Working to Create Resources for Independent Flight Instructors

Adriana Barragan saw an issue within the flight training community nearly three years ago and founded Orka to stop it.

No, the name is not based on the whale (although my thoughts went there, too)—ORKA is a Swedish word meaning to cope or to have the energy to achieve. This symbolizes exactly what Barragan will need to accomplish her mission. As a flight instructor, Barragan saw first-hand how difficult it was to be independent. She witnessed prepared, willing flight instructors who didn’t have the time or resources to succeed. With experience under her belt, she wanted to help as much as possible, but simply offering advice would not prevent the issue from spreading.

Her company, ORKA, is an all-in-one management system for flight instructors with small businesses. It contains integrated tools for scheduling, marketing, and training. Barragan also mentioned that she is working with the NVIDIA Inception program to introduce AI software, but in her words, “this is just the beginning.”

One of Barragan’s main aspirations is to keep the service affordable. She explained that they “want to be able to help the community” as much as possible by not charging subscriptions or extensive fees. This aims to help new flight schools expand as much as possible while on limited revenue. Her end goal for ORKA will take time. She is currently working with a team of 2 software engineers, all of which spend every day improving and expanding the program.

“At the end of the day,” she states, “we want to be able to strengthen the community of Aviation educators... whether they want to teach for pleasure or to make a living from their flight training business full-time. We want to bring equity back to instructors.”

FMI: www.flyorka.com