AOPA emphasizes importance of new pilots
March 2, 2011, 10:16 pm
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has called for a greater focus on the importance of new pilots in the future of aviation, the group announced.
The AOPA led a breakout session at the annual Federal Aviation Administration's Aviation Forecast Conference, which is held to discuss the group's projections for the aviation industry. They discussed the importance of boosting pilot attrition rates and encouraging pilots to continue to pursue more advanced licenses.
The group presented statistics showing that "the FAA issued about 15,000 private pilot certificates in 2010, 64 percent fewer than in 1990." The decrease may result from 70 to 80 percent dropout rates for pilots-in-training, the AOPA says.
The group also plans to use "regional meetings with flight training providers, a scholarship program that will launch in the summer, and new online tools to help support student pilots that will go live in the fall," to help address the problem.
Though improving pilot retention may be positive for the aviation industry, an increased number of aircrafts could potentially create flight hazards and make the skies less safe to navigate. The risk of accidental death during flight is the reason life insurance for pilots is important, to provide for their families in the event of their death.
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