AOPA ANNOUNCES 2019 FLIGHT TRAINING EXPERIENCE WINNERS

AeroVenture Flight Center from Mansfield, Massachusetts took home top honors as the best overall flight school and also the winner from the Eastern Region. Christopher Kreske, the owner of MIL2ATP flight school in Goldsboro, North Carolina, was the winner in the national certificated flight instructor (CFI) category and also the winner from the Southern Region.

Regional winners in both the flight school and CFI categories were honored for providing a high level of service to their customers, based on responses to the 2019 Flight Training Experience Survey. The 2019 survey, garnered nearly 8,000 submissions, including 1,876 recommendations for top CFIs and 972 for best flight school.

Since 2012, AOPA has requested feedback from recent student pilots and pilots who have received instruction within the past year about their experiences and the quality of instruction from their flight school and CFI. After analyzing the survey results, outstanding individual aviation educators and flight-training businesses are honored. AOPA also uses the data from the survey to provide “report cards” to flight schools and CFIs to help schools and instructors understand their strengths, as well as opportunities for improvement.

These awards are a great opportunity to recognize the business acumen required to be a successful industry leader,” said AOPA’s Executive Director of You Can Fly, Elizabeth Tennyson. “These winners are responsible for molding the next generation of pilots, and it’s rewarding to see aviation leaders dedicated to delivering excellent training and setting an outstanding example for new and future pilots,” said Tennyson.

Based on AOPA’s extensive research, the Flight Training Experience Survey considers four key factors of an optimum flight-training experience: educational quality; focus on the customer; community; and information sharing.

The Flight Training Experience Survey and Awards are part of You Can Fly, AOPA’s umbrella program to support flying clubs, encourage best practices in flight training, get lapsed pilots back in the air, bring AOPA's resources and expertise to pilot groups across the country, and to help high school students learn more about careers in aviation.

The AOPA You Can Fly program is entirely funded by charitable donations to the AOPA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization. Visit the website to learn more about supporting You Can Fly.

To get the entire list AOPA’s 2019 Flight Training Experience winners, read AOPA’s story. See aopa.org/FTEawards