AOPA Names Nation’s Best Flight Schools and Instructors
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Every year, AOPA holds the Flight Training Experience Awards to recognize CFIs and flight schools who have gone above and beyond in providing student pilots with exceptional learning experiences. Instructors and schools were invited to apply and to request reviews from their clients to support their nomination. Applications were then evaluated by a panel of industry experts. One CFI and one flight school among the six regional winners announced in January were chosen as national winners. The awards were announced on March 5 at the annual Redbird Migration in Denver.
Flight instructor regional honors went to Peg Ballou (Bucyrus, Ohio), Tiziano Bernard (Pooler, Georgia), Madison Nugent (Vienna, Virginia), Jacob Peery (Gilbert, Arizona), John Schaeffer (Willis, Texas) and Mike Smith (Napa, California). Tiziano Bernard was recognized as the Nation’s Best CFI.
Flight schools recognized as top in their region were Air Ventures Flying School (Smithfield, Rhode Island), Ballou Skies Aviation (Bucyrus, Ohio), Chennault Flying Service, Las Vegas, Nevada), Flex Air (San Diego, California), In the Pattern (Denton, Texas) and Sun City Aviation Academy (Pembroke Pines, Florida). In the Pattern was recognized as the Nation’s Top Flight School.
Additionally, dozens of CFIs and flight schools were recognized for distinguished performance. The full recipient list can be found here.
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