CFI-to-CFI Newsletter - Volume 14 Issue 2 - 20

NEW CFI
It does not have to cost much to set up what you might call a " student game
preserve. " Here are a few suggestions:
* Look out on your flight line. Do you have enough benches and chairs for
a group of students to sit in the shade and watch the ramp and traffic
pattern? A little available ice water in the summer and free hot coffee in
the winter could not hurt.
* Look inside your school. Do you have an area set aside for a student
pilot lounge? In it, you could have a bookcase full of paperbacks and
hardcovers related to flight training and aviation available for them
to read. What if they get bored? Bored pilots at the airport tend to rent
aircraft and go flying.
* Do they feel comfortable talking with you and asking the occasional
question when they see you between students?
* Social gatherings do not have to be formal or planned. They can learn
from each other via chatter. Encourage student bull-sessions, lunches,
coffees, and other spontaneous interactions.
* Do your students know how to contact each other? You can keep a
student contact list and encourage them to interact.
* Special events are cheap and fun. My personal favorite is " Kevin's
Landing Critique Class. " I arrange lawn chairs in view of the traffic
pattern and eat my packed lunch while encouraging the students who are
there to watch and critique the landings they see. There is no better way
to teach a stabilized approach than to let your students see and evaluate
a couple dozen of the bad ones for free.
AS I DROVE INTO THE PARKING LOT, I NOTICED THAT
STUDENTS WERE EITHER RUSHING INTO THE BUILDING AS
THOUGH THEY WERE LATE OR RUNNING OUT OF IT LIKE
THEIR EMPENNAGE WAS ON FIRE.
One of the biggest problems for flight schools and instructors
is student retention.
According to research done by aviation advocacy groups such as the
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the National Association of Flight
Instructors, and the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators, the dropout
rate for learner pilots is around 80 percent.
If you want to keep those students from losing interest and dropping out,
your students need to have more enthusiasm and spend more time than
they would for a painful dental appointment. So, allow and encourage your
students to hang out at the airport flight school when they are not actively
taking a lesson. This will also expand your business, generate energy among
your students, and give your school or instructing career a significant boost
in revenue and reputation. Make flying a welcome part of their lives and
watch them and your career thrive.
Kevin Garrison is a retired 777 captain with more than 22,000 accidentfree
flight hours. He has been a flight instructor for more than forty-five years
and holds an ATP/MEL Commercial SEL and SES, CFII ASMEL and SES.
He has been an airline pilot examiner and is rated on the Boeing 727, 757,
767, 777, DC-9, and MD-88. Kevin has over 5,000 general aviation hours that
include everything from banner towing to flying night cargo in Twin Beeches.
CFI-to-CFI Newsletter - Volume 14 Issue 2

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