-Gordon Baxter

We were pleasantly surprised to hear from a number of schools that were open and candid about their newfound experience with the LSA platform, and its worth to them from a business standpoint. We heard comments like these at the Sebring event from school owners:

• “Our LSA program has brought increasing numbers of 20-30 somethings who are ‘passionate pilots’ that are excited to start training, they complete their training with greater frequency, and continue to fly and rent (post-rating) with a greater frequency than we’ve seen in recent years.”
• “New customers like the ramp appeal of LSA. It doesn’t look like your Grand-Dad’s airplane.”
• “The cost factors (vs. returns) for both the operator and students/renters is very attractive.”

For the first time in a while, we’ve heard flight schools use really good words like growth and adding airplanes in conversations we’ve had with them about LSA use.

It’s not all milk and honey.

LSA's are already proving their worth with increasing the number of customers that flight schools get and keep.

LSA airframe placement in flight schools can sometimes incur challenges that aircraft certificated in other categories do not face. These challenges can include:

• Third party lenders are sometimes less willing to offer a loan on a Light-Sport Aircraft vs. a conventionally certificated airplane for the purposes of that aircraft entering a flight school on a leaseback or aircraft management agreement vis a vis an (other) party owner.
• Most lenders do not have strong data that shows what the true market value of a 3-5+ year old airplane is, resulting in a lower level of confidence about its overall residual value. We want to add that they don’t have it because it many cases it doesn’t exist yet.
• Lenders are sometimes less certain about the overall robustness of a particular LSA design, and its suitability for the flight training environment.
• Some decision makers within the flight training industry believe that LSA’s aren’t a “real” airplane, and shy away from them.
• Presently, over 70 manufacturers are continuing to seek a toe-hold in the North American marketplace. Basic business economics might dictate that perhaps not all of them will ultimately have longevity in North America. Some potential buyers are concerned that if a manufacturer pulls out of North America, their airframe will not be supported domestically, or at all.

Some of these challenges are endemic to the introduction of any new variable within an established system, and will eventually work themselves out. Conversely, we feel that a few of these hurdles require a closer look by those within the industry that seek to further the LSA platform.

The industry’s voice.

Recently, we had a chance to visit with Dan Johnson, President of LAMA, the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association about some of these challenges. “I think the important thing to remember is that the LSA marketplace is still a very new industry.”  We agree. Rome sure wasn’t built in a day.  It’s been a while since a new category of airplane has been released to the general public. Combine the newness of this industry, the general economic volatility we’ve seen in the past few years, and the regulatory issues surrounding LSA that have left some (including the FAA) scratching their heads. From where we sit, it’s clear that the introduction of LSAs to the flight training industry will continue to be a process rather than an event.

When we asked Mr. Johnson about the question of LSA robustness for flight training, he agreed that “not every LSA design was well suited for primary flight training.”  We discussed  the possibility of the LSA industry adopting a method of pragmatic and unbiased reporting method for LSA designs that were in use as training platforms. Adopting a system which published factual data that related to the amount of total time an aircraft has been in training service, its total number of takeoff and landing cycles, and any unscheduled maintenance it may have incurred due to its use as a trainer would provide meaningful metrics and would beneficial to the industry. While these data or structured testimonials wouldn’t be conclusive proof that a given design is eminently well suited for training, they could provide valuable steering guidance for schools considering  a particular airframe that could work for their needs.

Flight School Mindset(s).

In the past few years, I’ve also heard  a number of things from various flight schools about LSAs that have stuck with me:

• “We don’t want to offer LSA flight training because we already offer a premium product via our conventionally certificated airplanes, and to do so would be a step back for us.”
• “They’re flimsy and not a real airplane.”
• “We don’t know how to work on these things.”

We get it. The transition isn’t easy. It’s only natural to resist change. Many flight school owner/operators have zero time in any LSA. Also, many owners have a now-significantly-devalued investment in their conventionally certificated airplanes, and are reluctant to cash out of them to grow into an LSA fleet until that changes. The key for many in our industry who sit at the helm of a flight school is to simply open the door to the possibility of this design as a money maker and growth opportunity from a business perspective.

