History is unique yet repeatable and the world has once again found itself in a more challenged position. Flight schools have been contacting FSANA and asking about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and how they should deal with their flight training business models.
We need to listen and place trust in our government and medical experts. Collectively, they are working in our best interest during a very challenging moment in time. Your operation may choose to voluntarily close for operations for a period of time. Some have already done this.
Many have implemented additional and enhanced cleaning procedures and limited any group meetings, keeping interactions to one-on-one to limit any potential exposure. Ultimately, the decision of what you do with your business will have to be a decision you make as owners and operators based on the best information provided by your local and federal officials.
People have been asking about the career pilot segment. FSANA has received information that major reductions in airline routes are happening and additional cuts will be made in upcoming days. This will affect flight capacity and the needs for pilots. Many of the mainline Part 121 airlines have enacted 60-day pilot hiring freezes. Buyouts are also starting to appear on the horizon. Passenger load factors are averaging 50% across many airline networks. Revenue passengers miles are dropping to historic lows, airline cash flows are stressed and some regional airlines may be forced to merge or close.
The career pilot pipeline will be impacted. The question is how long will the impact remain in effect? No one knows for sure but it could take 12-36 months to get back on track.
Flight schools with a large foreign customer base are reporting challenges due to the travel bans that have been placed by the United States. Asian market customers are still able to get to the U.S., however it is getting tougher. As of Friday, March 13, 26 countries in Europe are now within the updated U.S. travel ban which means that the European access pathway has been further reduced.
Flight schools are in the people business and health and wellness is the most important factor for all human beings. Yes, it is going to be rough for awhile but we will get through this very exceptional time in our lives. We all have a role in this moment so lets fly the plane in sync as we navigate back to smooth air.
FSANA will continue to support and help our members with all of their needs and together we will rebound stronger than ever.
It was wonderful to see so many of you at our annual conference in Las Vegas last month and we appreciate your kind words about the 11th annual conference. Be safe and be well.
Robert Rockmaker
President & CEO
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FSANA Announces Lisa Campbell as First Female Board Chair
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FSANA is pleased to announce the election of
Lisa Campbell, president of Air-Mods Flight Center in Robbinsville, NJ to chairman of the board of directors. Lisa has served as a FSANA board member for many years, selflessly contributing on many important industry issues.
Lisa has been involved in aviation since childhood as an “Air Force brat” as she calls the early days at Larson AFB, Moses Lake, Washington. Over the last 12 years, Lisa and her family have built their flight academy, Air-Mods FTC, into a family affair with flair. Sons DJ and Evan are both A & P mechanics, and DJ also serves in the US Army as a Blackhawk pilot. Her son Devin operated the maintenance division offices. Daughters Ilissa, Melissa Katlyn, Bailey and Sammi are all active at Air-Mods from marketing to operations. Lisa’s partner of 11 years, Dave Mathiesen, operates the MX division and is a master fabricator among other talents. Lisa and Dave have seven grandchildren so you can see where this is going.
FSANA is honored to have Lisa and her family working hard to help support the flight training industry across the country. CEO and president of FSANA, Bob Rockmaker, stated “We are proud of Lisa’s integrity, values, skill set and commitment as our first female chair. It is an honor to work with her and we look forward to great achievements with Lisa at the head of the table.”
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Coronavirus Effects on Flight Training
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FSANA is monitoring the effects of Coronavirus concerns on the flight training industry.
Obvious effects are related to general pilot, staff, and customer health. Less obvious effects are related to the business practices of flight training.
FSANA is monitoring how responses to Coronavirus concerns are effecting flight training providers' contracts with international students, scheduled larger events, and transit of customers to and from their training.
Primary effects are one concern, the ramifications of those primary effects are additional concerns. FSANA encourages flight training providers to, as with any illness concerns, have their pilots, instructors, and students follow FAA medical guidelines for flying while ill or under any medical treatment.
Much like most transmittable illnesses, proper cleaning and sanitation are best practices to reduce any spread. Flight training operations who have concerns about increased risk of potential spread of Coronavirus, or any other illnesses, are encouraged to follow best practices for cleaning their facilities and their aircraft.
If you aren't already cleaning facilities and surfaces that are commonly interacted with by multiple staff and customers, a redoubled effort from your cleaning or line staff may be a first best step to reducing spread of any illness within your organization.
For official information on the Coronavirus, FSANA encourages flight training providers to follow established procedures and recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Click here for the official CDC website and recommendations.
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Last Flyover for Matt Zuccaro
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The aviation trade association world lost a really good guy when
Matt Zuccaro passed away on February 25, 2020. Matt was the immediate past president of the Helicopter Association International (HAI) based in Alexandria, VA.
