Thank you for your interest in the 2023 Flight Training Experience Survey. We received thousands of responses, and we truly value your feedback. We will use this information to recognize and present awards to exceptional flight schools and instructors and to identify notable trends in the flight training industry. See 2023 award winners here.
The survey encourages anyone who has taken flight training in the past 12 months to candidly share their training experiences. Responses are used to measure the overall performance of respondents' flight training providers and spotlight areas where they are successful and where they have opportunities to improve.
Survey participants include pilots of all experience levels, from new students to those earning advanced ratings or taking a flight review. Check out "5 Reasons to Take the Survey."
Survey results are used to select recipients of the Flight Training Experience Awards. Distinguished, Regional, and National award winners will be announced at Redbird Migration, April 11-12, 2023 at the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, WI.
If you fall into one of the following categories and have received any type of flight instruction within the past year, we want to hear from you!
Beginning September 1, 2022, we encourage you to take the 2023 Flight Training Experience Survey. We want to hear about your experience through your feedback on the quality of instruction from your CFI and/or flight school. This short survey measures flight instructor and flight school performance on four key factors: educational quality, customer focus, community, and information sharing.
The survey is quick and easy to complete—approximately 10 minutes. We’ll use your responses to identify and recognize the nation’s best training providers. And, while positive feedback helps identify award winners, it’s the constructive criticism that helps flight training providers grow. Whether your experience was good or bad, we want to know about it.
And, once you complete the survey, you’ll receive 10% off your purchase at the AOPA Pilot Gear Store!
Click here to review the 2023 Flight Training Experience Survey rules.
*NO PURCHASE OR REGISTRATION NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THIS SWEEPSTAKES. A PURCHASE OR REGISTRATION WILL NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.
How do your clients perceive you? Do you deliver exceptional training experiences? Do you provide exemplary customer service? If you deserve to be recognized as the “best of the best,” then encourage your students and clients to complete the 2023 Flight Training Experience Survey.
Who better than your clients to guide you when it comes to providing even better service? Your clients’ Flight Training Experience Survey feedback may help you identify areas of opportunity when it comes to training your staff, delivering customer service, and communicating with your customers.
CFIs and flight schools receiving at least five valid responses in the survey will be given a customer feedback report to help them know where they excel and where they can grow. The report includes your average scores in each area, plus it lets you see where you stand relative to the national average.
To be eligible for an award, flight schools must receive at least 10 valid survey responses.
VIEW SAMPLE FLIGHT SCHOOL CUSTOMER FEEDBACK REPORT
VIEW SAMPLE CFI CUSTOMER FEEDBACK REPORT
The AOPA Flight Training Experience Awards will be presented during Redbird Migration, April 11-12, 2023.
Tune in to this prerecorded webinar to learn how the 2023 Flight Training Experience Survey can benefit you. Then, download our survey flyer, distribute it to your students, and post in a high-traffic area.
The survey will close October 31, 2022, 12:00 noon, EDT.
Survey scores are ranked using statistical measures, allowing smaller schools to remain competitive while accounting for the greater weight of evidence provided by a larger number of responses. Free response answers are scored by a panel of industry experts who are unaware of the identity of the school or instructor being judged.
Best Flight School and Best Flight Instructor
The award is given to the flight school in each region that has received at least ten valid entries, and the flight instructor in each region that has received at least five valid entries submitted on their behalf by students and clients through the Flight Training Experience Survey and has the top overall score from survey results in this category.
For each of the two categories, Best Flight School and Best Flight Instructor, a total of six awards will be presented, one for each of the following regions: Northwest Mountain, Western Pacific, Great Lakes, Central Southwest, Southern, and Eastern. A national winner for each category will be selected from among the six regional award recipients.
This award is granted to flight schools that received at least 10 valid survey responses and instructors who received at least five valid survey responses. Additionally, they have consistently earned superior ratings from their customers on the areas highlighted in the Flight Training Experience Research (educational quality, customer focus, community, and information sharing).
“The FTE Survey is a great tool! The survey feedback gives flight schools valuable knowledge on how to move forward, and the awards points many potential students our way.”