A case study: Guidance Aviation | Prescott, AZ

Earlier this month, we had the chance to visit with the folks at Guidance Aviation in Prescott, AZ about their newly minted LSA program. President John Stonecipher shared with us how he arrived in the LSA training marketplace and some other key points of the Guidance LSA program:

“For us, the transition was easy. Because of our experience with rotary wing training, in particular the R22, the utilization of a very light, robust, and simple airframe for primary training was an easy and familiar choice. New students seem to really like the sleek lines and relatively low cost of our Piper Sport LSA.”

Do you accomplish instrument training in your LSA? If so, how much?

“Instrument training? Absolutely. Again, for us there were a lot of analogies to the standard rotary wing training model. Many helo training operators may not have a ship that is certified to fly into actual IMC, but do have one that is well equipped to conduct instrument training in (with the student utilizing a view limiting device.) So, for us, it was apples to apples with the LSA program rollout. To date, we’ve had a number of students conduct their entire Instrument Rating course (as well as the checkride itself) in our LSA. Because our LSA has a coupled autopilot, they actually shoot one approach on the Instrument checkride with the autopilot coupled up. It’s a really great training tool for us.”

What about scheduled and unscheduled maintenance costs with the LSA?

Jason Kidd, Guidance’s Director of Maintenance, answered this question for us. “100 hour inspections/annuals typically take 50% of the time that a conventionally certificated airplane takes, allowing the airplane to get back into service very quickly, and reducing maintenance overhead costs per hour flown. Almost everything on the LSA airplane costs less, and the overall maintenance thus far has been straightforward and predictable for us.”

What advice do you have for other schools who are not sure about evolving to an LSA training model?

“We firmly believe that LSA training is the future of GA flight training, and that now is the time to get into it. Many flight school owners have airplanes in their fleet that have realized  a significant devaluation in the past few years. These owners tend to hope that airframe values will climb back up to where they once were.” (He went on to add that this hope may take several years to become realized in actual dollars and cents, if at all.) “If you can embark into an LSA program, the marketplace is ready. It’s already paying dividends for us, and we feel that for many schools it would do the same.” We agree with Mr. Stonecipher. The question for many schools now seems to be their willingness and determination to make this shift happen within their organization, and to become part of the early majority for LSA utilization.

Final Thoughts.

Change can sometimes be a daunting proposition. We feel that the shift to LSA for flight schools could be made easier if the road was a little smoother for them in the following areas:

1. Lending for LSAs becomes easier, both for flight schools and private individuals. Like you, we read the news and fully understand that lending and credit issues extend far beyond our industry. Predictably, those manufacturers who have strong and creative programs in place to assist flight schools and leaseback-minded individuals with LSA purchases will continue to see good results.
2. Industry adopts a pragmatic and fair system of  classifying LSA designs for their suitably in primary flight training. Whether this is a function of ASTM, a LAMA program, or it comes from somewhere else- a program like this could go a long way towards increasing overall sales and mitigating uncertainty with flight school decision makers.
3. Manufacturers should focus intently on developing and enhancing partnerships with flight training outlets. A few manufacturers already do a great job with this piece via a dedicated “pilot center” program. It seems that other manufacturers may have relied more heavily  on traditional sales and marketing channels.
4. If you have a history of not utilizing light-sport for training within your school, re-examine why this is. Properly utilized, this platform seems to be a home run for those who endeavor to put it on their line. If you don’t have time in any LSA, endeavor to go out and get time in at least three models.

“We are coming into a new era of flight, an era in which all past conception of time and distance is changing and changing at a very, very rapid rate.”

-Allan Lockheed, 1953

One of my goals is to help bring flying back to the forefront of people’s minds and to show them that becoming a licensed pilot is within reach!

