Rusty Pilots rewards
Flight schools are encouraged to sponsor the AOPA Rusty Pilots initiative in their geographic region. The program motto is “Once a Pilot, Always a Pilot” and it brings a new group of pilots to your flight school. It is also rewarding to see pilots get back into flying. Involvement in the Rusty Pilots program can be very rewarding.
In 2019, our flight school conducted a Rusty Pilots course with 26 attendees. I recently received a text message from Kelly Jensen, one of the attendees. He was one of the participants with an ATP certificate. His initial ambition was to become an airline pilot. He completed his training, built up his flight time and experience, and was hired by SkyWest Airlines. However, his airline career did not fit his needs as a family man, and he moved into another career. Then with the family raised he saw the Rusty Pilots program advertised.
After the Saturday ground school and several great flights to reacquire his flying skills, I did not hear from him until his text message, which with his approval his printed below.
Ed,
I wanted to reach out and thank you for your help with my return to flying three years ago! You helped me with the rusty pilot program and solo endorsement there after about 3 ½ years ago. I returned to flying with SkyWest Airlines and just recently upgraded to captain. I wanted to thank you for helping me reach my goal! Have a great day!
Kelly Jensen
This just reiterates the rewards that those of us involved in flight training and AOPA programs like Rusty Pilots receive and often go unspoken. These kinds of rewards bring positive feeling toward our business and community opinion. Just think about talk that occurs among both young and old pilots saying things like this: “I got back into flying because Troposphere Flight School offered the AOPA Rusty Pilots course.” Such a comment makes a wonderful recommendation for that flight school. Word-of-mouth advertising is another reward that comes from participating in the AOPA Rusty Pilots program.
It should be noted that the participants of the 2019 Rusty Pilots course included four people with ATP certificates, and we have not heard from the other three pilots. Few people report back to us with their success stories. But, rest assured, providing an on-site Rusty Pilots course stirs a lot of discussion about your flight school.
Learn more about AOPA’s Rusty Pilots initiative at the website. In addition to support for flight schools, pilots can take a self-guided online course or a webinar.
