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Corona Virus + Social Distancing: Are you Seeing any Changes in Activity Levels, Instruction, etc at your Flight School ?

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Flight Instructor, Instrument Rating, Private Pilot, Student Pilot

By now everyone has heard of the Corona Virus COVID-19 and the term social distancing. If you are a student pilot, instructor, DPE, etc. what changes, if any, are you seeing in the level of training activity at your school.

Is dual instruction down, but student solo flights still at their usual levels?  Are DPE appointments being affected?  Are SIMS busier now than before? It is clear that many aviation events such as Sun-N-Fun are being impacted.  I was just wondering to what extent this all is affecting student pilot training for the Sport Pilot, Recreational, and PPL certificates at your flight school.

I have been waiting for the unpleasant and windy cold weather to abate here on the East Coast, and now along comes COVID-19. It has given me pause to think about holding off at least on dual flying instruction for a bit.  In a SIM I guess dual would be more manageable.

Any thoughts from students and instructors?

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4 Answers



  1. Mark Kolber on Mar 22, 2020

    Everything except solo flights in owner-flown airplanes is being affected. Even those are beginning to take a hit as we start seeing airport closures.

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  2. LTCTerry on Mar 22, 2020

    My glider club has suspended all operations for the time being; the other instructors and I are developing a recovery plan for eventual resumption of operations. Will delay accepting any new members until the pending internal backlog is resolved.

    I was scheduled to take the Commercial Airplane Knowledge Exam last Friday. The FBO where I’ve been doing the ME Commercial training has stopped testing, and PSI-CATS closed their test center. I found a little country FBO about two hours away from home that is still testing. Not sure what the status is of my check ride next Saturday. I still need 0.6 of the dual w/in the two previous calendar months. Will try to sort all this out tomorrow.

    The FBO where I usually fly has suspended flight training, but not rentals.

    Flying is a discretionary hobby. I expect to see a decline for a while as people recover from disruptions to their lives.

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  3. PedroThePilot on Mar 22, 2020

    As I write this ( March 22, 2020 ) AVWEB.com is in the midst of conducting a poll.

    Only about 20 responses are in so far, but over half (52%) report definitely less GA activity.

    Link: https://www.avweb.com/ ( See “POLL” at bottom of far right Column )

    Poll: Has GA Flying Increased at Your Airport Due to Covid-19?

    Yes. It’s noticeable. 0% 0
    Hard to tell. 17% 4
    Definitely less activity. 52% 12
    It’s about the same. 30% 7
    Other 0% 0

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  4. PedroThePilot on Mar 29, 2020

    So it has been a week since the last post, but what a profound difference we have seen in those seven days.

    Paul Bertorelli, writing on AVWEB.com on March 29, 2020 in an article titled “ Flight Instruction: Just Say No “ noted:

    EXCERPT:

    “ Last week, we published an open-ended query to readers asking about flight activity and instruction as the Covid-19 pandemic burns through the U.S. at an accelerating pace. All the major schools have stood down and are temporarily closing or reverting to online instruction. I never thought I would say this, but it’s now time for the rest of the training industry to do the same. “

    For the Full article see the following link :
    https://www.avweb.com/insider/flight-instruction-just-say-no/

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