My new book, You Can Be a Pilot is a short and easy-to-read book geared at anyone who has looked skyward at a passing plane and wondered what it would be like to fly. I’ve purposely written it in a conversational style with very little aviation buzz-words and jargon. It’s meant to be an encouraging read that will motivate and inspire the potential pilot to take their first step to earning their wings.
In this book, I walk through the flight training a process and answer 25 of the most common questions people have about learning to fly:

• What type of plane will I fly?
• How long will it take?
• What should I look for in an instructor?
• What’s it like to solo?
• What’s the practical test like?

My other hope for this book is that it can be a tool for flight schools and flight instructors. It would make a great gift following a discovery flight. It’d be a great resource to pass to someone you know that has expressed interest in flying, such as a walk-in at the local flight school. It’s a book that can be used to take the message, the opportunity of flight training, to others!

You Can Be a Pilot is available at Amazon.com by clicking here >>> As a bonus, the audio version is available as a FREE downloadable podcast to anyone who purchases the book.

The book’s website, http://youcanbeapilot.com is also developing into a place where potential pilots can ask questions and pilots can encourage others by telling their stories.

Please pass the word, and if I can assist or encourage you in any way, please feel free to contact me at chris@myflightcoach.com

Keep Flying and Telling the Story!
Chris

Chris Findley (CFI, CFII) is a guest blogger for MACH1 and a flight instructor at Wings of Eagles School of Flight at the John Tune airport (KJWN) in Nashville, TN.  He is founder of www.myflightcoach.com and a graduate of Auburn University’s Aviation Management program. He and his wife Sheryl and boys Aidan and Evan live in Nashville.

by Chris Findley, CFI, CFII

Many flight schools operate on the same paradigm used in the movie “Field of Dreams”.  You may recall Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner) is inspired by a vision to build a baseball field in the middle of his Iowa cornfield.  Against the wishes of more rational minds he does it anyway following the dramatically whispered mantra, “If you build it, they will come.”

That seems to have been prevailing model for flight schools: scrounge up a couple of planes, find a few CFIs desperate for flight time, get a sign made and you’re in business!  “If you build it, they will come.”

The trouble is that many schools are learning that what worked for Ray Kinsella doesn’t work anymore for flight training.  At one time, the “Field of Dreams” model was enough to allow a flight school to keep open its doors.  But that simply isn’t the case anymore.  Today’s flight school must understand that it is competing for the attention and business of the public which is just as prone to buy a Harley Davidson motorcycle or a bass boat as it is to take flying lessons.  It must embrace a more proactive way of thinking and behaving in the marketplace in order to attract and retain the business it so desperately desires.

We need to understand target markets and red velvet ropes.  Here are a few questions that Flight Schools may want to ask:

Who is your ideal client? Review your students from the last year with your staff and identify the best students.  “Best Students” here covers a variety of characteristics.  It should include attitude and willingness to learn, financial means to train at an ideal pace, a schedule conducive to training, a sense of responsibility and professionalism.  And ask yourself who you enjoyed flying with and who responded well to the training.  The answers to these questions will help you figure out your ideal clients.  These are the people you need to actively seek in your marketing efforts.  You may fly with anyone who wanders in, but you should aim to attract those with whom you work best.

Why aim for a particular kind of client?  Because it is what is best for your business.  Look again at the traits outlined above.  Would you rather have 25 students who take a random lesson here and there, fail to show, and are lackadaisical in their attitude or would you rather have 15 hard-charging committed students who are serious about their flight training?  Then go get them!

What is your target market? Having seriously thought about your ideal clients, the question now turns to where to find them.  Your challenge now is to put your services in front of that group of people (target market) most likely to contain your perfect clients.  Begin asking other questions about your ideal clients: Do they seem to come from a particular industry, profession, or location?  Are they within a common age range, social group, or salary range?

The more common data you can piece together, the more you will see your target market emerge.  It may be that your target market has chosen you.  Once you identify your target market, you can begin to reach out to this market with intention and focus.

