What an AOPA Flight Training Experience Award can do for you

The process is easy. Whether you’re a flight instructor or a flight school, submit your application. Once that’s done, you receive a link to share with customers and colleagues you’ve worked with in the past 12 months to gather feedback. After the application window closes, applicants receive a summary—the customer feedback report—also known as the “report card” with the comments.

Award recipients are selected by a panel of industry experts. The identity of the school or instructor is withheld from the panel.

What’s in it for you? In general, everyone can learn from the award winners and emulate their strategies and experiences, thereby improving student retention and decreasing the dropout rate.

Here’s what past winners have to say.

Bob Garity, whose NoVA Pilots flight school at Leesburg Executive Airport in Leesburg, Virginia, was awarded Best Flight School—National, said he was blown away by the award and couldn’t believe his small flight school would be honored nationally. He attributes his success to newer aircraft and highly experienced, dedicated, “seasoned instructors,” some with military backgrounds, who stayed with the school and allowed students to train without frequently having to change instructors.

Garity said reading the report cards was a humbling experience because of the many positive things people had to say. Most praised the instructors, their availability and consistency, the well-kept aircraft, the personal care students experienced, and the feeling of community at the small facility.

The award-winning flight school eventually caught the attention of Kuhn Aviation, the FBO on field with plans to expand into flight training. On May 3, Garity announced that Kuhn had acquired NoVA Pilots and said that “together, we will grow into a significantly larger, more comprehensive flight training center.” He’s now a full-time instructor there.

Tiziano Bernard from Pooler, Georgia, was awarded Best Instructor – National for the second year in a row. “The AOPA awards definitely put me on the map. … From being a well-known flight test engineer I became a well-known pilot.” He echoed Garity’s feelings when he said, “I was touched to read some of the comments [on the report cards] that mentioned I was like a big brother to some of my students.” Most highlighted his approachability, availability, and personal attention and mentorship. Not being one to toot his own horn, Bernard said, “I’m not the type of person that will openly mention the awards to a prospective student, but when my manager does, it tends to reassure the student and the family that my intentions are honorable and professional.” 

Flight schools or instructors that do not necessarily want to go through the process of applying for an award can still profit from the report card system and gather customer feedback by selecting “customer feedback report only” when starting the application. Who wouldn’t want to learn about ways to improve and/or continue to do what works?

Look for details on the website.