Flight Training - December 2013 - 15

NEWS

Flight Training award winners named
You told us about your flight training experiences and now the results are in
AOPA HONORED 12 top flight
training professionals and 11
flight schools as the big winners in its annual AOPA Flight
Training Excellence Awards.
The top winner in each category was announced at AOPA
Aviation Summit.
The top winners are Conor
Dancy of Aviation Adventures
in Manassas, Virginia, for Best
Flight Instructor, and the San
Carlos Flight Center in San
Carlos, California, as Best
Flight School (it is owned by
Dan Dyer).  
The awards were selected
from 3,375 respondents who

reviewed their flight training
experience through an online
poll. The process yielded an
evaluation of 508 different
flight schools and 956 individual flight instructors.
"It was clear from the
customer reviews that every
one of these schools and
instructors are operating at
an outstanding level of quality
and service," said Shannon
Yeager, vice president of
AOPA's Center to Advance the
Pilot Community.
To select the award winners,
AOPA invited those who have
taken flight training within the

past 24 months to complete
the Flight Training Excellence
Poll. Each participant could
nominate no more than one
flight school and one flight
instructor.
The online poll was
conducted from April 10 to
August 9, in a process that
contains several safeguards
to ensure fair competition. It
consisted of 39 survey questions designed to measure
the overall performance of a
flight school or flight instructor through the customer's
eyes. The results were scored
and averaged. Four questions

BEST FLIGHT SCHOOL
SAN CARLOS FLIGHT CENTER
San Carlos Airport, San Carlos, California   

BEST FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR
CONOR DANCY
Leesburg Executive Airport, Virginia

OUTSTANDING FLIGHT SCHOOLS
AVIATION ADVENTURES
Manassas Regional Airport,
Manassas, Virginia
PANORAMA FLIGHT SERVICES INC.
Westchester County Airport,
White Plains, New York
ROCHESTER AVIATION
Skyhaven Airport,
Rochester, New Hampshire
RIVERSIDE FLIGHT ACADEMY
Riverside Municipal Airport,
Riverside, California
SPORTY'S FLIGHT CENTER
Clermont County Airport,
Batavia, Ohio
SUMMIT AVIATION, INC.
Bozeman Yellowstone International
Airport, Bozeman, Montana
THE FLIGHT SCHOOL, INC.
Weiser Air Park, Cypress, Texas

OUTSTANDING FLIGHT INSTRUCTORS
DILEEP ANNE
Front Range Airport, Watkins, Colorado
RAY DE HAAN
Leesburg Executive Airport, Virginia
KELBY FERWERDA
Skyhaven Airport, Rochester,
New Hampshire
ERIC FLORENCE 
Warrenton-Fauquier Airport, Virginia
CHRISTOPHER FREEZE
Metropolitan Oakland International
Airport, Oakland, California
MICHAEL GILBERT
Leesburg Executive Airport, Virginia
BOB HEPP
Manassas Regional Airport, Virginia
RANDALL HOLLIDAY
Bozeman Yellowstone International
Airport, Bozeman, Montana
ROBERT KELETI 
Republic Airport,
East Farmingdale, New York
BUCHANAN SMITH
Leesburg Executive Airport, Virginia
BRENT TUCHLER
Manassas Regional Airport, Virginia

that required free response
answers were scored by AOPA
employee-panelists who were
unaware of the identity of the
school or instructor.
AOPA also released an
honor roll of 87 flight schools
and 69 flight instructors, all
of which demonstrated a high
standard of accomplishment
by achieving an average score
of 70 percent or more.
Find them online (http://
flighttraining.aopa.org/honor
roll). You can read more
about the winners in an
upcoming issue of Flight
Training.

VALLEY AVIATION, WILKES-BARRE
Wilkes-Barre Wyoming Valley Airport,
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
WESTERN AIR FLIGHT ACADEMY
Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport,
Broomfield, Colorado
WORCESTER REGIONAL FLIGHT ACADEMY
Worcester Regional Airport,
Worcester, Massachusetts

CONOR DANCY accepts the Best Flight Instructor of the
Year award from AOPA's Brittney Miculka and President
Mark Baker.

DAN DYER, owner of San Carlos Flight Center, accepts the
Best Flight School of the Year award from AOPA President
Mark Baker.

DECEMBER 2013 FLIGHT TRAINING

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Flight Training - December 2013

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