FSANA is a participatory-based industry association and our programs are created and evolve with the input and guidance of our members. Member input is a key part of making this association successful. If you are a member and aren't already engaged with one of our committees, we invite you to contact our office and learn more about participating.

Here are examples of committee work scope currently underway:

• The Program Committee is reviewing the AeroChapters program which will be rolled out in the near future.

• The Annual Conference Committee is planning the professional program for the 2015 annual conference.   

• The Accreditation Committee has started to work directly with the United States Department of Education.

FSANA is built by members for members. We encourage flight school owners, managers and chief flight instructors to become involved with their association. The ROI has been clearly demonstrated by those who have elected to engage and participate. 

by Gregory S. Hayes, CEO North Coast Flight School Inc., Erie, PA

Chairman of the Board, FSANA

Recent decades have seen reduction of exposure
of younger generations to aviation. Less availability of training providers, higher costs of flying, and increased security roadblocks are but a few reasons. The common story we had from previous generations of a young adult's first trip to an airfield with their grandfather, neighbor, or friend are less common now than ever before. Fewer kids get their first experience in aviation after "helping wash their neighbor's plane," after riding their bike to the local airport to watch planes takeoff and land, or getting a ride at local fly-in. These experiences were special to past generations, and in many cases, they were seeds that grew into aviation hobbies or careers that lasted a lifetime. They were the beginning of a passion and a love for aviation. Without these experiences, these seeds may never be planted in the next generation.

This brings our industry to a question: if those pathways are no longer viable, what can we as flight training providers do to sow new seeds for the next generation? If we don't figure it out, where do we think students will come from to keep our businesses going in ten or twenty years?

The answer is really quite a simple one, WE become that pathway! That "open door" policy of the past, has to become more of a "bring them to the door" of the future. One thing that FSANA has worked hard to promote, and we know is successful, continues to be AeroCamp. I know we keep pushing this, but it is working for many members. AeroCamp is getting young students in the doors of flight training providers and sowing seeds of future pilot generations. AeroCamp provides an avenue for children that otherwise would no longer exist.

In my own experience at my flight school, we have been running AeroCamps even before the concept was rolled out by FSANA officially. We wanted to prove that it worked before we advocated that anyone else should try it. And it works. Best of all, I found that running AeroCamps wasn't just a way to get students interested in aviation and aerospace, but they are also very profitable.

Running AeroCamps has had a profound effect on the personality of my flight school. Getting younger participants involved has been contagious. Other students, friends, and family of the AeroCamp kids have come back. Some have begun to learn to fly.

AeroCamps are a way to spread a seed of aviation interest. That interest grows, spreads, and reaches people well beyond the direct participants of AeroCamps.

If you are going to be at AirVenture and want to learn more about AeroCamps,
join us when Greg Hayes will be speaking at the AOPA Flight School Business Luncheon on Friday, August 1st. More information about the luncheon can be
found by clicking here.