Felipe Santiago, Director of Operations – Aviator Zone
Regional Best Flight School – Southern Region
Meet Our Past Winners“We have seen a definite uptick in our business. We are growing like crazy as it is, and the award has amplified it so much! We are so excited and thankful and humbled about the award! We will be encouraging our students to take the surveys again! Thank you guys for everything.”
Sherman Gardner | Owner/Managing Partner – In The Pattern
National Winner and Regional Best – Central Southwest Region
Meet Our Past Winners
Flight Training Experience Award WinnersMany thanks to our survey respondents for investing time to provide their feedback through the annual Flight Training Experience Survey.
The survey encourages anyone who has taken flight training in the past 12 months to candidly share their training experiences. Survey participants included pilots of all experience levels, from new students to those earning advanced ratings or taking a flight review.
The overall performance of the survey respondents’ flight training providers is measured through their responses and also highlights areas where they are successful and where they have opportunities to improve.
CFIs and flight schools receiving at least five valid responses in the survey will receive a Customer Feedback Report to help them know where they excel and where they can grow. The report includes their average scores in each area and lets them see where they stand relative to the national average.
This program allows flight training providers to publicly share their Customer Feedback Reports from participating in the Flight Training Experience Survey.
Like some popular rating programs of businesses that provide customer service, e.g., Forbes Travel Guide or ZAGAT awards, the AOPA You Can Fly team’s goal is to help highlight and celebrate excellence in the flight training community. The Distinguished and Best of Awards in our FTE survey each year are part of a highly competitive field with many exceptional instructors and schools. While the flight training providers may not have received an award, they often have outstanding reviews from their customers. This program was created to help them receive the recognition they deserve in three ways:
These feedback reports can help potential students and customers to select a flight training provider that best meets their needs. They can review the feedback from other customers like themselves to make informed decisions. AOPA also offers tips on how to select a flight school.
Flight training providers who would like to publicly share their Customer Feedback Reports on AOPA can submit a request here for their FTE Customer Feedback Report to be posted. Flight schools that wish to participate must have or create a business listing in AOPA’s Airport Directory. An independent CFI’s business must be an LLC to create a business listing. Flight training providers receive a special logo from AOPA to recognize their participation in the program and agree to include a link to AOPA’s website where their report is posted.
The reports will be posted in the AOPA Airport Directory under the school’s business listing, where you can search by airport ID, name, city, or state. We are planning to include the reports on the Flight Training Experience Survey and Awards page in the near future.
Reports will be posted for approximately one (1) year. They will be replaced when the following year’s Customer Feedback Reports are available to be posted.
The 2023 survey should take you about 10 minutes to complete.
This is an opportunity to share your flight training experience. Whether you’ve had a great experience or a challenging one, AOPA wants to hear about it. Let others know how well your school or instructor is doing, and how they can improve.
You’ve spent countless hours studying and flying, working closely with your flight instructor and/or flight school. Sharing the good and bad aspects of your training will help AOPA develop materials to support CFIs and flight schools as they work to improve the training process.
Instructors and flight schools receiving at least five valid survey responses will be issued a report card showing them their strengths and weaknesses. This anonymized feedback helps training providers understand how they can provide better training experiences in the future. Also, flight schools receiving at least 10 valid survey responses will be eligible for an award.
When you complete the survey, you’ll have the opportunity to enter the 2023 AOPA Flight Training Experience Sweepstakes and become eligible to win one of many valuable prizes!
Complete the survey and receive 10% off your purchase! You can never have enough pilot gear!
The Flight Training Experience Survey and Awards are part of the You Can Fly program, powered by AOPA. You Can Fly is a comprehensive set of initiatives designed to get people flying and keep them flying. The Flight Training Experience Survey and Awards support that effort by recognizing flight schools and instructors that deliver exceptional training experiences. Click here to read the Flight Training Experience Research.
The You Can Fly program is made possible by generous donations to the AOPA Foundation. To make a contribution, and have your gift matched by the Ray Foundation, visit aopafoundation.org/challenge
