2017 Flight Training Experience Awards

In the sometimes overwhelming experience of learning to fly, flight instructors and flight schools are your guides. The best not only train capable aviators, but also set the tone for their students’ entire aviation experience. Quality instruction, customer focus, a strong sense of community, and transparency about the flight training process can mean the difference between deferring a dream and pressing on to become a pilot.

In the pages that follow, you’ll meet flight training providers who take struggling students and train them to exacting standards, and who see potential their students didn’t even see in themselves. These are the best flight training providers in the country, as measured by their students. These are the winners of AOPA’s Flight Training Experience Awards.

The AOPA Flight Training Experience Survey and Awards are part of the You Can Fly program, a set of initiatives designed to get people flying and keep them flying. Winners are chosen based on feedback from thousands of students in a survey based on AOPA’s extensive research into the optimal flight training experience.

Awards are granted in two categories: flight instructor and flight school. High-scoring flight training providers are recognized as distinguished schools and instructors, and regional winners were selected for each category in each of five regions. The National Best Flight School and National Best Flight Instructor were selected from the regional winners. Congratulations to all the schools and instructors, and be on the lookout for the 2018 poll, which will be released later this year.