AOPA Diagnoses Aviation Ills with Research

Reading that AOPA has commissioned an ambitious research project to diagnose the ills that have been decimating the American pilot population for decades, a visceral first reaction was “finally!”

The project’s announcement rightly said that people like me have been alluding to the various training traumas that result in the majority of students bleeding out of aviation before getting their certificates. We’ve wanted the hard facts, but lacked the resources needed to discern them.

Fortunately, AOPA has the necessary resources, so better late than never. AOPA said its “systematic qualitative and quantitative study” focused on “student pilots (current and lapsed), pilots, flight instructors, and flight school managers.”

With eager impatience I await the details, which AOPA says it will reveal during the AOPA Aviation Summit’s keynote address at 0900 Pacific on November 11. Unable to attend, I’ll tune into AOPA Live.

Along with its diagnosis AOPA will reveal its treatment plans for for the ills it qualitatively quantifies. As the news item’s headline said, “AOPA embarks on quest to fix flight training,”

To which the visceral reaction was “really?” In my experience pilots and flight schools have always been reluctant and recalcitrant patients, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep trying to get them to develop better habits. — Scott Spangler