Bob Rockmaker, FSANA president & CEO stated, "Matt was a gentlemen and real pro when it came to getting things done and working with people in all walks of life". Matt had great focus on matters that counted and was a regular participant on the FSANA lead industry work group to improve the airman practical testing program.
Matt was one of only two people to land a helicopter on the World Trade Center heliport in New York City. The HAI "Land & Live" program was created based on Matt's vision. We will miss Matt's friendship, leadership and mentoring that he happily shared with FSANA and others in the industry.
Matt was one of the most respected aviation leaders in the world. A group of helicopter operators did a special flyover to pay tribute during Matt's funeral service in Chappaqua, NY.
Keep those rotors turning Matt and fly straight and level.
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Next Annual Flight School Operator Conference Scheduled For March 3-5, 2021
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This year's Annual Flight School Operators Conference just finished a couple weeks ago, but we have confirmed the dates for next year.
The FSANA Annual Flight School Operators Conference will be returning to the Rosen Plaza in Orlando, Florida. Much more information will be coming in the upcoming months, but for now, you can start planning to lock your calendars for
March 3-5, 2021.
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2020 National GA Award Honorees Named
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Every year, for more than 50 years, the General Aviation Awards program and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have recognized aviation professionals for their contributions to general aviation in the fields of flight instruction, aviation maintenance/avionics, and safety.
Recipients of the 2020 National General Aviation Awards are:
Catherine Elizabeth Cavagnaro of Sewanee, Tennessee
— 2020 Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year
Dennis Robert Wolter of Cincinnati, Ohio
— 2020 Aviation Technician of the Year
Gary Michael Brossett of Midland, Georgia
— 2020 FAA Safety Team Representative of the Year
The FAA will present individual awards to each National Honoree in July during EAA AirVenture 2020 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and their names will be added to the large perpetual plaque located in the lobby of the EAA AirVenture Museum. Also included in the prize package for each National Honoree is an all-expenses-paid trip to Oshkosh to attend the awards presentation and other special GA Awards activities.
“I am very excited to announce the selection of the National Honorees for the 2020 General Aviation Awards,” said GA Awards Board Chairman
Sandya Narayanswami, “These awards highlight the important role played by these individuals in promoting aviation education and flight safety,” she added, “The awards program sponsors are pleased that these outstanding aviation professionals will receive the recognition they so richly deserve before their peers in Oshkosh.”
Click here for more information about the General Aviation Awards.
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Paul and Fran Burger Wings Sweepstakes Cash Prizes Total $10,000 for 2020 Edition
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FSANA is encouraging flight providers, flight instructors, and students completing training and pilot certificates or ratings to be a part of the FAA WINGS Program, a part of the FAA Safety Team, and complete FAA Wings activities and/or full Wings phases.
The best part, by doing so participants can enter into the 2020 Fran and Paul Burger Wings Sweepstakes for cash prizes totaling $10,000.
The Wings Sweepstakes mission is to reduce the nation's accident and incident rate by increasing pilot participation in the WINGS FAASTeam
Pilot Proficiency Program. The
WINGS program has courses based on real world accident and incident causes so flight instructors, pilots and student pilots get training that can truly make a difference.
Click here to learn more about the Wings Sweepstakes.
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Virtual Fly North America Debuts at FSANA 2020 Las Vegas Conference
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The debut of Virtual-Fly North America, a professional flight simulator manufacturer with bases in Tampa, Dallas and Los Angeles and with manufacturing sites, based out of Barcelona, was huge. This company, part of a bigger corporation named Aircatglobal, designs, produces and distributes its own full motion flight simulators, flight panels and flight controls.
Among their large range of products you can find four different AATD simulators, single seat and dual seat. Static and Full Motion. G1000 and Analogue. Two of these were brought to the Bally’s Hotel last month for FSANA Conference attendees to try and fly. The feedback from the participants was great for these world-class affordable training simulators which are already seen in several centers across the U.S. and worldwide.
For FSANA-member orders they are offering a full 3-year warranty on their ATD as well as lifetime support given by the tech support based out of Tampa. Virtual Fly is renowned for their 24/7 365-day support and high-end quality flight sim equipment.
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You Should Be Promoting Your School During Learn to Fly Month
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Learn to Fly Month, which starts May 1, is a continuation of the month-long initiative that FSANA has promoted for the last three years to facilitate flight training providers in attracting new potential entrants into the field of aviation. FSANA encourages flight schools and organizations around the country to collaborate and hold events and promotions focused on getting more people to learn to fly.
Mario Andretti, the world famous race car driver who has won Formula One, Indy Car, World Sports Car, and of course, NASCAR races returns as Learn to Fly Month Honorary Chairman. Mario believes that aviation offers a unique and rewarding career option and encourages "young people, whether male or female, to really look at the potential that there is out there for a career in flying."
