Surprisingly Little New Information Presented and Few Possible Fixes... Why?

At the 2010 AOPA event in Long Beach CA, the organization, while attempting to reorient itself under the somewhat testy leadership of Craig Fuller, held a symposium looking into the current state of the flight training industry.

While such attention is always welcome, the feedback ANN heard over and over (and over) again, was that little info was presented and even less was presented in terms of potential solutions. Regardless of that, ANN spent some time with AOPA staffers (who definitely know the topic and have worked hard on these issues), in order to get a baseline look at the info that they presented this year.

Meanwhile; just down the road and in separate facilities, the folks of the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators held their own meetings... which were a bit more dramatic, informative and tuned to looking at the kind of serious change that may be necessary to get flight training transitioned successfully into the 21st century.

Most important, SAFE announced a major gathering, a GA Pilot Training Reform Symposium, for the spring of 2011 with the potential to recraft and retask much of the flight training industry. Though one wonders why AOPA did not do all that they could to embrace and incorporate the SAFE personnel and agenda into the AOPA events...

Here, in three parts, was the AOPA presentation on the flight training biz... and while much of it is data we have heard year after year, we do see a value in reviewing it now in order to see if additional dialogue might develop toward problem solving for an industry that seems in significant need of new and renewed attention to solving problems that have imperiled it for decades.

Let us know what YOU think...

FMI: www.safepilots.org, www.aopa.org, www.aero-tv.net, www.youtube.com/aerotvnetwork, http://twitter.com/AeroNews