AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2010 - 4

PRESIDENT’SPOSITION

BY CRAIG FULLER AOPA PRESIDENT

Seeking a new training paradigm

verywhere I travel these days, I hear a recurring question from the pilots I meet: “How are we going to grow the pilot population?”

It’s fair to ask how this approach is different from what has been done before—and it is different in several important ways: The research will provide detailed, objective data, so we won’t be relying on old assumptions to try to formulate new solutions. Instead of trying to entice new people to try flying, this effort focuses on keeping people engaged who have already proven their strong interest by starting training. This is a question that keeps us up at night, and it We are actively engaging the broadest possible is one we must answer. spectrum of GA stakeholders to gather informaAOPA President Craig Fuller began The past 20-plus years have been filled with tion and, ultimately, to implement solutions. flying at age 16 dozens of well-intentioned attempts to solve the We are focusing on what works. As I said, soluand now pilots a problem. Some have worked better than othtions have to function in the real world—a world Beechcraft ers, but none was the silver bullet people hoped where weather can bring training to a halt and Bonanza A36. to find. aircraft go down for maintenance. We need a new approach. All of us at AOPA recognize the importance Much of what has been tried has focused on getting new of building the pilot population. There is strength in numpeople into the training pipeline. But, as it turns out, the bers. That’s why it is one of our key strategic initiatives and pipeline leaks, and just pulling in new flight students is why we are devoting significant resources to uncovering the simply not enough when the dropout rate is as high as 80 underlying challenges, identifying practical solutions, and percent. The obvious question is “why?” And the fact is that implementing them broadly. we don’t yet have a complete answer. We’ll be sharing the results of our research at AOPA AviaSo AOPA—through the AOPA Foundation—is reopening tion Summit, which takes place November 11 through 13 in and reframing the discussion of how to build the pilot popu- Long Beach, California, and we’ll continue the conversation lation, focusing on helping existing student pilots succeed. long after. Even if you can’t be there in person, I hope you’ll We are inviting stakeholders from across the flight training tune in to AOPA Live online (www.aopalive.org) to watch industry to share their ideas and experience as part of the the Thursday, November 11 keynote address unveiling our new Flight Training Student Retention Initiative. research results. To begin, we’ve commissioned a research study to model As we’ve seen over the past 20 years, there is no quick fix. It the flight training process and identify the key factors that will take time and considerable effort by people throughout affect student retention. Surveys and focus groups with the aviation community. At AOPA we do believe in finding a student pilots, including those who have quit training, cer- new flight training paradigm—something that shows how all tificated pilots, flight instructors, and flight school operators of us can increase the chances of helping someone become a will help us find out more about why so many students drop pilot who has the aspiration to experience the freedom to fly. out of training. We know that time and money are factors— I am encouraged as we do the work necessary to develop but we know also that they are not the only factors, and our well-researched and well-thought-out solutions because we research is designed to dig deeper into the underlying causes. find people and organizations across the country dedicated Once we have the results of the research in hand, we’ll to successfully growing the pilot population. host a meeting of industry stakeholders directly involved in Whatever we discover, I am confident that working together we can begin to change the flight training to talk about our findings and identify best practices. To be effecalarming dropout rate and keep more Join the fun tive, proposed solutions have to work in students on track to earning a cerAOPA President Craig Fuller invites you the real world, so we’ll be looking at the tificate. But I am equally confident we to join him at the second annual AOPA issues raised by the research from both can’t do it in isolation. Your engagement Aviation Summit, to be held November an educational and a business standin this issue is going to play a critical 11 through 13 in Long Beach, California. Fuller will lead the event through AOPA role in our ultimate success, and the point. In the end, we will come up with Live and at keynote general sessions informed, actionable ideas—and then future of general aviation. and industry and social events during work with others across the general the three-day convention. aviation spectrum to put them into E-mail AOPA President Craig Fuller at action. craig@aopa.org. 4 • NOVEMBER
2010

AOPA PILOT •

http://www.aopalive.org

AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2010