FSANA hosted its fifth annual Flight School Operators
conference in San Antonio yesterday and today with 

representatives including flight school owners
and operators, industry association and corporate 
representatives, and members of FSANA to discuss
critical issues in the flight training industry.

The conference included a keynote presentation by 

aviation notable personality Ralph Hood 

conference including AvFuel, CAPACG, MoyerAviation, 

MyFlightTrain, Phoenix Aviation, Regal Aviation Insurance, and Tecnam for making this year's conference another success.

AeroChapters is a program designed to help young people become acquainted with the aviation and aerospace industry in a real time environment. The program will establish local chapters to make this effort successful. Each chapter will offer a variety of educational and leadership opportunities which help to create the future backbone for our youth and the business and planning components of each chapter will be lead by youth with mentorship and leadership from adult advisors and mentors.

"This effort is something we are confident can not only help drive interest in aviation in youth in this country," said Bob Rockmaker, FSANA's President and CEO, "it can also help build critical business skills for the young adults that become involved with the program. We expect that AeroChapters has the potential to realize over 20,000 young people becoming involved on an annual basis.

AeroChapters is in final stages of development and will involve FSANA members as they work to launch a hands on, interactive, monthly program designed for youth. More information about this program and the launching of the first chapters will be coming soon and will be available on the FSANA website.

FSANA presented awards during the Fifth Annual
Flight School Operators Conference today for
activity and branding efforts by schools using AeroPrograms and a Wings award to an industry association.

FSANA presented its Wings award to AOPA for the work that AOPA does with flight training and the aviation community.

Awards for AeroProgram activity and branding were presented to the following flight school operators:

    Mid Island Air Service in New York (www.midislandair.com)

    Double Eagle Aviation in Arizona (www.doubleeagleaviation.com)

    Leading Edge Aviation in Pennsylvania (www.doylestownairport.com)

    Island Air Express in Florida (www.islandairexpress.com)

The 2014 Flight school accreditation program information has been updated and is available on the FSANA website. Flight schools can review and download the necessary forms to begin the process of accreditation.

FSANAs Flight School Accreditation program is a process whereby flight schools seek to improve their business practices by benchmarking their school against a set of standards that have been established to help improve the overall performance of the business and to raise professional standards and create a positive focus which will help flight schools to achieve best practices in the flight training industry.

FSANA is also seeking interested parties to serve as inspectors for schools seeking accreditation. Qualified candidates are typically aviation professionals with experience in the industry. The inspectors follow a set of guidelines for inspection and have their expenses for travel compensated when conducting the inspections. 

If you or someone you know would be a good candidate for serving as an inspector please visit the inspector application on our website: 
http://www.fsana.com/files/pdf/FSANA_Inspector_Application_2014.doc.

The Inspector Guide that is followed can also be found at: 
http://www.fsana.com/files/pdf/FSANA_Inspector_Guide_2014.pdf.

Lisa Campbell, President of Air Mods Flight Training in Robinsville, New Jersey is chairing the committee. FSANA members who would like to assist on the committee should contact the FSANA office or Lisa Campbell.

This is something that FSANA is dedicated to addressing and to developing resources for flight training providers. The FSANA Special Committee on Federal Student Loans will be reporting its progress in the upcoming months. 

FSANA members will soon be receiving the 2014 Aero Programs toolkits. These kits offer  guidance and suggestions on how to offer and operate the respective programs. When conducting programs, members are encouraged to include the Aero branded logos along with the FSANA logo on their websites and other promotional materials.
The Aero brands continue to grow, but will grow more rapidly as members help
their promotion. The growth of these programs makes them a more powerful
tool for all FSANA members.