 FSANA NEWS
Registration Open for the 7th Annual
Flight School Operators Conference
Registration is now open for
FSANA's upcoming annual conference and a you-won't-want-to-miss-it slate of speakers and forums has been developed for the convention program taking place February 9-12, 2016, in Orlando.
Want to know more? Click here (PDF) to see the just-released program for the conference. A printable registration form is included.
Lake Buena Vista's B Resort & Spa, an official Disney hotel, serves as the host for this year's event. FSANA encourages everyone to reserve their room now to take advantage of our conference rates. Conference discounted rates at the hotel are limited, and if you don't get your reservation now, they may sell out! For more information about the property, click here. To make reservations online, click here or call them directly at 800-248-7890.
NEW for 2016 ... on Tuesday, February 10, conference programming kicks in with a new members-only session at 1:00 pm followed by a new general session for all attendees starting at 2:30.
NEW for 2016 ... a special
Guest Program for those who want to have their spouse, partner or friend join them during the conference. Highlights of the Guest Program are included in the conference information download.
Sponsorship opportunities and exhibitor spaces are still available. If your business seeks flight training operators as customers, this is the perfect market to reach out. For more information about becoming a sponsor or exhibitor, click here.
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FSANA PROGRAMS
 AeroCamp Launch in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at Benitez Aviation Flying School
In the even-growing number and locations of AeroCamp offerings,
Benitez Aviation Flying School
located at the Isla Grande Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, will conduct their first AeroCamp in December.
Yeimily Mojica Medina, the flight school manager, said that "We are looking forward to having young people from the San Juan region come and experience the world of aviation!"
Each AeroCamper will have the opportunity to fly an aircraft as part of the program. The youth will also tour various aviation-related businesses located on the airport. FSANA is pleased that AeroCamp has landed in Puerto Rico with the support of one of our valued members.
"As the number of AeroCamp providers around the country grows, the footprint of this program has the strong potential to help grow interest in the next generation of pilots," said FSANA president, Bob Rockmaker.
FSANA will try to get some pictures from the event that we can share in future newsletters.
To learn more about Benitez Aviation Flying School, click here.
If your flight school or business is interested in becoming a provider of AeroCamp, be sure to visit our website for more information. Click here now to learn more.
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FSANA NEWS
Concorde Battery Newest FSANA Sponsor
Concorde Battery Corporation, based in West Covina, California, announced that the company will be sponsoring and exhibiting at the 2016 Flight School Operators Conference in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, February 9-12, 2016.
Bob Rockmaker, president and CEO of FSANA, remarked, "We are pleased that Concorde Battery Corporation will be participating in next years' conference and shares our values and vision for our association which includes a vibrant youth component."
Concorde Battery produces world-class aviation batteries for multiple aircraft platforms.
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INDUSTRY NEWS
New CFI Training Center Is Flying
The newly established CFI Training Center www.cfitrainingcenter.com based at the Lakeland Linder Regional airport in Lakeland, Florida, has already graduated their first class of newly-created flight instructors.
The business creates new CFI's in three weeks.
According to John Amundsen, president of the new specialty business,"Customers are pleased with the course content and delivery. One of the most important elements in our new program is the quality of the CFI at the back end of the program. The mission is to create safe, quality CFIs that are prepared to enter the workforce."
With a shortage of CFIs in the industry, the CFI Training Center will be another provider that those seeking aviation careers can turn to for quality and expedient training for CFI ratings at an affordable cost. As the program develops, CFITC will increase the CFI/CFII population and assist flight schools across the country fill the void through their Flight School Affiliation Program.
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INDUSTRY NEWS
Flight Schools and UAS/Drone Opportunities
FSANA has been receiving phone calls from both association members and non members about the UAS industry. Both the UAS line-of-sight (LOS) and out-of-sight (OOS) platforms have years of growth ahead and have the ability to become significant economic drivers for flight training organizations.
Several FSANA members have reported increases in student starts directly resultant from people looking to become commercial UAS operators. The FAA currently requires all UAS commercial operators to have a "333" exemption. Several FSANA members have already received their 333 exemptions and are conducting UAS ground and flight training classes.
In an interesting recent development, the FAA has floated the idea of registration requirements for UAS equipment. Want to see more? Visit the FAA website at http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/aircraft_certification/aircraft_registry/UA/ where this is further discussed.
If we postulated that there are one million UAS LOS machines in the consumer market by December 31, 2017, it could be reasonable to project that between 1%-2% of the UAS operators may elect to advance and secure at least a private pilot certificate. That could translate to 10,000-20,000 new pilots added to the general aviation industry. UAS systems might just be a new entry point for new pilots in the United States in the future.
FSANA has an exciting UAS/Drone panel lined up for attendees at next year's 7th Annual Flight School Operators Conference in Orlando. UAS is here to stay and, collectively, everyone needs to work together to help evolve the aviation industry that started December 17, 1903, with the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
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TRAINING
A Sim Is a Sim Is a Sim?