Why would your target market use your services? Michael Port in his book, Book Yourself Solid, notes, “You must offer what your potential clients want to buy, not what you want to sell or think they should want to buy.  You must be able to look at your services from your client’s perspective.”1

So as you look at your target market which contains your ideal clients, first try to examine why they would choose to learn to fly.  What are the underlying needs that flying meets?  What desires do your potential customers have that learning to fly will fulfill?  The answers to these questions will help you craft your approach in marketing your services.  When you begin to really study and understand your client’s motivation, then you can begin to help them see why you are the best school/instructor to provide them with these services.

All of this helps form what Port calls a “Red Velvet Rope” policy.  The image should be one of seeing your customers as VIPs arriving at an invitation-only party.  They are hand-picked.  They are the right people in the right place at the right time.  These are the people you dream of having as customers.  These are the pilot-trainees that you enjoy training.  The “Red Velvet Rope” simply is a way of being intentional about attracting, engaging, and retaining these ideal clients.  So be intentional about who you want to work with, why, and how you can best serve them with your business.

It sure beats plowing up the cornfield hoping someone will show up.

Chris Findley (CFI, CFII) is a flight instructor in the Nashville area.  He is also an author, speaker, and life/ career coach.  You can find him online at www.myflightcoach.com & www.chrisfindley.com or on Twitter @myflightcoach.

1.  Port, Michael Book Yourself Solid (John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ: 2006) Page 22

— Captain Richard de Crespigny, Qantas Flight 32, PA to the A380 cabin following the explosion of number 2 engine shortly after departure from Changi International Airport, Singapore, November 4th,2010.

Thanksgiving is next Thursday. The largest shopping day of the year is the day after. As always, shoppers are looking for bargains. They are also looking for unique gifts to give.

Most every flight school in the US offers some sort of introductory flight or initial lesson package, which can make a great holiday gift.

If you haven’t tried this already, it can be a powerful marketing tool for helping to get new people into your school for their first flight in a GA airplane.

Make sure your intro flights can easily be given as gifts this year!

This Holiday season, find a way to get your school in front of shoppers that are looking for something unique to give to a loved one or family member.

Here are some ideas that you might want to try:

• Set up a temporary kiosk at a mall and sell gift certificates on site.
• Advertise your gift certificates in the newspaper or on Groupon.
• Position an ad for your gift certificate prominently on your school’s website.
• Use a broadcast email to let your current customers know that holiday gift certificates are for sale.
• We recommend that you allow one person on an intro flight for one gift certificate.

Make sure that your gift certificate documents are professional looking and appear “gift-worthy”. Ensure that your certificates clearly explain what is being offered and any limitations to the offer. Make sure that they also clearly display your school’s contact information.

Happy Holidays!

A nice thought, but not an honest reality for most students and renters (too bad). In previous posts, we’ve talked about the value of social media, broadcast emails, and other e-tools that you can use for keeping your school (and aviation) in front of existing and future customers.

An often overlooked tool for reaching out to your customers is a sponsored feed of  liveatc.net. We’re willing to bet that most of you have heard of this service, and have maybe even used it. Here’s why we think this service can benefit your school from a marketing perspective:

1. For those of us who have to work at our desks more than we fly, we often crave getting back into the air. Having a liveatc feed at our desk keeps the rest of us thinking about aviation and wishing we were back in the air.
2. If you sponsor a feed, liveatc has been known to give you some ‘free’ advertising bandwidth on their site.
   

   LiveATC helps to keep your customers close to the action.

3. Mobile feeds are also available through an iPhone or iPad app.
4. With correct supervision from an authorized instructor, it can also be used as an effective training and debriefing tool. (Did you know that archives of feeds are available?)

If the CTAF, TWR, GND, App/Dep or other frequencies are not already sponsored at your airport, pick one that’s practical for you, and sponsor it. It doesn’t cost anything to sponsor a feed, other than your initial investment in scanner equipment.

