I recently posted a comment on another blog, “Stop Loss: AOPA Aims to Get More Students to Finish Line”. Robert Goyer’s entry discussed AOPA’s recent study on the state of flight training: “The Flight Training Experience: A Survey of Students, Pilots, and Instructors” (October 2010).
One of Goyer’s statements resonated with me:
If I had to reduce the findings to one statement it would be that customers expect to be treated well and to get what they’re paying for, which is to get the thrill and reward of learning to fly. They should expect nothing less.
My comment:
I appreciated your use of the term customer, as it speaks to a particular – if not explicitly stated – viewpoint on student pilots. The students need to be understood as both learners, but also as customers. Something I would term “student-customer.” Ultimately, the problem is not cost per se, but rather value to the customer. Value creation for the customer remains transparent to the student, and incomprehensible to the flight school – precisely because the flight school treats students as students only, and students view themselves as customers first, and students second (they can’t help it – society programs them to think that way). Consequently, flight schools generally do not focus on 2 critical areas of Value Creation:
1. For student-customers: flight training programs of the highest quality and value
2. For CFIs: fostering a safe, secure, professionally challenging, and rewarding flight school environment – which in turn helps to create value for the customer.Once flight schools get it through their heads that these two areas must be addressed, then student-customer (note the purposeful inclusion of the word “customer” rather than simply “student”) retention will increase. Until then, my best wishes to AOPA’s newest endeavor. I’m afraid I remain skeptical.
I’ve made similar assertions on other blogs: as consumers, we pay more for higher value. Flight schools must recognize that students come to them with high, and sometimes poorly defined, expectations. Developing a flight training program that first assists students in articulating personal goals, and then couples that with providing them with the highest quality training is likely to succeed because it has created value for the customer.
OK, but I’m willing to bet that not all student-customers have the same high expectations as perhaps you have. Some of them just want to get up there and have fun. I suppose I should read the parent article, a study.
Second, I’m sure the quality of the instructors varies widely. As with higher education, there’s a range and you get what you pay for. Some people can fly, but can they teach? In addition, perhaps the better ones go where they can get top dollar. Are you willing to pay them?
Yep.
1. Most flight instructors teach to rack of the hours they are federally required to attain prior to flying commercially. Not dissimilar to graduate students with zero interest in a topic teach 101 courses in order to maintain a fellowship.
2. Yes, many student pilots just want to get up in the air for awhile: that’s why flight schools should help students articular their goals. This way you don’t have to worry about just saying someone is a “drop out”. . . if they never intended to really go the distance in the first place.
3. Paying more for better *should* be expected! The problem is that most flight schools just don’t “get” that by investing in a better environment (pay/benefits/training/school management) for their employees (the CFIs), they will ultimately create better quality for their customers.
All students are customers…paying in some way for what is taught and hopefully learned.
Customers also pay more for faster in addition to more value. Three ways to get something done: Fast, Expensive, Good,,,you only get to pick two, I get the third.
My comment was about Continental during the last few years I was regularly flying finally started referring in their announcements about customers as opposed to passengers. Passengers are generally passive (people riding in your car); customers should be active (people who ride planes have a choice).