I have refrained from posting on this sight in the past but after reading the last post from "CharlstonCFII" I feel there may be a need for another opinion about FSA. First of all I love the academy and KNOW that I received the best training in the industry while I was there. However, I do think that there are some things that can and should be done to keep new students coming in and the flow of instructors moving through. Let me start by saying that it is unfortunate that Flight Safety who is the BEST in the industry for flight training has a lower enrollment than a lot of other schools out there. There are a few very good reasons why this is. First, the ads that we place in the magazines do not give any information about the school. The ads should have some pictures of the students, aircraft, SAAB 2000 etc. I hear that most people including myself only found out about FSA from word of mouth. That is not enough!!! I have had people tell me they do not even notice the ads in the magazines. Lets remember that Marketing is the key to any business. Second, I am sure I will catch some grief about this one; I think the management should limit all instructors to their 800-hour contract at this time. When they complete their 800 hours they should be sitting on at LEAST 1100/400. Those numbers are marketable and they can always pick up a few hundred more hours instructing somewhere else. It is only fair to the rest of the students coming up behind them who dropped 55K with the hopes of being hired as a CFI. I have heard that a lot of really qualified people have been turned down after the CFI interview. I know that Flight Safety is not hiring them so they can keep the wait list down but the wait should be the students choice if they have worked hard and are qualified to be there. What kind of message are we sending to the new students or POSSIBLE new students? Everyone knows that students want to instruct where they completed their training. As far as the ASA program, I do not believe that Flight Safety can do much about that because ASA is in control of that particular situation. I do believe that Flight Safety should do something to work out some agreements with other regionals. I am not talking about 25-30K programs either. If Pan-Am can set up interview agreements at 700 hours with 8 carriers the first year they are open then I am certain that Flight Safety with their reputation in the industry can do the same. The question is why haven't we? Our students deserve it. I have never seen so much pride for one school in my life. Every student there loves Flight Safety. Here's another one for marketing. Our prices are TOO HIGH. Flight Safety has had 3-4 price increases since early 2000. With the economy the way it is you should be lowering the prices to compete with other schools. Price is a big issue for every potential flight student and their parents right now and we are losing those students too less expensive schools. Yes our training is better, but think back to when you were a pre-private looking for a school. Did you really know the difference between adequate and excellent flight training? Price is a huge consideration right now. 350-400 students at 45K is a heck of a lot better than 150 at 55K. I think Flight Safety got used to the high profit margin when they had 550 students enrolled and has failed to realize that you cannot keep raising the prices to compensate for the lower enrollment. While we are on the subject of money, How about a raise for our hard working CFI's. They deserve it. It is kind of a slap in the face to receive $14/hr out of $55/hr. I think $55/hr is the highest I have seen in the industry for instruction. Why? There are smaller schools that charge less and pay their instructors more. These are just a few thoughts on what can and should be done to resolve our low enrollment situation and to take care of the people that make this business possible, the students. This is just the opinion of one person with an MBA to back it up. If the "heavies" are reading this right now, I hope you consider what I have said. It all makes sense. You do not need an MBA to figure it out. Had these issues been taken care of a year ago when I was there I would probably be instructing at FSA rather than somewhere else. I am close to being marketable so it really is water under the bridge for me but think about the current students and the possibility of losing future students if these issues continue. Word of these issues are spreading fast. A bad rep in the industry can take a long time too shake, ask Pan-Am.