What can WE do to get more pilots in the air?

wbarnhill

wbarnhill

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Something that has bugged me for a while is the fact that there are no advertisements for learning to fly on television. I've yet to see one. Ever. So the question is, how do we expand our ranks as pilots (and thus, our ability to push against things like user fees)? I'd love to see an advertising campaign aimed at getting more people in the air (at least for a discovery flight), but I don't know how well our representative organizations would take to that idea. Another idea I had was a locally advertised community gathering that could be used to introduce people to general aviation and the positive aspects of it, not only to get members of the community interested, but to increase understanding and acceptance of those "little planes". Now, what are some of YOUR ideas to increase the presence of GA and introduce new pilots to the wonders of flight?
 
I have seen BeAPilot ads on the WX channel. But I am not so sure that TV is the right place. Better to be putting ads in magazines such as outdoor life or Forbes. Places where you will hit people how have an interest in exciting things and have the disposable income to do those things.
 
this is true - folks who are adventurous (and will stick with it) don't tend to be heavy TV watchers. (unless you advertised on a channel targeted to outdoor pursuits). Radio may be better - everyone drives. (most everyone).
 
woodstock said:
Radio may be better - everyone drives. (most everyone).
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Everyone that is likely to be a pilot.. :)
 
woodstock said:
Radio may be better - everyone drives. (most everyone).
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Name one radio ad.

I think commercial radio is having a pretty tough time. Lots of people doing the books on CD thing, MP3s/CDs, satellite, etc. Radio ads are being heard less and less. Even when someone has the radio on if commercial start to play they change channels.
 
smigaldi said:
Name one radio ad.
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One local flight school regularly has Discovery Flight ads close to Father's Day and Christmas. It must be somewhat effective because that's where I got my PPL.
 
Brian Austin said:
One local flight school regularly has Discovery Flight ads close to Father's Day and Christmas. It must be somewhat effective because that's where I got my PPL.
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It is expensive and not always the most effective way to reach your target audience for the reason I also outlined. Such as people are not listening as much as you would think. When they do listen the tend to instantly turn off the the radio station when ads come on to another show.

Did you get your PPL there because you heard the ad and went for a discovery flight?

I know a business I am involved with looked at some ads on radio last year and we were really surprised at how ineffective they were. We ended up with billboards and have gotten a great response.
 
smigaldi said:
Did you get your PPL there because you heard the ad and went for a discovery flight?
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No, my wife gave me the discovery flight because we heard the radio ad...and then signed me up for flight lessons after she saw my face when we landed.
 
Brian Austin said:
No, my wife gave me the discovery flight because we heard the radio ad...and then signed me up for flight lessons after she saw my face when we landed.
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So you did get your PPL there as a result of the ad. That is cool.
 
smigaldi said:
I know a business I am involved with looked at some ads on radio last year and we were really surprised at how ineffective they were. We ended up with billboards and have gotten a great response.
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I guess it depends on the listener/driver.

I don't do billboards because I'm driving in heavy traffic at higher speeds. I pay attention to the road around me more than billboards.

But I've purchased a number of things based on radio ads that sparked research. Among them: my workshop (14'x24' building from Tuff Shed), an anti-spam system for the office (Barracuda), a number of art pieces around the house (shows/exhibits advertised on the radio), refrigerator and dishwasher (sale at Lowe's with 0% for six months).
 
Funny story. A couple of guys the used to teach scuba at the dive shop I work at decided to head out on their own. They got it in their craw that the pre-movie ads one sees in the theaters would be a great place to advertise their fledgling scuba training school.

These guys had been driving everyone at the dive shop nuts with their new business venture and were suspected of doing some unethical things like stealing customers and bad mouthing the current staff. Yet they had a deal with the shop owner with renting his equipment for their lessons and bringing people to his store for equipment sales. So he had been kepping them around.

But now that they were about to strike out in a much more overt way and they decided to involve the shop owner. They called for a dinner with him and pitched the idea of their ad with him as a co-investor. The ads would run before the movies for one month, but only in one theater complex, and the cost would be $7000.00. The theater complex was not even in the same city as the dive shop.

The shop owner laughed and said that was more than his entire year's advertising budget. Plus he felt, and I agree, that the ads would not reach the right people. He cited the following:
1. movie attendence is way down
2. People don't bring pens and paper to movie theaters to write down phone numbers they see on ads. If they got the idea to investigate scuba they would look at his billboards or in the yellow pages where he is the only shop listed.
3. The people that do go to a lot of movies are not ones that seek out scube e.g. kids, retirees
4. The ads were too expensive for the limited coverage.