Here’s how to do it, and how make it work for your school…

• Research and see what frequency(ies) are not already sponsored at your airport. Some feeds are an amalgamation of frequencies. We think that having one freq per feed is the right choice. For those new to aviation, ATC speak is confusing enough for the newbie without having to listen to multiple freqs at once. Keep it simple for the less than 100h crowd…
• Your investment of equipment can be less than $200, and maybe less than $100. You’ll need a aviation band scanner, antenna, and patch cable to tie the scanner output into a computer “line-in” plug port on your existing internet connected computer.
• Contact liveatc.net support and let them know you’re interested in sponsoring a feed for your airport. They will send you the software (it’s really small and easy to use) and can help you with any technical difficulties you may encounter in setting up your feed.
• Once your feed is established, use all the tools at your disposal to share with your customers the new feed. Show them what they can do with it.

There aren’t many things in aviation that are free.  This service comes as close to free as you’re likely to find.

We hope this kind of situation never comes up… and for most of you, it never will. However, some of you may have already encountered an exceptionally difficult customer whose behaviors jeopardized either the safety, security, or professional atmosphere of your business.

Everyone has a bad day now and then. This isn’t who we’re talking about.

How you handle tough rental or training customers makes a difference.

Here are three brief case studies of customers I’ve encountered in the course of being a CFI who were difficult, and how things were handled with them:

1.  ”Steve”, a long-time student and renter at a medium sized flight school.

Steve arrived at a school I was teaching for, and his scheduled instructor had no-showed due to a bona-fide schedule mix-up that was more the school’s fault than anyone else’s. Steve was looking to accomplish an IPC this day, and seemed a little bit irritated, but not overly upset. I agreed to fill-in for the missing CFI. We walked out to the aircraft together,  and I asked him if he had already accomplished the pre-flight. He replied “yes.” Since I had not flown with him before, I did a quick check of the aircraft including a check of the engine oil level. Steve challenged me on why I did this, and he reminded me that we were already late for getting started. I finished my walk-around, apologized again for the schedule mix up, and we climbed in the airplane. Once we were in the airplane, Steve opened up the fully bound POH for the airplane and his full binder of Jepp plates and placed them both on his lap. As we went through the engine-start checklist, I began to notice that Steve  was fumbling through some items, and missing others. He also had some tart B.O. that seemed a bit odd for 10a in the morning, even for Florida. As we taxied out into a very crowded ramp area, Steve initially had the airplane and was tuning the radios then looked down to flip through his Jepp plates. I gently applied the brakes and reminded him that he must look outside if he was going to continue taxiing the airplane. I also asked him if he’d like me to taxi out while he took a moment to get more organized. He begrudgingly agreed to stop being distracted and let me know that he wanted to taxi the airplane. Ok. We had not gone another 50 feet on the crowded ramp when he again had his head back in his Jepp plates. At this point, I applied the brakes and stopped the airplane. I suggested that we go back inside, get re-organized, and start the flight again in 15-20 minutes. Steve’s response to me was “I’m the Pilot-in-Command, and we’re going to go fly.”  My reply to him was to pull the mixture handle to idle cut-off, and end the flight on the ramp. “Steve, do you need some help taking your gear inside?” Steve’s next choice of words were something I won’t repeat here. He got his gear, went inside and proceeded to chew the owner out for everything that had gone wrong that morning.

What I hadn’t been told about Steve was that in recent months, he had a history of bizarre and unusual behavior patterns with the dispatch people at this school. Other instructors that had flown with him also remarked that he was a “little off.”

Amazingly, Steve was allowed to continue flying at this school for the next several months. His tenure as a customer finally ended when he had a bizarre and upsetting outburst with some of the desk staff at the adjoining FBO. It didn’t seem to anyone that Steve was ever a security threat in any way. However, he was clearly a problem customer that school leadership seemed reluctant to reign in because of his history of spending money.

2. “Marjorie”, a long-time pilot looking for a Flight Review.

