How do I do this?

[Johann]

But the mechanics of getting this done are kicking my butt. I can't spend all day searching databases -- there must be an easier way to identify students!

You don't need to spend even a second searching databases. The FAA provides a downloadable file with their database: http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certification/releasable_airmen_download/

It's pretty straightforward to write some piece of software that sits on a server, and every day downloads the database. It then can compare with the previous one for differences, so you get new additions.
The same processing can be done to find pilots/additions given some criteria (like medical lapsed or stuff like that).

Sportys et. al. are probably doing this (among other things).

I could be talked into helping with this if you get traction.

 

[Henning]

I think Facebook will be your best bet.

 

[Rob P.]

The problem you face is indeed a marketing problem. But somehow you're looking at it wrong.

The first question any marketing person has to ask is: HOW do I get this in front of the target audience?

From there, you define the target audience and then test methods to get your message in front of them. What you don't do is try to get the target audience to come find your message.

For GA, you need a target audience who is thinking of "reaching for the stars." Still "dreamers" (not the Democrat kind). That means the young & up and coming or the older/established with a desire to do something in life.

So, where are they getting their information, distractions, information, yada yada yada? The answer is either technology or reality TV.

So, you need to start a 2-front campaign. Find a Hollywood mogul who is interested in a follow-up for "airplane repo" and talk them into a series which follows 3 or 4 "students" as they learn to fly. 1 is a PPL student, 1 is doing a rating (CFI/Commercial/etc) and 1 is getting an acro endorsement. To keep things interesting you need to talk about interesting stuff. For ex: Make 1 of the "stars" a woman and talk about that female F15 fighter pilot in Saudi as a role model. 10 episodes from start to finish. Show how EASY it is to learn to fly - that almost any numbskull can do it.

AOPA/Sporty's/etc can be hit up for advertising along with the std auto advertisers for cleaning products. FBO's & Barnstomers/etc too. More bang for the buck if the aviation dudes all pitch in together for 1 or 2 commercials that sell flying instead of products.

2nd front is tech. Facebook/twitter/you tube campaign of interesting stuff about flying that is similar to the TV show and designed to get people to fantasize about learning to fly. It's not about selling products - it's about selling aviation because PILOTS buy aviation stuff and non pilots shop at the mall for cheap chinese bling while the pilot shops go out of business for lack of customers.

You need to get it in their face as they are currently living - in front of the TV and facebook. The show "stars" must have twitter/facebook pages and update them. You need to create an aviation following. After all that, we also need a serious cut in the training costs and to get rid of the medical for PPL.

Beyond that, fewer hours to PPL would be a good starting point for reducing costs since I understand that after solo it's mostly just building hours practicing VFR manuevers and XC's. SP does this after only 30 hours of the same manuevers so the extra 10 hours for PPL is unnecessary for required training and only serves to raise the costs. Think of it this way, if you can solo after 15-20 hours and your CFI trusts that you can safely fly the plane by yourself to practice manuevers/take a XC trip/fly at night/etc, then why are you still not qualified after 10-15 more hours of doing just that? Why the requirement of even more time flying before you are eligible for your checkride?

For getting rid of the medical and reducing the training hours requirement, we need some interested congress critters to get on the GA bandwagon.

 

[FormerHangie]

The problem you face is indeed a marketing problem. But somehow you're looking at it wrong.

The first question any marketing person has to ask is: HOW do I get this in front of the target audience?

From there, you define the target audience and then test methods to get your message in front of them. What you don't do is try to get the target audience to come find your message.

For GA, you need a target audience who is thinking of "reaching for the stars." Still "dreamers" (not the Democrat kind). That means the young & up and coming or the older/established with a desire to do something in life.

So, where are they getting their information, distractions, information, yada yada yada? The answer is either technology or reality TV.

So, you need to start a 2-front campaign. Find a Hollywood mogul who is interested in a follow-up for "airplane repo" and talk them into a series which follows 3 or 4 "students" as they learn to fly. 1 is a PPL student, 1 is doing a rating (CFI/Commercial/etc) and 1 is getting an acro endorsement. To keep things interesting you need to talk about interesting stuff. For ex: Make 1 of the "stars" a woman and talk about that female F15 fighter pilot in Saudi as a role model. 10 episodes from start to finish. Show how EASY it is to learn to fly - that almost any numbskull can do it.

