A Comparative Analysis of School Choice Factors Influencing Non-Collegiate Flight School Selections Between Groups of Nontraditional, Traditional, and Teenage Student Pilots

Author(s)

Jingmin Jin Ph.D., Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA)Follow

Volume

33

Issue

1

Key words

comparative research, nontraditional student pilot recruitment, traditional student pilot recruitment, teenage student pilot recruitment, school choice factors, vocational pilot training, marketing flight training schools

Abstract

To assist with exploring strategies for effectively promoting vocational noncollegiate flight schools to diverse student markets of nontraditional student pilots, traditional student pilots, and teenage student pilots, this study compared and analyzed school choice factors of marketing approaches, relevant people, institutional features, and training program features that influenced these three groups of student pilots’ school selections. The study data was collected via a survey questionnaire, and the sample included 176 participants. There were 42 choice factor survey items, and the participants were guided to rate the level of influence of each factor on their school choice decisions. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA methods were utilized to analyze the collected data. According to the key findings, all three groups highlighted the following factors as most influential on their school choice: training quality, availability of flying opportunities, training costs, safety records of the programs, reputation of flight instructors, the overall reputation, length of time to complete the program, scheduling flexibility, training capacity, and administration integrity. While the typical discrepancies of the key findings among the three groups revealed that both traditional and teenage student pilots considered relevant people of family members as having the most influence. Nontraditional student pilots deemed institutional features of geographic proximity as a key factor. Teenage student pilots emphasized institutional features of career placement as relatively more influential. The ANOVA results showed that significant differences existed in the influence of relevant people of school’s flight instructors and of family members.

Scholarly Commons Citation

Jin, J. (2024). A Comparative Analysis of School Choice Factors Influencing Non-Collegiate Flight School Selections Between Groups of Nontraditional, Traditional, and Teenage Student Pilots. Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research, 33(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.58940/2329-258X.1988