Starting a flight school.

[Rally]

I live in Florida. Recently somebody brought up the idea of starting a flight school on the airport. The airport is about 20 miles outside of city. The question is what am I looking at for a rental airplane? I am thinking a 4 seater like a C172 or a warrier. I will be selling a older C-172 to purchase this airplane. What would be made off of the airplane? Anybody ever done this? I know say say the best way to get a million in aviation is to start with 2 million. What curriculum should I use? The only reason I'm thinking about this is that recently a busy flight training airport closed (to build houses) and moved almost a hour our of the city. I also have the equity. The plane I'd be selling would be payed for so right off the bat I'd be making money.

Thanks

 

[bertengineer]

FIrst of all it is spelled WARRIOR! If you are going to buy one...you should know how to spell it. The sylllabus depends on your projected student base. I previously used the Jeppessen syllabus (taught part 61 and 141) but if you are just going to be a part 61 school then the Sportys syllabus with the DVD's is the way to go! Saves the student money by not having to go through a traditional ground school (costly) and it helps out the instructor by using the great videos!
A cessna 172 is the most stable to use for pilot traiing, however, I prefer the Cherokee and the Warrior!

 

[Princedietrich]

The best advice regarding starting up a flight school is this:


DON'T!

You won't make any money and will find that the expenses will eat you alive, then spit out your corpse just to eat you again.

 

[mhaleem12]

Starting a flight school

I think you are on the right track as far as starting out in the business(debt free). I'm self employed, and you should not let others deter you from your ambitions. The truth of the matter is most businesses don't show a profit for the first five years in operation, mainly because of loans and debt business owners have incurred to start operating. I will start a flight school business in the next year or two, and flight school owners I have talked to mentioned the key to success is finding a niche. You cannot make it by offering and doing the same thing that everyone is doing.

 

[nosehair]

the key to success is finding a niche. You cannot make it by offering and doing the same thing that everyone is doing.

Here's a novel idea in finding a nich.

Start a flying school that focuses on the art and craft of flying an airplane.
Start with a tailwheel. Teaching a pilot how to manipulate the controls so that anyone who flies with him/her is very comfortable with how the airplane feels and how the pilot is obviously in control of the airplane. Whether the pax is a real pax or a DE.

Then...and only then...move into the world of aviation situation management.
That means navigation, ATC procedures, aircraft performance, regulations, etc. A 172 works good for this.

The blaring fault with most all flight schools is that they start with managing everything when the poor student can't find his/her feet to fly this thing.

There's the nich just begging to be filled.

 

[DAS at 10/250]

Piper made very few descent aircraft and the Warrior was not one of them. If you plan on instructing in FL you need to consider the heat and the effect on the student. A PA28 throwing out almost no air out of an eyeball socket at the bottom of your knee does the student and instructor no good.

While ugly as sin, the C172 is a stable platform with descent ventilation through the upper air vents. This little amount of air can make a big difference in 90 degree temps with high humidity.

Take a look at insurance premiums before you get too deep. This may make a big difference in your decision.

Good luck on whatever your decision is.

 

[JimNtexas]

Before you start your school, try to study some customer service success stories in other business areas. Take a look at Starbucks, Norstrum's, Amazon.com, Best Buy, and McDonald's. Try and figure out how to make your customers feel just as good as your school as they do about those businesses.

The level of non-customer service at 99.9% of all flight schools in the world just staggers the mind.

The first person you should hire is a friendly receptionist who will make anyone who walks in the door feel welcome and valued. You should have a proceedure to ensure that someone who has people skills makes an effort to turn every phone call and visitor into a client.

Most flight schools operate like some kind of secret society that goes out of its way to discourage new people.

Oh, and if that guy in the other thread who was offended because he saw a Southwest pilot helping straighten the cabin applies to you, throw him out the door. He's a poster boy for why flight schools fail.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

The most important thing to remember when operating a business is that:

THE CUSTOMER IS KING and COMES FIRST!

