A flight school should always push students to work with one another rather than against each other, because at the end of the day, you’re all there for one thing: to become the best pilots possible. From more personal happiness to better professional performance and so much more, there are several reasons why you should try to make friends with your fellow students.
Today, let’s discuss the importance of attending a community-oriented flight school that encourages team building rather than a sense of competition among its students – and how the friendships that you develop along the way will shape your success as a pilot.
Success = Cooperation Among Students, Not Competition
Studies have shown that too much competition among students is a losing scenario for all parties. The loser tends to gain a sense of self doubt, which can be a detrimental quality for a pilot who needs to make quick, effective decisions in the sky. On the other hand, the winner receives a short boost of self esteem, but things can quickly go awry. Too much praise may lead to an inflated ego or overconfidence, which is equally as dangerous as high levels of self doubt. A flight school produces safer, more motivated and higher-performing students when competition is combined with cooperation.
Friends Can Increase Future Job Opportunities
Beyond the personal benefits you get from building strong connections among like-minded individuals, you may also see advantages starting out as a professional pilot. Start building a network the first day of flight school, because you never know who may have a hot lead for a job down the road. Not only that, surveys show that large networks also shorten the time it takes for pilots to find jobs, while often leading to job offers that are higher in quality (e.g. higher salary and better company).
Friendship Building Skills Help With Pilot Job Performance
A study published by Ohio State University showed that participants overwhelmingly reported a positive correlation between team performance and strong friendship building skills. When you’re at work, having a social support system has been shown to sharpen your decision making skills, improve confidence and creativity, and increase happiness. When you’re performing your job miles above the earth, it’s crucial that you and your team can work as one, transporting your passengers or cargo safely to the next destination while following rigorous protocol. Start out early by building friendships among fellow students to ensure you’re prepared for any future jobs where good teamwork is an essential quality.
Flight School Friends That Learn Together, Stay Together
At the end of the day, you and your fellow students will be spending a lot of time together in ground school and on training flights. It’s not uncommon for fellow flight school students to become your lifelong friends. In the future, you’ll likely attend the same social events, work the same jobs or fly the same routes and run into each other from time to time. Just like in a traditional school setting, certain classmates may remain your close confidants long after graduation.
Friends Keep You Accountable
As friendships build among fellow students, instructors and other flight school members, you’ll have shared experiences going through the coursework, passing required flight reviews and struggling through any setbacks. Ultimately, it’s a process that requires accountability from you. As research has shown, it becomes a lot easier when you have friends to hold you accountable. Setting goals, communicating them with teammates and delivering on specific tasks to achieve that goal is an absolute necessity when it comes to becoming a licensed pilot.
Success At Flight School Starts With The Help Of Others
While you may be an ambitious aviator, don’t overlook the benefits of developing friendships on your way up. Whether you’re at flight school or on the job, maintaining a sense of cooperation over competition among teammates is always going to push you higher in your personal and professional lives.
When you’re searching for flight schools, make sure their staff emphasizes a strong commitment to community building – that they put students’ happiness on par with success. That way, you’ll have the best chance at becoming a certified pilot as it pertains to your training goals.
Are you searching for a community-oriented flight school? Turn to Inflight Pilot Training!
With new facilities planned for 2023 and beyond, we’ve crafted our flight training programs around the needs of our students. Whether you want to pursue flying as a hobby or a career. We’ve helped countless students achieve their goals in the cockpit.
If you’re interested in learning more about Inflight programs, contact us today or call (952) 698-3000.