Differences in Types of Simulators
by Tracy Cook
Vice President - Marketing and Sales, Precision Flight Controls Inc.
www.flypfc.com
The subject of simulation in flight training can be complex and tends to be rampant with misinformation. There seems to be little in the way of readily available, credible information on the subject. Most flight school owners find themselves reinventing the proverbial wheel in attempting to understand the types of systems available and their best uses for maximizing student benefit as well as the return on their investment.
First of all, let's define the systems that we are talking about. The common name of flight simulators is in itself, a misnomer. A flight simulator correctly refers to Full Flight Simulators (FFS) that require 6-DOF motion systems and are designated as levels A, B, C and D. They also require collimated visual display systems (to eliminate parallax) and a dataset from the aircraft manufacturer to insure the highest possible fidelity. These systems are typically the domain of the airlines due to their multi-million dollar price tags.
The next level down in complexity is Flight Training Devices (FTD) which require a mid-level of fidelity and aircraft specificity. FTD's are designated as levels 4, 5, 6 and 7. While these systems do not require a motion system or a collimated visual display system, they require greater fidelity and more stringent reporting than lesser approved systems.
The systems that are most familiar to flight school operators are Aviation Training Devices (ATD) which are further designated as PCATD's (PC-based ATD), BATD's (Basic ATD) and AATD's (Advanced ATD). These diverse systems have a wide variety of applications and may be reconfigurable for many different aircraft models.
Next month, we'll explore the approved uses for the various levels of ATD's under Parts 61 and 141.
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INDUSTRY NEWS
RAA Releases Annual Report
 The Regional Airline Association recently releases the 2015 RAA Annual Report, a report that offers an exclusive look at the data, statistics and trends surrounding the regional airline industry, underscoring the industry's role as a key economic driver.
As one of the primary career goals, regional airline pilot employment, that many of the students of flight training providers aspire to reach, knowing all you can about this segment of the industry is important for the businesses that provide this training.
Take the time to read the report to learn about the trends and current happenings in the regional airline industry by clicking the report cover to the right to view the 40th Anniversary RAA Annual Report.
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MARKETING TIPS
It's Alive! Six Ways to Create an Engaged Email List
Email marketing is about quality, not quantity. Here are a half dozen tips to help marketers focus on the latter.
Email is the zombie of marketing channels. Despite numerous claims that it's dead, email continues to live on. And while the channel may be alive and well, the subscribers featured on marketers' lists can sometimes show the same level of engagement as someone six feet under.
This lack of engagement is often caused by a lack of relevant messaging, which can be spurred by a focus on quantity over quality. "It's about the number of emails you send, not the quality of emails you send," Ryan Phelan, VP of marketing insights for Adestra, explained at the Direct Marketing Association's &THEN conference in Boston. However, marketers can no longer take this approach.
"We have to recognize what the consumers are needing and we need to start respecting their choices," said Dennis Dayman, chief privacy and security officer for Return Path.
To help marketers get inactive subscribers to rise from the dead, Phelan and Dayman shared their tips for growing an engaged email list. Here are six of their suggestions.
1. Leverage the source of acquisition.
Consumers want contextual, relevant, and valuable emails, and email acquisition sources can help ensure this. Whether a consumer is filling out a lead generation form or downloading a whitepaper, marketers need to ask the right questions to obtain valuable data. For instance, although Phelan said he wouldn't mind if clothing retailer Gap asked him for his gender and pants size, he would raise an eyebrow if automotive online resource Edmunds.com asked him the same questions.
Also, marketers should ensure that they don't ask too many questions and risk losing the consumer altogether. "Ask an appropriate amount of questions," Phelan said, "because consumers, by default, want you to be contextual."
For marketers struggling to determine which questions they should ask and how many, Dayman recommended applying the "grandmother test": Would you ask your grandmother this question, and would she understand and trust the situation enough to give you her information?
2. Know the rules and regulations.
The email marketing landscape is constantly changing, and with those changes come new legislation and rules. From the Canada Anti-Spam Legislation and European Union privacy regulations to industry best practices and company mandates, marketers have to study up on these guidelines and ensure that they're abiding by all of them.
"Make sure you know the rules, and make sure you know what your company is going to do to adopt these rules," Phelan said.
But marketers don't have to go it alone. Both Phelan and Dayman encouraged marketers to become best friends with their chief privacy officers. In fact, Phelan advised marketers to pay their chief privacy officers a visit at least once a month to keep up with the rapidly evolving industry.
3. Inquire about preferences.
No one knows consumers better than themselves. That's why Dayman advised marketers to ask consumers what kind of content they want to receive and how frequently. "Don't decide for them," Dayman said. "Let them decide."