Cunsumers have a love/hate relationship with retailers and businesses that they patronize. They may patronize you loyally for years but all it takes is ONE single incident which leaves them unsatisfied. After that, they won't be come back.

Consumers are willing to pay a little extra for the same product being sold down the street for less if they receive good customer service. Remember, everyone in this world wants respect and consumers feel they outright deserve it, which they do. If you go out of your way for someone it can go a long way. Do small things that others might charge for.

One of the best ways people increase their business is by word of mouth. Work on building your reputation and never short change or nickel and dime your customers.

 

[FlyingToIST]

I started a flight school two years ago and here are my toughts about it:
1. If you want to do it because you love to fly, don't do it. You won't fly as much as you want to.
2. find a good insurance broker, you will need one. Most of the underwriters won't even insure you because you have 2 airplanes (or even one).
3. Customer service is the key but there will be people asking and begging for discounts no matter how low prices could be. Keep your prices a bit higher than what you want so that they can think they are getting a good deal.
4. The profit margins are not as low as airlines but still low to make a living out of it.
5. Insurance and fuel will eat you alive.
6. Try to keep the school debt free.. personal wealth or ability to borrow opens the doors for more tax savings.
7. don't try to educate some of your customers. One customer didn't want to pay for the prepaid instrument rating program. He ended up paying 30% more for his instrument rating.. So be it, it's his money..
8. Be ready to give them 10 reasons why they should chose you.
9. Be friendly but don't let them to walk over you.
10. Did i mention that insurance and fuel costs will eat you alive?

 

[Alamanach]

One customer didn't want to pay for the prepaid instrument rating program. He ended up paying 30% more for his instrument rating.. So be it, it's his money..

Correction: it was his money!

 

[nosehair]

Take a look at Starbucks, Norstrum's, Amazon.com, Best Buy, and McDonald's. Try and figure out how to make your customers feel just as good as your school as they do about those businesses.

The level of non-customer service at 99.9% of all flight schools in the world just staggers the mind.

While I agree that customer service should be a much higher priority at most FBO/Schools, these businesses are not good models to study. We are not selling burgers and coffee.

We are selling a very high level of personal competency and proficiency, which is very different in each person/customer that walks/calls in to your business.

Much like a Doctor/Lawyer business. And how is the customer service at those places?...eeexpensive!

 

[Amish RakeFight]

oh and uhh,....if you don't want some student publishing his online journal about your shady maintenance practices, make sure your maintence is at least acceptable.

 

[JimNtexas]

...
Much like a Doctor/Lawyer business. And how is the customer service at those places?...eeexpensive!

I respectfully disagree. People have to put up with poor customer service and insanely high prices from their lawyers and doctors because doctors and lawyers benefit from being members of goverment enforced monopoloy guilds.

A flight school is far more like a retail establishment than a law or medical practice. Sometimes you have to deal with lawyers and doctors, regardless of your liking it or not.

Nobody has to take flying lessons. They have to want to take flying lessons. And they have to want flying lessons more than they want a boat, motorcycle, HDTV, or vacation to Europe.

A flight school is a retail business, not a professional practice.

ETA: "Retail" doesn't have anything to do with product price. Lexis dealers are great retailers.

 

[AC560]

Nobody has to take flying lessons.

You just have to trick them into buying $10000 of block time after their first ride.

Good flight schools where you care about your students don't make money (or very, very, very rarely do). ********************ty flight schools that screw the students, the instructors, and use crappy equipment make money. At least that has been my perception.

 

[Andrew_VT]

You just have to trick them into buying $10000 of block time after their first ride.

Good flight schools where you care about your students don't make money (or very, very, very rarely do). ********************ty flight schools that screw the students, the instructors, and use crappy equipment make money. At least that has been my perception.

Hmm, this got me thinking. Dont call yourself a "school", but "Rally's flight ACADEMY"

Look at DCA and all those other academy programs, they know how to milk the parents of little rich rich kids out of 50-100 grand easy!!!