Marjorie and her husband arrived at our school in a humble Cherokee 140 that they’d owned together for years. They were well past retirement age, and were  flying this airplane around the country really enjoying themselves. As Marjorie and I sat down to accomplish the oral portion of her review, I asked her about her experience as a pilot in the 140. She remarked that her “husband did most of the flying” and that she wanted to start doing more of it. Ok.

The oral portion of her review lasted about 90 minutes. It was acceptable, but underwhelming. We reviewed the logbooks for her airplane, and they seemed in order from an airworthiness standpoint. Once in the air, we began to go through the basic maneuvers for a private pilot. It became abundantly clear that Marjorie was doing very little flying in this 140. She struggled with everything that wasn’t straight and level flight or standard turns, left or right. During a departure stall, she nearly had us in a spin to the left. She was unable to figure out how to enter the traffic pattern an untowered airport. It was obvious that she was not ready for this flight review.

I suggested that we wrap up. I landed the airplane and we went back inside the school. I asked her husband to join us. I explained to both of them that I could not sign off on a Flight Review based on Marjorie’s performance (or lack thereof) in the air. They seemed upset, but not overly so. I told them I would charge them for the day’s ground and flight time. However, if Marjorie got more practiced, I would be glad to finish the flight review pro bono at a later date. I also availed myself to help get Marjorie up to speed between now and that time at my normal rate.

We never heard from them again.

3. “Tim”, a High School Senior who was unable or unwilling to engage.

Tim’s was training at a small airport in a small town. He was a good kid, but a really poor flight student. Tim’s Dad was prominent clergy member in town. In appreciation of this fact, the local bank President offered to fully underwrite Tim’s flight training. From where I sat, Tim could’ve cared less about flight training. He never did his homework, he refused to engage or show the slightest desire to make his own judgements(good or bad) in the cockpit. I had to repeatedly ask him to stop looking out the side window.

So- Fire him as a student? For those who are showing a simple lack of motivation, I almost always think this is a bad idea. Instead, I turned up the homework level on this student, and made it clear that if his ground school homework was not complete prior to our scheduled flights that we would substitue the flight portion of our lesson with review and one on one ground school. Still, no impact. Ultimately, he stopped showing for lessons.

Just because the time wasn’t right (now) for Tim to conduct flight training, it doesn’t mean that he couldn’t or wouldn’t pick it up in 10, 15, or 20 years from now. At that time, I’d want him to look back on his only previous experience with a CFI and hopefully realize that it was his decision to stop training, and that his CFI didn’t quit on him.

::

Three very different customer service issues with three different outcomes. In the first scenario, many steps could have been taken to make sure that the customer was in fact ok to keep flying. Or, asked to train and rent elsewhere.

In the second scenario, maintaining a helpful and positive approach to a student or customer that is struggling with their proficiency was important for them, and for the business.

In the third scenario, not firing a student struggling with the flight training environment was the right choice.

With these three scenarios in mind, what are some best practices to keep in mind when dealing with challenging customer service situations?

1. The first step should always be to deal with the customer in a respectful and positive way. Even if they aren’t treating you the same way. Talk to them the way you’d want to be talked to.
2. LISTEN. Sometimes people that are having a bad day just need to be heard. This doesn’t mean that if you listen you are obligated to try and fix their problem. If practical, give them a safe and easy way to vent away from your other customers. Sometimes, people who are difficult at the airport may be that way because they are trying to do something beyond their level of skill. This is a good opportunity for you, if you play your cards correctly, and learn why they are the way they are.
3. Identify people that exhibit a real pattern of challenging or odd behavior. Make sure that your staff knows who they are. Make sure they feel empowered to speak up  when they see this behavior. Also make sure they they are no less professional with this customer.
4. After you’ve identified a challenging customer, ask yourself how you can help them be less difficult when they are renting/training with you before you speak with them.
5. The next step is to counsel the customer (in-person, if possible) about what concerns you. Be professional, and have someone else with you when you do this. Address your concerns and issues in a friendly and unthreatening way. Be ready to listen, as they might give you clues you’d  previously missed.
6. A good technique might be to offer an hour or two of ground school at a greatly reduced rate, if it fits the situation. This can potentially help diffuse the fight or flight response in those that might be operating well beyond their skill or comfort level.

