The Last Mile

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Travelling by use of general aviation (GA) aircraft is extremely effective for pilots who take advantage of the benefits. Many times our job as an instructor is to convince our customers that becoming pilots is a logical choice, a useful skill, and something that is a good value. Is it really?

A proficient pilot can travel on their own schedule, to places of their choosing, in a great majority of weather conditions (assuming they are instrument rated and have an instrument capable aircraft), and without having to be subjected to limitations of airline destination cities and schedules that may not coordinate well with travel needs. Many times people need to travel to places that airlines don’t even serve, so GA could be the best option for these situations. I fly myself to my destinations any opportunity I can; in fact, I rarely choose to fly using airlines.. There is a drawback, however; the last mile or so of travel from the airport to a pilot’s destination can be difficult and in some cases nearly impossible. Continue reading →

Wanted: A Methodical Means to Close Towers

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Discussion surrounding FAA Control Tower closures as a result of sequestration has dominated the transportation community recently. Some of the concerns and opinions are valid, while others could be characterized as fear-mongering. In any case, sequestration cuts will likely result in at least temporary tower closures. This isn’t the doing of the FAA, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the FAA is choosing which towers will close in a manner that best serves long term aviation community need or safety. I am hopeful that any permanent closures will be evaluated using more thorough methodology.

I can’t say that all control towers should stay open. In fact, I can personally think of a few where the level of enplanements, traffic volume, or the types of activity that once justified a tower changed long ago, and should probably be closed. But I also know that there are places where towers do a great deal to help pilots and their aircraft avoid tragedy.

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How Much Should Pratical Tests Cost?

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This is much debated at the national level.

In Michigan, we are currently charging $350.00 for most checkrides (private, instrument, commercial, etc) and $500.00 for CFI checkrides.

For most examiners, a practical test takes roughly 5 hours from start of paperwork to heading home (imagine maybe 30 minutes of travel also to and from) so a total of 6 hours to do the test.  If the examiner plans another hour of preparation and paperwork after they get home, this means a practical test takes 7 hours of examiner work time.

In our case in Michigan, this means we are getting $50.00 per hour.  This seems a bit low.  Many flight schools are billing at least this for instructors, and if we go with the logic than an examiner is more experienced and highly qualified than the average instructor, we should be making more per hour.  If we thought $75.00 per hour was adequate, it means we should charge $525.00 for a checkride.  This feels high also.

Should cost of living be taken in to account?  If we used the cost of living calculator by CNN (http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/), and charged $500.00 in Las Vegas, we would have to charge $912.00 in New York or $572.00 in Chicago based on cost of living calculations.

Thoughts from everyone?

The State of the Flight Training Industry

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This week we heard President Obama discuss the State of the Union. This got me thinking about the state of the flight training industry, so I decided to take a stab at my own version of a “State of the Industry” address. As I write these words, I can’t help but think, “Who am I to tell the flight training industry about itself?” I’ll be honest, there are others who are probably also qualified to make similar statements, but I feel okay doing this since I work in this industry every day, talking broadly with flight training providers who are individual instructors, from local FBOs and all the way up to collegiate/university and academy training environments. I see the broad path of this industry and I am concerned. Continue reading →