Flight Training - March 2015 - 45

The meeting, called 7/7 because it's
held at 7 a.m. on the seventh day of each
month, is led by Chief Flight Instructor
Jeffrey Wolf and Paragon Flight CEO
Chris Schoensee. They brief the instructor corps on news of the day, including
a small increase in aircraft rental fees-
some of which will flow into instructors'
pockets. Schoensee and Wolf invite questions, and they listen. "We always have an
open door, but we also try to have a full
staff meeting," Schoensee says. "7/7 is a
communications meeting. Communication is so important-with our clients, and
between coworkers."
If there is an overarching theme to that
emphasis on communicating, it is customer service. "We live, eat, and breathe
customer service. We want our instructors to have great relationships with their
clients. Our culture is always focusing on
giving customers the best experience possible," Schoensee says.
Paragon concentrates on training
individuals rather than pursuing prepaid
ab initio professional-pilot training contracts, usually for foreign students, which
is common throughout Florida. "Our
business model is superb one-on-one
training," Schoensee says.
"Most of our clients are not career-oriented pilots," Wolf explains. "They enjoy
flying for fun. They are successful people.
Many are business owners. They can see it
when someone is not treating customers
well. They can go anywhere they want to
get training, so if they are not enjoying it
here, they will leave."
Paragon instructors use a defined,
structured approach to training that covers what to do when the student walks in
the door, while preflighting, when in the
air, and the postflight debrief, according to Wolf. "It's all very organized."
Several times a week Assistant Chief
Flight Instructor Kelsey Mulloy hops on
a training flight as a back-seat observer
"to make sure the instructor is drinking
the Kool-Aid, doing it the way we want it
done," Wolf says.
A handful of Paragon's 12 full-time
instructors are home grown, having started
there as primary students. "I like that
because we can teach them the way we

like them to teach," Wolf says. "It's hard to
reverse bad habits developed elsewhere."
The good habits Wolf and Schoensee
want their instructors to embrace are
articulated in the school's mission statement, as stated on the school's website
(www.paragonflight.com):
* We thrive on customer satisfaction. We
will provide you with the highest-quality
experience possible, every time you fly. Since
flying is all about fun and freedom, the fun
and freedom starts here.
* Loyalty is our goal. We will provide you
with the highest-quality training, services,
and products that offer continuous value for
many years to come.
* Trust is our foundation. Our relationship
with you will be built upon honesty, professionalism, hard work, and integrity.
* Our guarantee is unbreakable. If, for any
reason, you aren't satisfied with any aspect
of your flying experience, we'll do everything possible to correct it quickly and to
your satisfaction.
That website is Paragon's only major
marketing effort. "We do search-engine
optimization to win the Google search,"
Wolf says. "When someone types in 'Florida flight training,' we will be in the top
five search results," he adds. Schoensee
says he composed the website while he
was a primary student. "I tried to write it
from the perspective of someone who is
considering flight training."
Paragon was founded in 2006 by
Schoensee's father, Kevin, who had bought
a new Garmin G1000-equipped Mooney
to travel between his homes in Michigan
and Southwest Florida. When he sought
advanced training at a Fort Myers flight
school, he found it lacking in both the
quality of the equipment and its customer
service. "So he bought it," says Chris
Schoensee, and immediately purchased
three new G1000-equipped Cessna 172s.
Schoensee, who also serves as chief
operating officer of Paragon Technologies, his father's Detroit-based industrial
equipment repair company, soon became
involved in the Fort Myers aviation division. Today Schoensee; his wife, Sarah; and
Wolf are co-owners of Paragon Flight.
Paragon's fleet includes the three
original 172s, three more G1000-equipped

"I WAS BLOWN AWAY BY
THE LEVEL OF CARING AND
COMMITMENT AT PARAGON.
SAFETY AND CUSTOMER
SERVICE ARE TOP PRIORITIES,
AND THE EQUIPMENT IS OF
AN AMAZING QUALITY WITH
PRICES HARD TO FIND
ANYWHERE ELSE."
"THE ENTIRE PARAGON TEAM
WAS SO FRIENDLY AND MADE
ME COMFORTABLE FROM
THE MINUTE I WALKED IN
THE DOOR. EVERY PLANE
THEY HAVE IS KEPT SO CLEAN
AND HAS A GLASS COCKPIT
AS WELL. THE NUMBER ONE
REASON I CHOSE PARAGON
WAS BECAUSE THE STAFF IS
SO PROFESSIONAL."
"FROM THE MOMENT I
WALKED IN, BOTH
INSTRUCTORS AND
STUDENTS WERE HAPPY
AND EXCITED ABOUT FLIGHT
TRAINING. MY FIRST FLIGHT
WAS SAFE AND EXHILARATING AND I WAS HOOKED.
AFTER MY TOUR OF THE
FACILITY AND MY FIRST
FLIGHT LESSON, I KNEW
THIS WAS THE ONLY SCHOOL
FOR ME."
"THEY HAVE EXCELLENT
CUSTOMER SERVICE AND
BEAUTIFUL AIRCRAFT. I HAVE
FLOWN AT MANY FLIGHT
SCHOOLS AND BELIEVE THE
INSTRUCTION RECEIVED
AT PARAGON TO BE THE
BEST YET."

MARCH 2015 FLIGHT TRAINING

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http://www.paragonflight.com
Flight Training - March 2015

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