AOPA/Sporty's/etc can be hit up for advertising along with the std auto advertisers for cleaning products. FBO's & Barnstomers/etc too. More bang for the buck if the aviation dudes all pitch in together for 1 or 2 commercials that sell flying instead of products.

2nd front is tech. Facebook/twitter/you tube campaign of interesting stuff about flying that is similar to the TV show and designed to get people to fantasize about learning to fly. It's not about selling products - it's about selling aviation because PILOTS buy aviation stuff and non pilots shop at the mall for cheap chinese bling while the pilot shops go out of business for lack of customers.

You need to get it in their face as they are currently living - in front of the TV and facebook. The show "stars" must have twitter/facebook pages and update them. You need to create an aviation following. After all that, we also need a serious cut in the training costs and to get rid of the medical for PPL.

Beyond that, fewer hours to PPL would be a good starting point for reducing costs since I understand that after solo it's mostly just building hours practicing VFR manuevers and XC's. SP does this after only 30 hours of the same manuevers so the extra 10 hours for PPL is unnecessary for required training and only serves to raise the costs. Think of it this way, if you can solo after 15-20 hours and your CFI trusts that you can safely fly the plane by yourself to practice manuevers/take a XC trip/fly at night/etc, then why are you still not qualified after 10-15 more hours of doing just that? Why the requirement of even more time flying before you are eligible for your checkride?

For getting rid of the medical and reducing the training hours requirement, we need some interested congress critters to get on the GA bandwagon.

One of these "how to revive general aviation" threads pops up every few months. The most recent one is here: http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72549

I know there are a lot of pilots who think it is a marketing problem. My opinion is that most people can't afford it, and of those who can, most of them aren't interested.

 

[Henning]

One of these "how to revive general aviation" threads pops up every few months. The most recent one is here: http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72549

I know there are a lot of pilots who think it is a marketing problem. My opinion is that most people can't afford it, and of those who can, most of them aren't interested.

Agreed. The way to get people who can afford it interested is to add a much larger social aspect to it. Most people who own a boat could own an airplane. The reason they choose a boat typically is because it is a social endeavor.

 

[Jay Honeck]

One of these "how to revive general aviation" threads pops up every few months. The most recent one is here: http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72549

I know there are a lot of pilots who think it is a marketing problem. My opinion is that most people can't afford it, and of those who can, most of them aren't interested.

Look, marketing can change anything. There are some amazing success stories, where marketing turned around dying/crappy businesses, include:

- Holiday Inn Express. Their "No, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night" campaign is taught in business schools as the quintessential "turning lemons into lemonade" marketing story.

- McDonalds. Look at what they serve. Look at how they serve it. Yet look at their sales. 'Nuff said.

- Apple products. Their turn-around was due to good products. Their continued dominance is all marketing.

The list goes on and on. No one ever went broke, under-estimating Americans.

Unfortunately, this is a campaign that needs to be national, long term, and consistently applied. No individual GA group or business has that kind cash to spend. Therefore, what needs to be formed is an "Alliance for GA", made up of every business with a stake in GA.

By pooling their marketing budgets, they could mount a long term, national marketing campaign that could rekindle the American love affair with aviation.

We need a P. T. Barnum/Steve Jobs/Harrison Ford type to put such a thing together!

 

[DavidWhite]

Free room night, Megan Fox in the room?

TOE THUMBS CANNOT BE UNSEEN

 

[Circuit Flyer]

We need a ... Harrison Ford type to put such a thing together!

Yes, look how many young people went into archaeology (or bought fedoras) because of Indiana Jones.

 

[Rob P.]

One of these "how to revive general aviation" threads pops up every few months. The most recent one is here: http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72549

I know there are a lot of pilots who think it is a marketing problem. My opinion is that most people can't afford it, and of those who can, most of them aren't interested.