But avoid asking too many preference questions. Although Phelan recommended asking three to five questions, he acknowledged that testing is the best way for marketers to find their true sweet spot. Dayman also encouraged marketers to consider context when asking for consumer preferences, such as by using a slider bar versus a survey format for consumers answering the questions via a mobile device.
Oh, and if consumers do provide their preferences, make sure to use them. "If you ask for preferences...do not send them other stuff," Phelan said.
4. Start small with segmentation.
With so much big data and so many ways to slice and dice customer data, segmentation can seem daunting. That's why Phelan advised marketers to start small. Jumping directly from batch-and-blast to advanced segmentation, he said, is a mistake.
"If you're doing batch-and-blast, tomorrow do one thing differently," he said.
5. Listen to what inactive subscribers are not saying.
You know those consumers who haven't opened an email in six months? They want marketers to notice their inactivity, Phelan said, and to take it as a clue to provide more contextualized messaging.
To deliver this relevance, start by looking at subscribers who have been inactive for 60 days, Phelan said. Look at when they started to fade off and try to determine why.
Also, marketers shouldn't be afraid to encourage consumers to unsubscribe if they're totally inactive. After all, their level of engagement (or lack thereof) impacts deliverability.
In addition, the messaging that marketers send their inactive subscribers should be different than the emails marketers send their active subscribers. As Phelan noted, marketers don't want to send a "you're one of our best customers" note to someone who hasn't clicked on an email in years.
6. Be wary of buying lists.
The build-or-buy debate is one that has been going on for years. Dayman discouraged marketers from buying lists unless the vendor can provide concrete proof that those consumers opted in and that marketers have permission to email them. "Hold your partners accountable for that list," he said.
To view the article as originally published in Direct Marketing News, click here.
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TRAINING NEWS
FAA Updates Airman Testing Information
A recent grouping of updates were made to the FAA Airman Testing Webpage that are important for flight training providers to review. Many of these changes include documents that are regularly used by flight training providers.
The list of updates and links to them include:
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New version of Airman Certification Standards Briefing (PDF) and a
New version of Airman Certification Standards FAQ (PDF) along with adding a Airman Certification Standards Information Brochure at http://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/.
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FSANA Money-Back Guarantee
FSANA continues to create value for its members. Programs like AeroCamp are helping flight schools to create new revenue centers and attract customers, many who continue on to earn their first pilot certificate.
FSANA offers flight schools a money-back guarantee on their membership dues investment if the school operates at least one FSANA Aero program and does not generate enough profit to cover the cost of membership. Members are required to demonstrate that they have followed the FSANA program guidelines contained in the members-only toolkit associated with each program.
If you have not already looked into conducting our Aero programs at your flight school, now is the time. You can not loose!
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Becoming a FSANA "Partner"
FSANA is a growing and focused trade association that represents the interests of flight training providers. The membership is a group of motivated and successful business operations that provide flight training in both the United States and foreign countries. If your company or a company you know would like to support FSANA in its efforts, now is the time to become a "Partner."
Core platforms of FSANA include:
- Helping flight training businesses operate successfully and profitably;
- Increasing the pilot population;
- Working with other aviation and aerospace industry associations and companies to promote quality flight training pipeline development;
- Providing programs and services that will assist FSANA members to better serve their customers and local communities;
- Promoting best practices in the flight training community;
- Reducing the general aviation incident and accident rates;
- Engaging both youth and adults to explore aviation and aerospace.
Becoming a FSANA "Partner" offers year-round brand exposure for your organization in both print and electronic platforms in multiple channels.
To learn how to become a FSANA "Partner" please contact
Debbie Sparks, director of Business Development at
dsparks@fsana.com or
561-767-6826.
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Flight School Seeking Investment Capital
An
established
and successful Part 61 and 141 flight school is seeking $1M-3M investment capital for new enterprise start-up. Qualified parties please call 863-327-6880.
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Flight School for Sale in Ohio
Interested in expanding your flight school or taking on a new location? How about buying a flight school for the first time? A flight training operation in Ohio may be the opportunity for which you are looking.
The operation is a successful flight training business with two owned aircraft and multiple leaseback aircraft, a large client base, a FBO business and maintenance services.
The operation has simulators and operates both FAR Part 61 and 141 training curricula, is SEVP approved, has VA approval, and operates a PSI testing center.
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We want feedback from the readers of this newsletter! Tell us what is important to you
as a school owner, manager or chief flight instructor. We will share comments received
in an upcoming edition of
Flight Schools News eMonthly
.
Send your thoughts to info@fsana.com.
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Inviting the Best
Aircraft Operators
in the Business to
Join Our Network.
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2016 FSANA International Flight School Operators Conference
Orlando Florida
Februay 9-12
Flight Training
Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C.
More information to be announced.
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Click on images to download sample Aero program brochures
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