1) 8
2) 2
3) 4
4) 7

I really like your first idea here. I've rented from a lot of places over the years and seen my share of good and bad FBOs. Some just treat it like any old business and you're just any old customer. Those I find to usually be lacking as well in quality of aircraft and instruction as well. While those that embrace the aviation spirit tend to be much better places to rent from. Building a community feeling I think is important to being successful. Perhaps having a game room would be one more excuse to hang out at the airport and the weekend and swap flying stories (and to your advantage, probably go flying).

For the second idea, some may find it useful, but I think most people interested in working out already have access to some sort of access to a gym though work or school or membership to a commercial facility.

For the third, I personally would rather make the decision if I want to buy a piece of appeal or not. Having tee shirts, polo shirts, jackets, etc. for sale would be a good way to build community feeling.

And for the fourth, I am a fan of good flight planning rooms. A table covered with sectionals would probably make a good training aid for new students to visualize cross country planning as well.

As a final thought of my own: It's seems now a days that most flight schools out there thinks that every person that comes though the door for pilot training wants to go to the airlines and wants to train in G1000 172SPs. They seem to have completely forgotten that there are actually people out there who fly for fun. I have, in all honesty, been questioned why I wanted to rent a 172RG when one of the 172SPs with dual Garmin 430s was available (the 172RG actually being significantly cheaper to rent). I think that it is important to realize that, although some people come to aviation for the money or the status, many people come for the love of it and I think a flight school should reflect that. From what you are saying, it seems like you are exactly on the right track. I wish you all the best of luck getting started!

Mobius wrote on Oct 3^rd, 2007 at 2:38pm:



exactly what i had in mind.

One thing i hated about the flight school i originally worked for a few years ago was that the owner, and ex airline captain, was interested only in the bottom line.

for example: If i felt like someone needed more work under the hood he would ask three questions

1. how is their performance on everything else?
2. Do they already have the minimum hood hours?
3. Why not just send them for a check ride and work on that later?

My observations based on what i have seen with General Aviation...

1. At least 30-40% (being generous here) of pilots who obtain a license never fly an airplane again.

2. Out of all the pilots who continue flying, at least half of them are uncomfortable with cross country flying to the extent that they rarely venture out beyond 40 or 50 miles without a more experienced pilot or instructor with them.

3. Many private pilots pass their check ride, and continue flying only to flush a majority of the regulatory and technical knowledge as well as the basic skills down the drain because of constant, un-challenging, straight and level point A to Point B flying.

4. In almost every circumstance, any lack of confidence in ability, and any fear to venture out on long cross country flights stemmed from a lack of quality instruction usually because the flight school management's chief concern was not safety... but keeping the production line in their pilot factory rolling at high speed in order to get warm bodies in and out of the door as quickly as possible.

My goals for MY flight school based on what i have seen.

1. Develop a strong family style environment which promotes comradeship between the students and the school staff. When you walk into my flight school to see if it is the place for you i will give you the grand tour and then several current students who are on property will be made available to you for any questions you might have for them  without my involvement.

2. Pilots will be trained strenuously and repeatedly to an expert level of proficiency, in virtually every available form of air navigation available from visual/pilotage using stop watch and compass, to VOR, NDB, and GPS systems. This training will be completed by undergoing extensive ground school prep and continued practical application until the student is 100% comfortable with any navigational exercise!

3. Much like aircraft managment firms will manage your airplane, my flight school will manage your currency and proficiency by scheduling  recurrent refresher courses available to its freshly minted pilots every six months... every 4th class attended satisfies one Biennial flight review. The refresher course will consist of a defensive driving style course with lunch and a single, one hour flight briefly covering critical pilot maneuvers such as steep turns, go-arounds, stall recoveries and emergency/ abnormal procedures.

4. When the instructor says the student is ready for the check ride, he takes a simulated oral exam/check ride with the chief instructor, and is scheduled with a meeting with the flight school owner where a one on one Q and A session will take place in order for the owner to gauge the reediness of the student and gather the student's opinions of the school and instructors. Then the check ride is completed and the student is presented with his custom flight jacket, and a framed certificate of completion.

As far as equipment goes, standard Cessna 172 with round gauges... none of this glass cockpit stuff. Perhaps one day when the money is right ONE glass cockpit trainer will be available for advanced training... and then only for guys who already have a license and are wanting to transition into a glass cockpit airplane.

Im currently in a dilemma about equipping the plane(s) with GPS... because i want the students to be top notch aces at sectional chart pilotage... but i also want them to be proficient at the use of GPS.

im still working on that though

good points!

one thing about recurrent i would like to point out is that participation is optional. I doubt we would ever have a full recurrent class. as long as there were at least a few guys who participated in the recurrent training i would be happy.

i got the recurrent idea when a friend of mine a few weeks ago bought a Cessna 182 and wanted to get his high performance sign off. We went out and did a few steep turns, a couple of stalls, several touch ang goes, and a hand full of engine outs over the course of a couple of days... we both agreed that despite the fact that he could level off at 6,500 feet and cruise from point A to point B without wavering off course... his maneuvers wouldnt even come close to passing a check ride. steep turns were done to plus or minus about 250 feet, his stalls seemed hurried and nervous, the first thousand feet of his engine out consisted of trying to remember what to do while trimming for glide speed.

I personally trained this guy... 18 months ago all of his maneuvers were spot on... just as good as i could demonstrate them he could do them and he passed his check ride with ease.

i explained to him that instructors and long term career oriented students dont usually have problems with the maneuvers because they work constantly within a training environment. I also told him that some of what we were practicing was very important and if done properly could save his life and his family's life some day.

i further explained that he had been living in a flight environment that 90% of the time required him to take off normally, climb to cruise altitude, cruise straight and level, descent straight ahead and land normally. and that i understand that his performance on the maneuvers was based on a year and a half of not even practicing any one single maneuver.

his comment was that "it would be great if we could go up every few months and just brush up on that stuff."

several days later another guy bought a cessna 182 and had the exact same experience and made the exact same comment.

then i thought to myself... "hmm well if perhaps a refresher course was offered to these guys in the form of like a pizza party style 2 hour ground school and one quickie flight to brush up on engine outs and stalls that might not be a bad idea"

i dont know... im kicking a lot of stuff around in my head right now, HALF of which probably will never see the light of day. what can i say?

aviation is for dreamers.