What are some possible signs of a problem or challenging rental customer? (Beyond the obvious ones.)

• Overpowering sense of entitlement.
• Often arranges to rent after hours or at the very end of the day, to avoid staff.
• Rents from you often, but has Flight Reviews and IPC’s done with other CFI’s or schools.
• Returns airplanes after hours.
• Airplanes returned with far too little gas or oil on board.
• You routinely have to ask them for updates on things like medical certificates, Flight Reviews, or currency requirements.
• They always seem to be having a bad day.

Of course, these are just few guidelines and they don’t always apply. But when I’ve seen problem customers in the past, they’ve usually exhibited one or more of these traits or behaviors on a consistent basis.

All efforts to correct issues with a customer that concerns you have failed. How do you handle it?

• Establish a private communication log and keep the facts about your communications with them in writing.
• Notify the customer in writing (snail mail) that you choose not to do business with them. You don’t necessarily owe them an explanation as to why. In most cases, you are better off not stating why. Thank them for their past business. Return any and all money on account at that time.
• You may also want to call them and let them know the letter is on it’s way to them and explain the separation. However, if they have  a history of being confrontational or verbally abusive towards you or your staff, then consider skipping this step.

We wrote this post because we think CFIs and Flight Schools often have three modes of thought when it comes to problem renters and students-

1) “They’re a frequent renter, and we need the revenue.” Do I really need to go into why sweeping this under the carpet is a bad idea?

2) “Just keep flying with that guy/gal.” Also a poor choice. As we are fond of saying elsewhere in our training, “if you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting. If you don’t try and change up what you’re doing, then you are MILKING them.

3) “Fire them as a customer. They’re not trainable.” If you go down this path without further consideration, or without trying a new approach, you’ve quit on your student, and they know it. Don’t give up on your student.

In the flight training environment, SAFE and LEGAL always come first. Period. Beyond that, your skills compassion, and courage to be able do the right thing (even if it is the difficult thing) play a huge role in the final outcome with your customers.

]]> http://mach1consultants.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=200 0 http://mach1consultants.com/blog/?p=617 http://mach1consultants.com/blog/?p=617#comments Mon, 25 Oct 2010 17:08:43 +0000 P. Jerry Lee http://mach1consultants.com/blog/?p=617 If you watch any amount of TV these days, you know that “reality” TV is everywhere. It’s cheap to produce, and some shows have been fortunate enough to get stellar ratings. It’s the ultimate in high-concept, relatively low budget programming.

One reality show that seems to be doing well is CBS’ Undercover Boss. If you haven’t seen it yet, the premise is simple- take a CEO or other high level executive out of the boardroom, give them a pseudo-identity,  and put him or her to work in a rank and file role where a strong back and a significant amount of physical hustle are required. They spend a week working this “real” job and learn what it takes to be successful at an entry level role with their own company.

Often, in the last segment of the show, when the CEO’s “co-workers” for the week show up for debriefing at company HQ there is a “Brady Bunch” ending…CEO learns and admits that life is really tough at the bottom. He or she admits that some of the policies, principles, and ideals that upper management thought were part of the everyday corporate culture are, in fact, not.

Then comes the fixes and the accolades: Middle management is sometimes blamed. New healthcare initiatives are started. Raises, scholarships and bonuses are given to the “co-workers”, and vacations are sometimes handed out. Promises to change and make things better are spoken. Good.

The buck stops with you.

When I watch this show, I like to watch the faces of the others in the boardroom when the last segment of the show begins. This where the CEO starts talking about “what he or she learned during the past week”. Those other execs, they often look a little scared.