How Any Flight School Can Participate This May
All flight schools across the country are invited and encouraged to participate in Learn to Fly Month, not only FSANA members. If you haven't set anything in motion for this initiative yet, it isn't too late! FSANA is providing this set of six free tools intended to help all flight schools and others interested in promoting Learn to Fly Month. Please take a moment to check them out and incorporate them into your own Learn to Fly Month events.
• Color photograph of
Mario Andretti (PDF) ... Credit: Courtesy of Flight School Association of North America
• Learn to Fly Month logo graphic (PNG) for web (simply "grab" the above graphic)
FSANA encourages all flight schools and others in the industry, including the supply chain and trade associations, to be involved. To find out how to participate, read
"Ideas for Flight Schools" (PDF). For further information, contact Debbie Sparks at 561-767-6826 or send an email to info@fsana.com.
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FAA General Aviation Activity Survey Open for Industry Input
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The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) 42nd Annual General Aviation (GA) and Part 135 Activity Survey is open February 24 to July 10, 2020. This voluntary survey is distributed by mail to a representative sample of GA and on-demand Part 135 aircraft owners and operators. Survey participants may complete the survey online or by mail.
The survey estimates the size, primary use, and flight hours of the 2019 general aviation fleet. This information enables the FAA to track the success of our safety initiatives and to better serve the GA community by evaluating pilot’s access to the equipment and services that they rely on to navigate and fly safely.
The survey is four pages long and takes 10 to 30 minutes to complete. Individual responses are kept confidential to the extent permitted by law. The FAA receives and publishes only data aggregated to a level where individual responses are no longer identifiable. The independent research firm, Tetra Tech, is conducting the survey on the FAA’s behalf. Tetra Tech will mail out the surveys, process responses, analyze the results, and maintain custody of individual responses.
FSANA encourages flight training providers to complete the survey to ensure teh operations in this sector of general aviation operations is represented in the survey data.
Click here to be brought to the FAA site for completion of the survey.
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SEVP Updated CED Notification Process
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In response to the March 2019 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit, effective March 1, 2020, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) changed the timeline for the recertification notification process. Any school certified or recertified after March 1, 2020, will receive its next recertification notice 180 days before the school’s certification expiration date (CED). As before, schools will receive their CED notification through an automatic Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS)-generated email.
Previously, SEVP notified schools for recertification two years after the date of their certification or last recertification. SEVP then gave schools 180 days beyond the two-year mark to submit for recertification. Moving forward, SEVP will work to ensure all schools are notified and submit their complete recertification petition and supporting documentation within the 2-year timeframe, as recommended in the GAO audit and as required by the law.
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ARTICLES OF INTEREST FROM THE INDUSTRY
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FLIGHT SCHOOL BUSINESS EXCHANGE
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University Air Center Flight School, Gainesville Florida
Looking for Certified Flight Instructors-Instrument for a full time busy flight school. We fly Piper Warrior, Cessna 172 (G1000), Cessna 182 (Garmin glass), Cessna 210 and Piper Aztec. We have the option of time as flight instructor then move into the Caravan for Part 91 operations then to our Charter department flying Citation Jets. Come join the UAC team! Email resume to
PamL@universityaircenter.com
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Flight Instructor Sought
Wanted CFI for 141 flight school, added ratings a plus, but not required. When not instructing, right seat on Navajo available for qualified applicant. Respond to Moyer Aviation, Pocono Mountains, Pa. 800-321-5890 or
vern@moyeraviation.com
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Charter Captain Wanted
Wanted Captain for 135 charter operation in Northeast. Flying Navajos & Seneca Minimum 1500 TT, 200 MEL. Respond to Moyer Aviation, Pocono Mountains, Pa. 800-321-5890 or
vern@moyeraviation.com
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Tell us what is important to you as a school owner, manager or chief flight instructor. We will share comments in an upcoming edition of Flight Training News. Send your thoughts to
info@fsana.com
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FSANA SUPPORTING PARTNERS
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V I S I O N A R Y
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P A R T N E R S
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D E V E L O P E R
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P A R T N E R S
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B U I L D E R
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P A R T N E R S
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L E A D E R
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P A R T N E R S
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The above organizations are annual supporters of the FSANA mission and work of the association and its members. The follow organizations join our Partners in supporting FSANA's 2020 Flight School Operators Conference.
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C O N F E R E N C E
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P A R T N E R S
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Established in 2009, the Flight School Association of North America (FSANA) is the first and only association of its kind dedicated solely to the flight training industry. FSANA represents flight schools, firms that provide products and services to the flight training or aviation industry, and other supporting partners.
The Mission of the Flight School Association is to support, promote and advocate for the business of flight training; to provide knowledge, programs and services that help its members thrive and better serve their customers and communities; to foster best business practices; to educate and inspire youth; to increase the global pilot population; to improve general aviation safety; and to work in alliance with the aviation and aerospace industry.
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