The best part was that these guys had completely expected the shop owner to sign up for the ads and had already signed the contract with the theater. The shop owner expressed concern how if they were going into open competition with him that effective immediately they were no longer on staff. But could continue to rent his facilites at the non-staff rate.

Bottom line, they got ZERO call backs on their ad. $7000 was more money than the two together had grossed the year before at the dive shop, and we are all enjoying our newfound, less stressfull working environment without these guys.

Sorry a bit off topic but I think it is a good story about how you have to be careful about what types of ads you place as the costs can be high and you will not hit your demographic.
 
smigaldi said:
Name one radio ad.

I think commercial radio is having a pretty tough time. Lots of people doing the books on CD thing, MP3s/CDs, satellite, etc. Radio ads are being heard less and less. Even when someone has the radio on if commercial start to play they change channels.
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Valley Aviation in Winchester runs ads nearly daily. I hear it in the morning when I am getting ready for work.
 
One of the local flight schools gave flying lessons to one of the popular local DJ's who then talked about it on the air. It was the most sucessful ad campaign they had ever had and had to increase staff to take care of the increase in pilots training.
 
wbarnhill said:
Now, what are some of YOUR ideas to increase the presence of GA and introduce new pilots to the wonders of flight?
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Leave $100 bills around the airport.

Seriously, it comes down to money, time, and committment. The best thing we as pilots can do is take friends, family, co-workers flying and give them a taste of it. The only successful pilots are those who "get the bug". You can't advertise, incent, or develop that. That is a very personal thing.

Greg
182RG
 
I don't think the FBO's do a good job selling their wares. The attitude I've seen indicates they feel if you're interested you will find them.

Back when I was renting from an FBO at DuPage I went to one of our monthly "fairs" that pop up along the Fox River during the summer. There were car dealerships with booths and cars on display, boat sellers, etc. I approached the FBO owner about setting up a booth on "discover flying" with maybe some films on a TV and "introductory first flight" vouchers. I said I would man it for him for free. He said he would think about it. Never heard from him.

I think the best way to attract pilots is to talk about directly F2F, where they can get a sense of your enthusiasm and talk out their concerns.
 
Why would you want to get more people into aviation?

We are supposed to be an elitist crew, and the fewer of us there are, the more exclusive we become...... ;)

Seriously though, I took my best friend for a flight once, best friend got sick, best friend is not likely to get in a plane again. All family members refuse to go up with me (their ignorance stills makes them believe it's dangerous, although it has been clearly demonstrated that driving is much more dangerous, as we have had near misses on the 10 min drive to the FBO, but I haven't had one incident while flying, appart from my atrosious landings :D

And these days I don't offer rides to anyone. Remember I always have to fly with a CFI ($28/h) and I typically rent the Tommy, but if I want to take someone along, I need to rent the Warrior ($100/h)... I am not in a place where I can afford a lot of that hehehe.
 
I have asked that same question for the last 40 years, the answer, the ad agencies bow to pressure from the industry rags, to dump all aviation advertising into the industry rags, there is no money left for anything else. the result is that we are constantly preaching to the choir and never reaching a vast market, all the while GA is dying on the vine.

I recently had a conversation with AOPA about the new mentoring program, pilots like myself have been mentoring for years, without any awards or recognition needed or wanted in fact i feel that is the only thing keeping GA alive. I questioned them about redirecting advertising to more widely read or viewed venues, you never heard so many reasons why it wouldnt work.

Until the marketing people at the manufacturers start directing the ad agencies to place ad in more widely viewed venues, GA is doomed.
 
smigaldi said:
Lots of people doing the books on CD thing, MP3s/CDs, satellite, etc. Radio ads are being heard less and less. Even when someone has the radio on if commercial start to play they change channels.
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That would be me. I listen to CDs in my own car and when I drive a rental I always switch stations when they start to talk. I don't listen to radio at home either except for the 5 seconds my radio alarm is on before I switch it off.

ggroves said:
Seriously, it comes down to money, time, and committment. The best thing we as pilots can do is take friends, family, co-workers flying and give them a taste of it. The only successful pilots are those who "get the bug". You can't advertise, incent, or develop that. That is a very personal thing.
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If all it took was money there would be many more pilots. But learning to fly takes a lot more commitment than other recreational sports, boating for instance. I've asked a few people who I know have money and some interest in flying if they've ever considered learning. Most of them say that it might be fun, but that they don't have the time to devote to anything like that.
 
wesleyj said:
I have asked that same question for the last 40 years, the answer, the ad agencies bow to pressure from the industry rags, to dump all aviation advertising into the industry rags, there is no money left for anything else. the result is that we are constantly preaching to the choir and never reaching a vast market, all the while GA is dying on the vine.

