AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 35

AFTA success
Flight school owner praises new
training platform
BY NIKI BRITTON
CATHY FRANKEL , OWNER and CFI of Learn to Fly Flight School,
is bringing her passion for aviation and love of teaching to the
historic Kingman Municipal Airport (IGM) in Arizona.
" Learn to Fly was born out of my move here to take care of my
mom. I realized there was no learning institution for aviation at all
in the entire tri-state area. The community was just so welcoming,
and they encouraged me to do it and I haven't regretted it since. "
Frankel discovered AOPA's Flight Training Advantage web
portal and iPad-based training platform, also known as AFTA. " I
really felt like students need something to see, to help them evaluate
how they're progressing through their program. As soon as I
saw AFTA, I knew it was the right program. "
What makes AFTA different than other flight training programs
is that it adapts to each individual student's progress and
creates customized lesson plans.
" In a structured environment like an accelerated program or
a university program where they have an outline that you have to
follow, " Frankel said, " a lot of schools and independent instructors
don't have that, they have to kind of create their own thing. So
AFTA allows you to create structure where there normally isn't for
the independent instructor or small flight school. It allows structure
in an unstructured environment. "
Frankel says AFTA has been invaluable. " As an instructor, it's
helped me to focus on what I need to evaluate for my students,
how to give them measurable goals and objectives and feedback
for how they're doing and how to move forward from that point.
It also helps me remember what we talked about last.
As an independent instructor you have several students
you might not remember what you talked to
that student about last, so it allows me to record what
talked to them, go back and review it, and start from
that point forward. "
A student pilot at Learn to Fly, Eric Depner, flies
three times per week and says he likes how AFTA
allows him to prepare for and debrief each lesson and
stay organized.
" Before any lesson my instructor can put maneuvers
that we're going to practice, and then I can study those
maneuvers. They'll have little videos or readings for me
to do that allow me to help study and practice for those
maneuvers for the next lesson, " he said.
" After every flight, she gives you a little grade, and
you can look at that within the ACS standards to see if
AOPA PILOT / September 2022
35
you're going to pass your practical or not. It allows students to be
more in line with their instructors and the communication is really
good between the instructor and the student. "
For other CFIs and flight school owners considering a new
tool, Frankel says, " You don't know it, but you need this. Try it,
you will love it, you will not regret it. "
As Learn to Fly grows, Frankel hopes to hire more flight
instructors, continue expanding Learn to Fly's Fleet, and eventually
make the school self-sufficient enough that she can pursue the
airlines and continue to run the school. " The students are amazing!
Helping people reach their goals and seeing how they light
up when they achieve something. There's nothing else that compares
to it, it's amazing, I really love it. " niki.britton@aopa.org
aopa.org/afta
http://www.aopa.org/afta
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022

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