SkyVenture Receives Award

Cessna Diamond Award Recognizes Fayetteville's SkyVenture Aviation

October 6 - Arkansas Cessna Pilot Center SkyVenture Aviation earned the Cessna Diamond Award, recognizing owners Mark Frankum and Kathy Moore. The Diamond Award is presented to an outstanding flight school that is selected from the nearly 300 worldwide Cessna Pilot Centers affiliated with Cessna Aircraft Company, a Textron Inc. company. 

"SkyVenture is a model flight school," said Linda Schumm, regional manager, southeastern Cessna Pilot Centers. "Because they understand their customers and treat them professionally and respectfully, their school has gained a stellar reputation." 

SkyVenture became a Cessna Pilot Center in February 2003 in Jonesboro, Ark. A second location opened in Fayetteville, Ark., in May 2006, where 12 pilots have already received ratings. With four full-time flight instructors, the Fayetteville school has 35 to 40 students at any given time. 

Frankum said the schools go to great lengths to ensure their customers earn the certificate or ratings they come in for.  "We do this with attention to detail, outstanding customer service, the best aircraft, the best training curriculum, and uncompromising ground facilities," Frankum said. "It's first class the moment you walk in the door, from the facilities you enter and the people who greet you to the instruction you receive. Each flight instructor has their own office so students can get private, one-on-one attention, and each instructor reports to me at the end of the week to update me on the student pilots' progress so we can determine how we can best keep that student moving toward his or her goal."  

Moore added, "We help ensure our students remain actively involved in our flight training programs. It is very rewarding to watch a student achieve their goal, and we enjoy the opportunity to share in their accomplishments of learning to fly."

Frankum and Moore said they were honored and surprised to receive the award July 12.           

"We feel that Cessna Pilot Center concept is the best flight training system ever devised," Moore said. "We want to offer quality to our customers and Cessna offers the whole package: advanced aircraft, Interactive Computer Based Instruction (CBI), and a support network unequaled in the industry." 

More people have learned to fly in Cessna aircraft than in any other aircraft. More than half a million people have learned to fly through Cessna's worldwide network of nearly 300 Cessna Pilot Centers since the concept was introduced more than 30 years ago. The average time to obtain a private pilot's certificate while using Cessna's computer based instruction-training course is 54.5 hours, almost 30 percent less than the national average.