I recently had a conversation with AOPA about the new mentoring program, pilots like myself have been mentoring for years, without any awards or recognition needed or wanted in fact i feel that is the only thing keeping GA alive. I questioned them about redirecting advertising to more widely read or viewed venues, you never heard so many reasons why it wouldnt work.

Until the marketing people at the manufacturers start directing the ad agencies to place ad in more widely viewed venues, GA is doomed.
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We had the same problem in the scuba industry. All the ads for training, new equipment, and dive travel went to dive magazine. A lot of it still does but finally one of the instructor orgs started placing ads in Outdoor, Men's life, and Travel magazine.

Guess what?

Business increased for all segments of the market except dive magazine ad revenue.

Want to guess what happened next? The dive magazine lowered their rates and sold their magazine as the best way to advertise to all these new divers. So all the training people, equipment companies, and travel orgainzations went back to advertising in the dive mags. So now we are back to a flat growth market for this and other reasons.
 
Given the abysmal service that's provided in aviation (in general, from manufacturer to *many* (but not all) FBOs to incidents like the DC incursions, is it any wonder that folks don't care about flying?

Even those that are excited about it must be determined. Look at the number of threads on the various boards that talk about wanting to give up, poor instruction, beat up airplanes and poor service.

To really get people interested, the industry needs a makeover.
 
wsuffa said:
To really get people interested, the industry needs a makeover.
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For starters, that is Cirrus, Eclipse and, ultimately, SATS. But it is slow going.

I think the big thing is that people are used to "the EASY button." Training? No time. Proficiency? Why bother.

You don't do any "drive planning" for a trip by car or airline, and that is the benchmark most people use when it comes to transportation. Now, if you're talking about flying as a hobby, like scuba or skiing or golf or to a lesser extent boating (cuz fishing has a little practical benefit), then I think it mostly boils down to perceived cost, which may be quite different from actual cost. I mean, how many times have you seen jaws drop over the fact that you "own your very own private airplane, a real one that flies"? People think jet-setting movie stars riding around in Gulfstreams.
 
wsuffa said:
Given the abysmal service that's provided in aviation

Even those that are excited about it must be determined.

To really get people interested, the industry needs a makeover.
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Hey Bill check out this guy he has some new ideas :rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
Ken Ibold said:
For starters, that is Cirrus, Eclipse and, ultimately, SATS. But it is slow going.
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A few years ago Cessna also tried to do this with their Cessna Pilot Centers, New equipment good syllabus, creative financing to own airplanes and other financial incentives. But it seems to have never caught on.

Ken Ibold said:
I think the big thing is that people are used to "the EASY button." Training? No time. Proficiency? Why bother.
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Isn't that what Sport Pilot is all about? The message I hear from the advocates of that certificate is that is fewer hassles than a PPL, easier, more fun, less training. Sounds a lot like someone is trying to build that 'EASY; button. Not sure it is the best thing for the industry but at least it is something.
 
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smigaldi said:
Ken Ibold said:
Sounds a lot like someone is trying to build that 'EASY; button. Not sure it is the best thing for the industry but at least it is something.
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The Recreational rating was supposed to be the 'Easy' button. We see how well that turned out. So far, LSA isn't fulfilling it's promise of 'cheaper' when most entries are in the $80K neighborhood. The LSA aircraft at my school rents for more $$ than the beater 152s do and is almost never in the air.

Flying is neither cheap or easy, compared to motorcycling, boating, RV'ing...and the list goes on. I'm not sure there is a mass marketing appeal to GA. It's all about committment...which makes the money and time seem less important.

Greg
182RG
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Bill said it well, but the fact remains that we are basically rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic at this point with flying.

