Guest Post By, Stephen Lewis, aka "The Write Flier." A pilot since 1998, Steve holds two degrees in aviation and has worked as both a flight instructor and a regional airline pilot. Steve can be reached through his website, Writeflier.com.

Many students and aviator hopefuls go through the rigors of flight training and become a pilot because they have long been intrigued with the idea of flying.  It is exciting, fun, cool… they develop a passion for soaring high above the ground where the rest of us live out our daily lives. If you have been around aviation for more than a day or two, you will probably agree that there is no shortage of people talking about the passion of aviators. One thing that is rarely talked about however, is the skills acquired while going through the flight training experience, whether that be at a four year institution or at the local flight school at a nearby airport. 

300 eager students and parents crowd a small auditorium tucked away in the Museum of Flight in Greater Seattle Washington. The ACE club, a career experience organization part of the Highline Aviation High School, partnered up with the museum to host a student and parent education forum for 7th and 8th graders. The forum brought together a group of mentors including pilots, engineers and educators to speak with the students and parents about the benefits of attending Aviation High School (AHS).

Jon Feinman, 28, is on mission to improve the lives of at risk youth in Greater Boston. Feinman a former nationally ranked weightlifter has found a way to take something he is passionate about and leverage it to change the future for teenagers in Boston.

Whether you’re a piston airplane owner or strictly a renter pilot, you have a vested interest in making sure the engine(s) of the plane(s) you fly perform as advertised. While the odds are that your powerplant(s) will function flawlessly, there are several steps you can take to further safeguard the health of your piston engine. Besides contributing to safety, such practices can help lower your maintenance bills and prolong the service life of your powerplant.

Virtually everyone who’s ever seen an aircraft fly overhead has probably wondered just how to
become a pilot. Sadly, only a minuscule slice of the population ever pursues an answer to that question. In addition, an extremely high percentage of flight training prospects quit without obtaining a license. Why the high dropout rate? One opinion is that many of them dive into training without fully understanding the commitment necessary to earn their wings.

So, want to know how to become a pilot and succeed where so many others fail? The secret can be summed up in one word: planning. Before you can hope to succeed, you need to understand what you’re up against. To do this, you need to ask the right questions before beginning your quest for a pilot certificate.

With the dreaded sequester set to take effect today, many Americans are understandably concerned about the effects the looming financial cuts will have on many aspects of the nation’s security and well-being. For those of you who follow aviation, you’ve probably heard dire reports about the impact more than $600 million in FAA budget reductions will have on the country’s aerospace system. Lately, national news programs have been reporting that, should sequestration come to pass, Uncle Sam would be forced to furlough air traffic controllers, shutter control towers, and take other measures that would result in contraction of the national airspace system. Should these forecasts bear fruit, is it possible the flight-training industry could actually benefit?

If you’re pondering pursuit of a pilot’s license, you might imagine the bulk of your educational training will involve learning to put the aircraft where you want it to go. While this is certainly true, you might not realize the profound impact other disciplines have on pilot education requirements. In short, an aviator must learn a little about a variety of subjects in order to satisfy the FAA’s established knowledge requirements.  

Using a system called “The Five Whys” can uncover the true root cause of any problem.  The name of this system was derived from the inquisitive method many young children use when they ask, “Why is the Sky Blue.”  The basic idea of this methodology is to ask the question “Why?” 5 times over to uncover a problems true root cause. 

I was asked the other day by a client " Jason, what makes your aircraft leasing company unique compared to other financial institutions and can you help us understand your value-add." What a great question!  Unfortunately, most in our beloved aviation education industry do not take the time to learn about value....its purely about price.  The irony is that we are all in the same boat.  Educators are being forced to do more with less while attempting to convince kids to enter into aviation regardless of the price point.