CPPP Lakeland ... and the survey says!

In the effort to revitalize the CPPP experience, we invited the participants in the Lakeland CPPP to provide feedback through an on-line survey.  47 flight and ground participants were invited and 41 responded, which gives an amazing 87% response rate. 

How did you learn about the CPPP?

To improve our outreach to COPA members, we wanted to know how participants learned about the Lakeland CPPP course:

Clearly, a variety of sources are required to reach participants.  About a third through the COPA web site, a quarter through email, about a third through past experience and just a few through the magazine.  We've still got work to do here . . .

How did you travel to the Lakeland CPPP?

Next, because this Florida location was so popular, we were interested in whether this was a local phenomenon relying upon lots of local COPA members, or was this a winter destination.  In another question, we learned that 90% flew their own Cirrus to the CPPP.  Here's how far they traveled:

More than half of the participants came from less than 250 nm or less than a two-hour flight, hence a strong local draw.  Interestingly, one-third came from farther away and 5 from really far away.  (And yes, it was pointed out that I missed a segment from 500 to 1000 nm).

Next we asked about overall satisfaction with the CPPP weekend, as well as ground sessions and flight training sessions.  In each of these questions, we asked for opinions on a scale of worst to best: A disaster!, Could be better, OK, Good and Excellent.

Overall satisfaction with the Lakeland CPPP

The overall satisfaction with CPPP is extraordinarily high with most answers given as Good and Excellent and only a smattering of Could be better.  We are still doing good things with CPPP.  In the graphs below, more dark blue is better:

The area of most concern was audio-visual presentations.  Indeed some of the rooms were poorly setup with small screens and one room had many windows.  Note to C3PO volunteers, we need to get this right!

Other areas of concern were with the pre-course syllabus and logistics information.  This will require some familiarization and investigation to see what we can do to improve this.  But expect changes to the registration web pages and logistics letters.

Ground instruction

Shifting to ground instruction, the responses reflect the different attendance at each session and reveals some definite areas of concern:

The aviation safety and procedures segment was a plenary session presented to everyone before they split into flying and ground tracks.  Good to see that these were well received.

The two avionics course, Classic Avionics and the New (beta) Avionics course, had the most Could be better and even one A disaster! response.  Fortunately, these courses are undergoing revisions and will be improved over the next few CPPP presentations.  But clearly, we need to work on these.

Engine Management was a hit and Single Pilot Resource Management did pretty good.  And the weather segments were okay and participation represented the number of repetitions.  (Don't know about the one response to Aviation Survival, since it wasn't offered in Lakeland!)

In the comments on the ground sessions, we received a few additional suggestions:

• present the accident statistics during the Partner in Command course because it scared some partners (we did things differently in Las Vegas)
• update the printed materials, which did not match the presentations, and improve the quality, which was insufficient to read what was being discussed (work in progress)
• speed up the animated movies, which took too long to load and were too slow when replaying (noted, a technical challenge)
• use charts with the same scales in the engine management course (noted)
• avoid cutting sessions short due to flight training (did we say this was recurrent training? we want you to come back for more!)
• allow more discussion in weather course, too many slides to discuss (noted)

Flight Instruction

The next question asked about flight instruction.  Overwhelmingly, flight participants rated this very highly:

Only two questions received Could-be-better responses: amount of time available and suitability of airspace, airport and ATC.  Otherwise, the excellent cadre of CPPP flight instructors did well again.

Partner In Command Session

Lakeland CPPP featured a Partner in Command course.  We encouraged partners in the registration materials and announced it again at the Friday night reception.

But the pre-event description and outreach left the most to be desired.  The length of the program was an issue for several, partly due to time pressure since the instructor was also a flight instructor and had to be in two places at once.  We'll fix that in the future.

In the open-ended comments to the Partner in Command session, we received many compliments and a few suggestions:

• discuss the door latch
• discuss how to follow the emergency checklist
• provide flight time for partners (available at Migration and sim time in Las Vegas and Atlanta)
• expected more based on description
• didn't know about it until Friday
• partners came away very impressed, excited, knowledgeable (several similar comments)
• use extra time to explain the pictures and procedures
• don't cut the session short
• get partners discussing how they handle fears, what their pilots do for fears

Negative factors at the Lakeland CPPP

In an open-ended question, we asked for any negative factors and we got blasted for the Friday night reception:

• improve food on Friday night reception (hotel struggled to make pizzas in sufficient quantities for a ravenous crowd)
• better organize Friday night reception, seemed hard for first timers to fit in
• provide more advanced topics, 95% was review
• ensure aircraft maintenance service is more timely

Suggestions to improve future CPPP events

Similarly, we asked for suggestions to improve the CPPP course, some of which we could act on for the next one in Las Vegas:

• have opening comments and general session Friday night (improved for Las Vegas CPPP)
• start Friday afternoon so Sat and Sun could be at a slower pace (under consideration, many issues)
• improve the food Friday night (noted, improved in Las Vegas CPPP)
• more introductions of leaders, instructors and attendees (improved for Las Vegas CPPP)
• better explanation of logistics and better chart of courses with who is teaching them (improved for Las Vegas CPPP)
• improve the printed materials (work in progress)
• provide electronic copies (under consideration)
• improve Partner in Command course (noted)
• update avionics for Perspective (underway)
• do this more often, I would attend quarterly!
• provide info in logistics letter about hotels and attractions nearby (under consideration, issue with fulfilling hotel block)
• use blackboards for diagramming things (noted)
• use higher quality name badges (noted)
• please bring WINGS back (work in progress)

What would you say to someone considering a CPPP?

Finally, we asked the participants what they would say if someone was considering attending another CPPP weekend:

• Go! Good idea!  Definitely go! Do it! (8 variations of this exhortation!)
• Good way to maintain proficiency and meet other Cirrus pilots
• Very worthwhile!
• Good review and excellent flight instruction
• You will enjoy it and learn a lot
• Very good use of time, the course provides access to a wealth of information
• You will learn something new about their Cirrus
• If you want to have a great experience, make new friends, enjoy yourself, and significantly improve your piloting skills and flying safely, DO NOT MISS CPPP!
• It is so good because it is so Cirrus specific and the instructors are top notch.  You have weeded out the marginal instructors over the years.
• Great value, go with someone you know
• Excellent experience and I would recommend for everyone
• Don't just consider it, do it!
• I think pilots feel this is going to be very stressful and a test situation...It is just the opposite the learning is tremendous and I always had the feeling that everyone was there to help me be a better pilot..Additionally the people you meet, staff and participants become friends
• The instructors (ground and flight) are among the best available worldwide not only in terms of subject matter experise but also the all important interpersonal relationship skills and ability to precisely address individual goals. And to top it off, the opportunities for casual "hangar talk" with like minded enthusiasts is terrific.
• It's good to make new friends with interest in flying
• Yes, I have over 28000 hours, FAA inspector, instructor and it is only prudend to get your head in the game aech year
• If I take away 1 or 2 new items and get refreshed on several old items, I'll feel that it worth the time and expense.

Thanks to the participants for this feedback.  Some ideas we have already implemented for Las Vegas, while others will take some consideration. 

One idea is to incorporate these CPPP exhortations on the COPA home page.  Look for them there.

Cheers
Rick