While I don’t doubt that these CEO’s are sincere in what they say or do on the show, I am more apt to question anything that is supposedly “real” but at the same time videotaped and subject to other people editing the final footage. How differently would you do your job if it was being continuously videotaped each day?

What, as flight school owners, can we learn from the “CEO revelations” that come out of this show?

1. Delegation should be a leadership tool that you use to help you get closer to your customers, not further away from them. The buck stops with you. The more time you can take to visit (one one one) with your customers and students, the more you’ll come to understand where they are with your school.
2. Talk to, and work with your rank and file personnel regularly. I once knew a flight school owner that  hid in his glass office and worked on spreadhseets and other busy work all day long, every day. He had not a clue what was really going on in his school. As CEO, you should interact with your instructors regularly, even if you’re not a CFI yourself. Backseat a lesson every now and then. The more frequently you can do this the more likely they’ll be to share unfiltered thoughts and ideas with you. You really do WANT these thoughts from them.
3. Give up the notion that “we’re training our (rank and file) CFI instructors to go work for the airlines.” Sometimes, but not always I hear this through gritted teeth from owner/operators. Three words come to mind here: GET OVER IT. I am fully aware that the first few years at a regional airline are not much better pay-wise than being a reasonably successful flight instructor. But, there is some upward mobility with an airline. Working for a school, and being a CFI all by itself isn’t usually a livable income. In flight instructor families, spouses often pick up the financial slack, and they (rightfully) would like to see a career path for the CFI that leads to some kind of upward mobility.
4. Make the path for upward mobility and financial reward clear within your business. As a CEO, maintaining the esprit de corps of your troops is one of the most important things that you can do as the Chief Leadership Officer. It’s not only good for business, it also flows like a river towards the happiness of your customer base. Have structured quarterly reviews. Explain opportunities available. Be available to them.                     Happy Employees = Happy Customers = More Customers = More Profit.
5. Appreciate your team. Never ever forget to show them how much you appreciate what they do. This doesn’t have to mean money. It can be any number of creative methods you use to sincerely show that you appreciate them and their hard work.

While I never got to see one airborne, I have been fortunate enough to see 4 of them in museums around the country. It’s an amazing airplane.

Here are some little (or lesser) known facts about this airplane:

• It’s design was accomplished with slide rule calculators, and not computers.
  

  The performance of this unique bird, even some 50 years, later remains unparalleled.

• In cruise flight, the coolest portion of the skin temperature was 450F.

• While some were lost to accidents, not one was ever shot down.

• A significant amount of air was bypassed from the first compressor stage to the afterburner, making the J58 a quasi-ramjet engine.

• The aircraft burned much less fuel towards the top end of its speed range. Low on fuel? Speed up…

• It used JP-7 fuel, which many of you may know that it leaked from its wet wing type fuel tanks while on the ground. JP-7 at most sea level ambient temps was non-flammable and required it to be mixed with a TEB additive to get it ignited. The SR-71 carried just 20 ounces of the TEB fluid on each flight, allowing for 16 ignites.

• It was not uncommon for missions to have 3 to 5 inflight refuelings.

• The JP-7 fuel contained a special cesium additive, making the exhaust plume more stealthy.

• The onboard computers designed to help control the engines were initially analog, and not digital. The first iterations of these computers had trouble keeping up with shock cone placement at cruise speed. As a result, flameouts at Mach 2.x were sometimes common.

• In 1968, the USAF ordered the tooling for these aircraft to be destroyed.

• Habu drivers and the initial Mercury astronauts wore the same kind of pressure suits.

• Stealth was integrated into the design of the airplane.

• A coal slurry based fuel was initially considered for the platform.

• If the thrust capacity from each engine was converted into BHP, it would be about 160K…per side. This is the equivalent of having the engine room of the Queen Mary ocean liner on each wing.

Coast to coast in under 70 minutes.

The coolest fact?—- it was all 1958 technology and ingenuity.