I just signed up for the AOPA Flight Training Advantage (AFTA) program, but my flight school didn't know anything about it. It looks interesting, so hopefully the information that AFTA sends to the flight school will convince them to try it out for me. Does anyone on here use the program, and if so, was it helpful for PPL training?
So far, my instructor has been great about what to study for the next lesson (Bravo Flight Training at KGAI). Only 4 hours in with this instructor, but I spent 7 hours trying out different schools/instructors to make sure I was happy with my choice. I would just like to see a history and status report as I go through the process.
@Daniel Bissell I'm using it with my single PVT student. I'd give it a strong B grade. It's a fantastic idea and it mostly works very well. But it's clearly a ‘first gen’ application. I've seen no obivious updates to the app since it came out (perhaps I'm wrong).
My student likes it - the ‘auto’ lesson feature is awesome though I find it a tad restrictive and somewhat difficult to diverge from. I'd prefer to teach ‘this’ before ‘that’ but the app feels differently.
The ability to ‘grade’ and track performance inflight it pretty nice. It's tracks my student progress nicely.
Parts of the record keeping tasks are a bit cumbersome…..it never remembers the plane N-number or type and thus requires it be entered EVERY lesson. It isn't easy to make changes or correct entry mistakes.
If development continues - I believe this app (or something similar) will be come vital.
I think it's worth a try for you……
@Gary Moore and @Daniel Bissell - Thanks for taking a look at AFTA. We definitely do have ideas for what we would like to add, but we definitely want input so that we can help the user's get what they need.
You are right that updates have been on hold, but fortunately we now have a dedicated person in our IT department that is working on AFTA full time, so you should be seeing some updates in the near future.
I agree that adding some flexibility to the system will be useful and it is on our radar for development in the future.
Please let me know if we can be of assistance!
@Daniel Bissell Generally speaking, it's a brilliant plan that performs admirably. Yet, it is obviously a "first generation" application. Since the app's release, I haven't noticed any obvious changes (but I could be mistaken). Although I find the "auto" lesson option to be a bit limiting and difficult to deviate from, my student enjoys using it. The app seems to think I should teach "that" first, but my instincts tell me otherwise. It's great that we can now "evaluate" and keep tabs on in-flight performance. The app does a great job of keeping tabs on how far along I am in school.
@Harvey Chambers We soft launched the application version 1.0 in 2021 as an initial proof of concept and to gather user feedback. We have been keeping track of what we believe to be the most important features that are not yet implemented, as well as looking out for any issues that may be impacting the user experience. Since the initial release, we have brought on internal developers who have been working hard to get up to speed with the system. They are now very comfortable making changes to the system , and have even added some popular requests; such as a single sign on (previously users needed two accounts) and allowing CFIs to edit their student's logbooks. We greatly appreciate your interest in the application, and would love to hear feedback on how we can improve the application. We do our best to listen to our users and want our app to best serve you at the end of the day, so your feedback is very important to us .Through the feedback of our users and our internal test team, we hope to deliver a refined version of the AFTA experience.
In the meantime, feel free to reply to this thread with any suggestions or feedback, or email aftasupport@aopa.org.