National Flight Academies - worth it?

[RiverAux]

This statement was in another thread:

Unfortunately it appears that a relatively small percent of flight academy students go on to advance their aeronautical ratings. 

Is this something that we're actually tracking?  If so, is this assessment accurate?   

If true, should we be disappointed?  I'm sure that only a small percentage of those who go to PJOC or the other profession-oriented NCSAs go on to actually join that field.  However, I would hope it would be different in this case since this is something that should be within reach of many of these cadet. 

I am one of those who would think it would be nice for the cadet program to be somewhat more oriented towards producing useful CAP senior members and it sure would be nice to see those going to this NCSAs going to on to become CAP pilots. 

After all, I'm sure that this NCSA is pretty heavily subsidized and requires a significant committment of personnel and aircraft so I would hope that we would be getting some additional bang for the buck beyond providing a memorable experience for a small handful of cadets. 

[es_g0d]

I doubt CAP is actively tracking this figure, but I do believe it to be accurate.  Here's why.

According to AOPA, Total Student Issuances, in the 3rd quarter of 2008 there were  20,182 student pilot certificates (medicals) issued.  During this same period, there were 4,965 private pilot certificates issued.  For the 4th quarter of 2008,  17,029 student certificates were issued with 6,291 private certificates issued.  Even if we use these numbers anecdotally, we can infer that roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of those individuals who receive student pilot certificates earn a pilot certificate before it expires (2 years, generally speaking).

I couldn't find statistics for students who quit training after initial solo.  Its fairly high, however.  Solo is a big milestone -- and for many, its enough where they can look back and say, "I've done that."  That's the only explanation I can come up with.

Solo Encampments (to use the forbidden language) don't help in this department.  We get cadets to solo, and then kind of drop them off on their own.  Highly motivated individuals will complete their private, but for various reasons most don't seem to.  Its expensive, time consuming, and difficult to find good instruction.  If I use the Minnesota Solo class of 1990 as my (decidedly unscientific) sample, of a class of 15, 2 completed a private pilot certificate.

This is clearly an opportunity for the CAP to help -- mentorship of new pilots significantly improves the completion rate.  The Civil Air Patrol would be an outstanding organization for helping our younger members reach their aviation goals.

[isuhawkeye]

Disclaimer

My statement

Unfortunately it appears that a relatively small percent of flight academy students go on to advance their aeronautical ratings.

was based purely upon my personal experiences, and I have no facts or statistics to support it.

I would be interested in seeing if my experiences are consistent with yours.

[JayT]

This statement was in another thread:

Unfortunately it appears that a relatively small percent of flight academy students go on to advance their aeronautical ratings. 

Is this something that we're actually tracking?  If so, is this assessment accurate?   

If true, should we be disappointed?  I'm sure that only a small percentage of those who go to PJOC or the other profession-oriented NCSAs go on to actually join that field.  However, I would hope it would be different in this case since this is something that should be within reach of many of these cadet. 

I am one of those who would think it would be nice for the cadet program to be somewhat more oriented towards producing useful CAP senior members and it sure would be nice to see those going to this NCSAs going to on to become CAP pilots. 

After all, I'm sure that this NCSA is pretty heavily subsidized and requires a significant committment of personnel and aircraft so I would hope that we would be getting some additional bang for the buck beyond providing a memorable experience for a small handful of cadets.

You really could ask that about any activity. How many Hawk Mountain grads go on to be busy GT's in their home group? How many NESA grads become top IC's or what not? How many mission pilots have every been called on a mission? How many Ground Teams have been called out? How many IACE/COS/CLA grads go onto to become part of the government?


If it's nothing more then a fun, aerospace related week for cadets that gets them into the air, then God bless it. It's worth it. Not everything is a means to an end.

[CASH172]

I attended a wing-level flight encampment and about two out of the eight went on to continue training.  A major factor for the two of us was that we decided to pursue aviation as part of our careers.  For other cadets costs and motivation to find ways to pay in order to continue can be some of the biggest factors in preventing cadets from continuing their training.  Scholarships can certainly help, but very few flight scholarship can fully accomodate for the cost of obtaining a Private entirely.  And yes, there are cadets that simply attend, just in order to attend, but that can be said for almost any other NCSA as well. 

Also, the cost benefit for cadets attending cannot be understated.  I paid $500 for a week of food, housing, flight, instruction, and small supplies.  Imagine that cost in any for-profit operation. 

[BrandonKea]

For the record...

I attended NFA-P (NE) in 2003.

I have no intention of getting my PPL now or in the future. :-)
No fault of the program, just, not something I want to do anymore.