It took all the gumption and dedication I had to complete my PPL, and I don’t think that many other people are willing, or able to make the sacrifices I made to get the rating. I’ve always been in love with aviation, so getting the rating was really something I wanted to do for a long time. It was one expensive, difficult trip, and I just refuse to believe that somebody who would be enticed to start flying simply by seeing an ad on TV could possibly stick through the BS that I had to put up with to get the rating.
The VFR rating is useless in this area for any real flying, ie transportation, so what you are left with is a rating that basically is just for fun. 10,000 is a lot of money to spend on something that only lets you, with great difficulty and expense, plan a trip 100 miles away in nice weather.
I could have bought a nice sailboat for the amount I spent, or taken a couple of fun trips. And when I go flying (which is weekly) I spend a king’s ransom just to burn holes in the sky. 110 an hour for a ratty 172 just isn’t going to draw the new folks in. I can rent a sailboat at the local marina for 11 hours for the cost of one hour of 172 time. Plus I get a tan when I rent the boat.
Iin addition to the expense, flying is coupled with the fact that where I live now flying is so restricted that it really isn’t a whole lot of fun anyway. The possibility of losing my license every time I go up to shoot T+G’s is not exactly a big motivator.
Plus it’s dangerous. We have a lousy safety record and the public is rightly scared of small planes anyways. Depending on who you ask, we are killing ourselves with the same regularity of either motorcyclists without or with helmets.

So, its going to take a whole lot more than just a bunch of nice TV ads to draw new people into flying with any real impact. We need to address the basic aviation problems first, or else we may be the last breed of people who fly for fun.
 
smigaldi said:
Hey Bill check out this guy he has some new ideas :rofl::rofl::rofl:
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Stripping off any arrogance or class issues, there are a few good ideas in there.

Ultimately, if you drive up to the airport in a BMW or Acura or any other nice car, and you take a look at the average trainer on the flight line at most schools, or you get the "attitude" from a flight instructor, why on earth would you be persuaded to learn to fly? Add scheduling issues and it takes determination.

Remember, first impressions are critical.

Then when you get a plane, it might take weeks (and mucho bucks) to get a part. Look at my prop issues - even with the plane grounded, Hartzell didn't care. Look at Signature FBOs. They don't care. Look at how many instructors are just out to build hours to move to the airlines. What part of all of that is about "serving the customer". Shall I bring up C90?

Feh.

And then there are the regulatory hurdles.

You know what, absent the arrogance, if somebody can really come up with "service" in the industry, perhaps we will entice more in. Somehow, I don't see that happening.

Scott, I don't recall - are you a Ham operator? I see the same thing here as I do over there: plenty of good alternatives for people's time without the stifiling regulatory barriers. Yeah, it was "magic" to talk to Europe for no cost on my ham rig. Now I can do that with Skype, no cost and no license.
 
wsuffa said:
Scott, I don't recall - are you a Ham operator? I see the same thing here as I do over there: plenty of good alternatives for people's time without the stifiling regulatory barriers. Yeah, it was "magic" to talk to Europe for no cost on my ham rig. Now I can do that with Skype, no cost and no license.
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Yep, K9PO and I agree with everything you said in this post.

Even when they make an easy button for something the results are less than stellar for the group. Take ham radio. Pretty much all you need to do is identify which plug goes into which hole on the radio or wall and you have a license. Yet the numbers and quality of operators continue to decrease
 
I’ve never seen a flight school employ good marketing principals (which doesn’t surprise me as I’ve never seen a flight school consistently employ good accounting, employee or business practices in general). But here’s a suggestion.

Targeted mailing to the well to do ZIP codes that are withing 50 minutes drive time of the airport.

Invite the recipient to a presentation on learning to fly...have nice snacks and beverages for the group...get everyone to sign an attendee list to include name, address, phone number, email addres…make a nice Power Point presentation that includes the following:
  • Explanation of the benefits (personal & business) of learning to fly. Such as be at your vacation home in an hour instead of driving for 3 hours, visit your clients with an hour flight instead of a 3 hour drive…
  • Some pictures of the available training aircraft and potential step up aircraft.
  • A short review of the standard training syllabus, average completion time and approximate costs.
  • Have an assortment of gadgets and such (handheld radios, GPS, etc.) available for inspection. Station someone to explain their use (in non scary terms - ie don't say the radio is for declaring a mayday after an electrical fire has burned up all the installed radios, etc).
After the power point presentation take attendees out to the airplane with instructors who are good "closers".

Ask attendees to critique the presentation overall. Ask about their thoughts on learning to fly.

Follow up using the contact information provided.

Offer an introductory ride at a reduced rate during the follow up.