Find lazy high school seniors with less than great grades who are already primed for spending $50k+. Convince them that you are a viable alternative to 4 years of college. While their peers are taking exams, they'll be flying high!

 

[nosehair]

Lexis dealers are great retailers.

I'm 'with you' 100%. We should operate like Lexi$ dealer$. All it takes is money. That is the bottom line reason (except for the unscrupulous) FBO/Schools cannot provide the customer service most people would expect from a flying school business.

Did you notice how many posters said "fuel and insurance will eat you alive"?

It takes big money to hire quality personnel to spend hours and hours talking to "interested people" who never buy a service or who quit after 1 or 2 lessons. People don't just flock in "wanting' to fly. Some do. I did. Probably you did. But, I am personally very surprised at the number of people who 'start' because of surface reasons (money, babes, social status, purely transportation convenience, etc.) who quit or require so much personal attention, like baby sitting, that they are not profitable.

Unless we could operate it like a Lexis dealer.

There are no Lexis dealers across the street who will give you a "Special Deal" and undercut another dealer by thousands of dollars.

That is our problem in this business: FBO/Schools who have no customer service, and no profesional instructors, and poor maintainance, who advertise "Airline Pilot Jobs Guaranteed for $19, 995".

However. There is a light at the end of this tunnel. The Information Age.
Online reports of these type of operators hopefully will bring them to their knees, and we will be able to provide good qualty training with good customer servive at the rightful price that it costs with a reasonable profit.

To the Original Poser: Are you getting a feel for the problems that go with the 'normal' school that sells 'normal' training for certificates and ratings?
That's why I made the original suggestion about 'tailwheel' training. The sharks don't live in that pond. That's not an Airline Mill.

That's a nich waiting to be filled, ie, Sport Pilot.

Insurance will still eat you up, but fuel won't be as bad.

 

[gsrcrsx68]

Creating a market as opposed to serving a market is an almost insurmountable task. The tailwheel idea would be the hardest way to go, in my opinion.

 

[FlyingToIST]

Tailwheel will not do anything. The market is not large enough to justify that unless you are a very famous tailwheel instructor that can take students from all over the place. The insurance in this case will increase more than 5 times.
On top of this, if people are not able to rent it, what's the point?

This business is becoming harder and harder to make money unless you are promising the world, delivering a zip code and getting $50K + prepaid customers.

 

[flyin'gator]

i just spent a bunch of money on my private and instrument ratings over the past year in florida as well. i am also a small business owner. when searching for a flight school i was shocked to see the way these operations were generally run. it takes a lot of time and cash to learn to fly proficiently and safely. most flight schools that i looked at were unprofessional at best, with customer service that would put most small firms out of business very quickly. also not one marketed itself effectively. To attract the type of people who can afford training, you need to go out and target your market. I have been extremely happy with the fbo i trained with, my only comment is it seems insane that cfi's are not paid enough to attract and retain talent. i would have gladly paid a living wage to a cfi with an atp rating instead of someone with a paper commercial certificate. soon it will cost so much to train that only those with extreme wealth will be able to do it. these guys should not balk at higher instruction rates if you can show them that an experienced cfi will be able to transfer more knoweledge that may save their ass one day. just my 02.

 

[AC560]

I have been extremely happy with the fbo i trained with, my only comment is it seems insane that cfi's are not paid enough to attract and retain talent.

CFI's get paid a low wage in part to make them run up the hours to make a living wage (which benefits the school because they take 50%+ of the CFI's fee). The central business plan of any flight school I have seen is get a person in, get him to drop as much as you can in block time, and bleed him dry. The business model is hey you have spent $4k already trying to get your license if you quit now you lose all the time/money you have invested. I always equate running a flight school to selling used cars.

Just to add if you are going to start a flight school, simulator time and ground instruction is were the $$$ is at.