Are there any statistics on the most popular states to do private pilot flight training in the USA or a similar measure?
I know Florida is very well visited, but I was wondering if there were other states which also have high number of students.
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asked Mar 1, 2014 at 21:36
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$\begingroup$ By statistics do you mean number of student pilots getting enrolled, or percentage of students getting their PPL? $\endgroup$– Farhan ♦Mar 2, 2014 at 3:45
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$\begingroup$ Enrolled students would be great :) $\endgroup$– ThunderstrikeMar 2, 2014 at 9:40
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3 Answers
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The FAA has a document on their website which breaks knowledge tests down by FSDO rather than state, and it gives a good idea of where the most training is taking place.
It is called: 2013 Airmen Knowledge Tests by Region and FSDO, and lists the following Regions/FSDO's as processing the most knowledge tests (in descending order)1:
Southern 28,333
Orlando 9,996
South Florida 5,958
Alabama & NW Florida 4,680
Atlanta 3,882
Tampa 2,504Western Pacific 18,416
Scottsdale 6,053
Riverside 1,556
San Diego 1,463
Sacramento 1,460
Long Beach 1,327
Fresno 1,270
Los Angeles 1,142
San Jose 1,121Southwest 15,943
Dallas 2,731
Fort Worth 2,581
Houston 2,438
Oklahoma City 2,347
San Antonio 2,321Eastern 14,552
Richmond 1,956
Greensboro 1,366
Farmingdale 1,280
Philadelphia 1,198
New York City 1,069
Boston 1,041Great Lakes 11,860
Fargo 2,120
Dupage 1,414
Indianapolis 1,358
Minneapolis 1,142
East Michigan 1,111Northwest Mountain 9,784
Denver 2,205
Portland 2,131
Salt Lake City 1,964
Seattle 1,611Central 9,019
Nashville 4,293
Wichita 1,304Alaskan 812
Based on this data, I would say that the areas surrounding the Orlando, Scottsdale, South Florida, Alabama & NW Florida, Nashville, and Atlanta FSDO's are the most popular training areas, with the Southern region being the most popular by far.
1 To improve readability, all FSDO's with less than 1,000 tests have been removed. See the source data for the complete list.
answered Mar 10, 2014 at 3:13
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$\begingroup$ Excepting Alaska with only 812 State-wide. $\endgroup$ Mar 10, 2014 at 18:01
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There are two popular areas: 1) Where you live. Most pilots desiring to fly for fun train near their home and family, and 2) Where the weather is good. aka somewhere down south, Arizona and Florida are the most popular. Why? Fewer no-fly days. There is a reason that ERAU has branches in Florida and Arizona.
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I used to train in the Phoenix area. Very busy. Lots of Chinese, Vietnamese, Dutch, Germans, Englishmen etc. (CAE Oxford, KLM Flight Academy (although I believe they recently ceased their training facility there) and many others. I'm sure this will not satisfy as an answer since these are all CPL training facilities and not PPL. Thought it would be interesting to share though. Cheers.
