Here comes AFTA

AFTA is a training app—students and flight schools can access it via a web portal, and CFIs can access it via an iPad. It is a curriculum, but not just a curriculum—there’s much more interactivity between students and CFIs, and between CFIs and their flight schools.

Flight training is often a mystery for student pilots. They’re never sure what they’re supposed to be working on, what’s coming up next, and—most important—how they’re progressing along the road to a private pilot certificate.

AFTA is designed to remove that uncertainty by giving students access to each lesson. They’ll know what to expect and how to prepare for each flight, and they can instantly see how they’ve performed on each activity because they’re given a full, detailed lesson history. They can check their training progress and get access to tips, videos, and articles to help them master critical skills and concepts.

Flight instructors who use AFTA get fast lesson prep, in-cockpit grading, and instant access to all their student records. The program automatically assigns lesson elements based on student performance, but these can be modified on demand. They can take the iPad with them into the cockpit to see Airman Certification Standards and common errors as they grade maneuvers.

Sounds pretty good so far for students and CFIs, but what about what flight schools? What’s the benefit for you?

All the great tools and resources in AFTA will give you insight into your students’ progress and performance, and you’ll gain a better understanding of what happens during each lesson. You’ll also experience higher student completion rates, and enjoy increased customer and staff satisfaction.

The flight school owner’s portal will show you at a glance how many active students, new students, and instructors are working at any point in time. An overview gives you the total hours of flight time flown in a month. You’ll also know where your students are in their progress by stage (presolo, solo, and checkride prep). You can see your entire schedule, and you can view your own fleet data. That information can be exported if you want to create your own report.

AOPA’s You Can Fly did not roll this program out in a vacuum; students, flight instructors, and flight schools are already working with it—and reporting success.

“We are really enjoying the app,” said Sara Solesbee, a CFI with Stratos Aviation. “It makes my job as a CFI easier. It’s nice to have students see their progress and have a ‘finish line.’”

AFTA is free for flight schools and flight instructors. Students can sign up to get a free three-month trial, and then pay a monthly subscription fee. Details on how to register are available on the website. Get more information here.