Which re-creates the 2 essential questions of this thread: How do we get people interested in GA? And, how can we reduce the costs so that more people will participate?


The answer, in part, is marketing. Which is very powerful.

What is interesting is that people who work for other companies fail to see that successful sole proprietors (as well as the company they work for) are ALWAYS marketing themselves. NEVER EVER pass up an opportunity to market your business.

Further, don't confuse marketing with a sales pitch. Sales is part of marketing but marketing is much much larger in scope and depth. Marketing includes brand creation and recognition as well as other things. Sometimes those things are bit untruthful.

For instance, Budget created the slogan that they are #2 in car rental business. When they did this Budget KNEW that actually they were #3 so they fudged their campaign a bit. It worked, they are #2 behind car rental giant Hertz. What's interesting is whether anyone can remember, when it comes to car rentals, who will pick you up? Hint; it ain't Hertz or Budget.

This means that name recognition and branding also include slogans and other phrases that people remember because they're catchy and in their face all the time. Ask yourself, who is the Marlboro man? That is an icon that was created in the 60's and is still valid and memorable today.

That's how powerful marketing is.

So, GA needs to create a marketing plan, an icon/slogan, and get that in front of the people they are trying to attract. From there, if no one can afford to play, no one will stick around and your marketing will be wasted. that leads us directly to step #2 which is get the excess bureaucracy out of the way. Fewer training hours is less cost. No PPL medical means that more people will want to play. Even the plane mfg's need to get involved withe cheaper aircraft designed to appeal to the gen masses rather than a specific pilot segment. (Which is why the RV's are so popular - they appeal across the board by being fast, economical, and fun.)

Now if AOPA and the major plane mfg's could do a study and present that data to the FAA which would show that reducing costs and eliminating the medical will improve aviation with no risk of reduction in safety, that could possibly help in a significant fashion.

 

[FormerHangie]

Look, marketing can change anything. There are some amazing success stories, where marketing turned around dying/crappy businesses, include:

- Holiday Inn Express. Their "No, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night" campaign is taught in business schools as the quintessential "turning lemons into lemonade" marketing story.

- McDonalds. Look at what they serve. Look at how they serve it. Yet look at their sales. 'Nuff said.

- Apple products. Their turn-around was due to good products. Their continued dominance is all marketing.

The list goes on and on. No one ever went broke, under-estimating Americans.

Unfortunately, this is a campaign that needs to be national, long term, and consistently applied. No individual GA group or business has that kind cash to spend. Therefore, what needs to be formed is an "Alliance for GA", made up of every business with a stake in GA.

By pooling their marketing budgets, they could mount a long term, national marketing campaign that could rekindle the American love affair with aviation.

We need a P. T. Barnum/Steve Jobs/Harrison Ford type to put such a thing together!

Big difference. The markets for meals, hotel rooms, and cell phones aren't rapidly declining, the market for GA is. You're trying to get people to want something they currently don't want. Those three companies you mentioned are in a "buy ours rather than someone else's" situation, where GA is in a "buy something you currently don't think you want" one, and that's a much tougher marketing issue, convincing someone that they want something they currently don't.

Next issue you have is that the vast majority of people don't need to travel on a regular basis. Then you have the problem is that while aviation is expensive, not many are making much money at it, so you have no one to fund your marketing operation. There was a time that the manufacturers funded a marketing operation, with very limited success. Richard Collins recounts some of their efforts here: http://airfactsjournal.com/2013/10/brighter-days-ahead-depends-on-how-bright-you-want-it/

His summary : "The point is that over the years we tried hard to interest affluent people in flying yet the numbers dropped precipitously and nothing we did slowed that down." I don't think there's much you can do from a marketing standpoint, especially with the small amount of money available.

I have to say your offer is very generous, and your passion for flying is unmistakable, but I don't think all that many people share it, and that is why we are where we are, with the pilot population declining.

 

[sferguson524]

I've offered a number of bribes (in the form of interest-free loans for training with generous payback terms) and can't get any/many takers. If you find a good way to accomplish this please let me know.

Hell i'll take one of those interest free loans to finish up my IR.