcomed the educators, telling them they were “the best,” and noting that aviation careers “look better now than they did five or 10 years ago. The rest of the world finally realizes that, ‘Yes, we do have a pilot shortage,’” he said.

Flight instructors participated in 16 breakout sessions on everything from maximizing use of a Redbird flight simulator to customer service protocols, mixed reality training, marketing, and flying clubs.

A signature event was the Redbird Challenge aviation triathlon where teams competed in an airplane and airport trivia quiz, a paper airplane golf tournament, and a “blind landing.” Conference rooms and hallways at the AOPA You Can Fly Academy were packed with enthusiastic instructors as they strategized for superiority while red paper airplanes flew toward the “pins” nearby.

Redbird President and COO Charlie Gregoire was enthusiastic about the turnout. He credited AOPA’s You Can Fly facility and the economy for the large turnout, which was “about twice” the number of professionals registered for the 2017 event held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

There are plans to move the seminar around the country to “keep it fresh” and to expose more flight instructors to its benefits and to the camaraderie they share. Gregoire said 2019 Redbird Migration will be October 15 to 17 at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum at Denver’s Centennial Airport.

“We’ve never charged for registration and we feel this [Migration] makes flight schools better, so it’s good for the entire industry,” he added. “Every one of the people that show up for this conference sees a value in it and I think that’s great.” —David Tulis

AOPA’S You Can Fly program supports flying clubs, encourages best practices in flight training, gets lapsed pilots back in the air, brings AOPA’s resources and expertise to pilot groups across the country, and helps high school students learn more about careers in aviation. The You Can Fly program is entirely funded by charitable donations to the AOPA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization. Web: https://youcanfly.aopa.org