Obviously, use show and use the best examples of the training aircraft available and use the best speakers (not necessarily the best instructors or best pilots - though they could provide some color commentary during the presentation but none of the "there I was inverted at 400 feet on a dark and stormy night" stuff) available.

Len
 
wbarnhill said:
Something that has bugged me for a while is the fact that there are no advertisements for learning to fly on television. I've yet to see one. Ever.
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It depends on what stations/shows you're watching. I see ads for learning to fly on tv nearly every time I watch it. I've also noticed a lot of ads for learning to be an AP lately. Of course it's never local FBOs advertising but I don't think many of them have much of a budget for that.
 
GaryO said:
It depends on what stations/shows you're watching. I see ads for learning to fly on tv nearly every time I watch it. I've also noticed a lot of ads for learning to be an AP lately. Of course it's never local FBOs advertising but I don't think many of them have much of a budget for that.
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I want whatever stations you've got.
 
wbarnhill said:
I want whatever stations you've got.
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I watch mainly Discovery, History, and NFL networks.
 
smigaldi said:
A few years ago Cessna also tried to do this with their Cessna Pilot Centers, New equipment good syllabus, creative financing to own airplanes and other financial incentives. But it seems to have never caught on.

Isn't that what Sport Pilot is all about? The message I hear from the advocates of that certificate is that is fewer hassles than a PPL, easier, more fun, less training. Sounds a lot like someone is trying to build that 'EASY; button. Not sure it is the best thing for the industry but at least it is something.
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That was during the time that i was all over cessna, and piper, they were both developing learn to fly programs, then they advertised them solely in the industry rags.

really stupid.

lets try advertising in National Geographic GQ, Ebony, Playboy and some others, maybe NHRA magazine, how about the Dive Rags.

thats what it is going to take. new classes of pilots licenses, new mentoring programs are not going to do it.

I used to have an annual open house, give penny a pound rides, always managed to hook a couple, gave away a couple of PPL packages and had the paper cover their progress, great response, but try to convince the suits at the manufactiurers, never happen., the blood flow to their brains has been reduced too long from wearing ties.

So we keep preaching to the choir and wringing our hands, while GA continues to decline and founder.
 
We do have to find a way to resolve the conundrum: the younger a potential pilot is, the more likely they are to have the time to devote, but the less likely they are to have the money (and the patience & wisdom....)
 
wsuffa said:
To really get people interested, the industry needs a makeover.
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Bingo.

I wondered for a long time why the FBO where I used to work had far fewer students and renters than the one where I got my PPL. Work FBO was in a 1,000,000+ metro area, while the other, Wisconsin Aviation, is in a much smaller area (maybe 300,000 or so).

Wisconsin Aviation has a nice new, clean facility and friendly staff. Not all of their planes are super-nice looking, but they are well-maintained. They have pretty much any service you could want from an FBO.

The big thing is customer service. When you walk inside from the transient ramp, there is a sign on the door saying: "No Ramp Fees. We prefer to earn your business." The front desk people are always helpful and friendly.

When you go back to the flight school, Cindy greets you by name with a smile. The flight instructors take their job seriously but it's quite obvious after spending five minutes there that they ENJOY their job as well. Phil does an excellent job of screening CFI candidates, helping them become better pilots, and instilling a good sense of customer service with them.

My primary CFI once drove 1/2 hour each way to the airport on his day off to sign me off for a solo cross country, and then ended up coming in again that night and flying with me for 3.2 hours (again, on his "day off"!) to complete my night training.

My CFII likewise bent over backwards on many occasions to accommodate my horrible schedule, and went well above and beyond the call of duty to help me get the rating.

As a result of the excellent customer service and community atmosphere, Wisconsin Aviation gets an awful lot of business from me and others. Even the lesser-used planes fly 600 hours per year, and I would bet that certain planes which are popular easily top 1,000 hours per year.

That, folks, is what more FBO's need to aspire to. If my previous FBO had the same type of commitment to excellence, they should be able to do well in a city of a million people.

Also, FWIW, I have never seen an ad for Wisconsin Aviation except in the AOPA airport directory. Happy customers make excellent advertising.
 
Wisconsin Aviation is a good example of a nice FBO. I stop at Watertown quit a bit and they always great you on the radio, make sure you got what you need at the ramp and most of the time I don't need anything. But it is nice to be asked. I try to buy stuff when I am there just to make sure they are earning money for this service.
 
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