After years working towards a PPL and held back by traditional hard copy formats of learning, Tom Hogg met Instructors Neil Day and Ewen Goldsobel. Their ability to intuitively help people learn in a way that suited them sped up Tom’s progress immeasurably. As he had come to the end of his studies and passed his PPL, there were a number of occasions where he found himself saying “I wish we’d recorded that.” or “If only there was a quick reference for that bit I've got rusty on.” It led to a discussion between the three where everyone had been having similar thoughts and ideas. 

FL TEN is the company created by Tom, Ewen and Neil to tackle these industry shortfalls.

FL TEN created Project Taxiway, which will replace the old dated manuals featuring comical old diagrams, tediously-over-lengthy-descriptions to make way for recorded, pausable, in detail video manuals. It’s the modern way of learning and the aviation industry is woefully behind.

The three key people: Neil Day, Ewen Goldsobel and Tom Wilkes between them have experience in: Live & Recorded Events, Business Operations and Planning, Piloting, Training, Instructing and Presenting. Between the three we have access to recording facilities at a vastly reduced price, the knowledge required and a base clientele to get started with and get live feedback during the build process.

Project Taxiway will primarily create income from monthly subscriptions to the courses with longer and multi-course subscriptions attracting discounted pricing. 

The business will require the build of a basic studios for the lower GP items such as Fixed Wing Ground School and hired time in more advanced studios for the more expensive niche products such as Helicopter PPL and ATPL courses.

The most unstable part of the business financially will be during the build and record phases. The sheer volume of recording and mastering is huge. Once this is completed however, FLTEN will then own all the recorded assets and the GP increases with every single sale. For this reason we are looking to crowdfund through Advertising and EarlyBird subscriptions to avoid giving away large shares of the company. With every course we record the share value increases due to the assets being banked and ready to monetise. 

Our target audiences are:

Private Helicopter Students & Graduates, Commercial Helicopter Students & Graduates, Private Fixed Wing Students & Graduates, Commercial Fixed Wing Students & Graduates, Fixed Wing School, Helicopter Schools, Scheduled Flight Operators, Aviation Enthusiasts, Aircraft Manufacturers, Airline Academies.

An introduction to the problem

The Aviation industry has not updated its learning processes for over 3 decades. For an industry that uses some of the most advanced technology and has some of the most stringent regulations, the learning journey should be multifaceted and applicable to all. There is a huge shortage of Helicopter pilots (Boeing believes, 61000 Worldwide by 2027.) Part of the shortage stems from cost, part from the archaic forms of training. The modern way of learning is immersive, engaging and in short bursts. The current generation consumes huge amounts of information in quick succession. Reading blocks of text is also not addressing a large market of Neurodivergent people. Even the latest training manuals were written in the 90s and the 2000s and are still in ring binder print format!

Is it worth adding that even the PPL content will help and support the commercial pilot training given that this is the route to commercial for a high proportion of fixed wing and rotary wing pilots?

Furthermore, the makeup of the industry is a long way behind other more forward-thinking industries. Most GA Pilots fall into the Middle Class, White, Male category; according to EuroNews (2021) only 7% of pilots in the UK are from BAME backgrounds and only 3% are women. It means walking into that first lesson can be really intimidating. The industry must catch up and help attract new talent from all walks of life and backgrounds.

Our solution 

Project Taxiway is an online training resource where pilots, trainers and manufacturers come together in a professional recording environment to engage the next generation of pilots and help reduce the barriers to becoming a Helicopter Pilot. Project Taxiway’s content covers a range of very serious topics which can genuinely affect life and death decisions. This doesn’t mean it needs to be delivered in a “Death-By-Powerpoint'' mundane style. The content we create will be fun, vibrant and engaging. Rather than yawning and rolling their eyes at the thought of another textbook, students will be raring to watch the next video and learn more. 

Project Taxiway’s online platform will be a subscription-based model with easy access on Smartphone mobile devices (Via appstore and Google Play) and Web-enabled computers making the program accessible to a much larger audience.

We have already confirmed studio space where we will film our “pilot episode.” The studio we are using is a Virtual production studio. This will allow the presenters to be immersed in the content we film in the Helicopters and in the Ground based theoretical elements. It will allow the presenter to show multiple video streams of flying content at once. I.e. Pedals, Cyclic, Collective Controls and the Instruments all in one go on various screens. In this studio we will be able to interact with 3D models of helicopters and a variety of other media assets (e.g. graphs, charts, animations) in real-time, like on a weather or a sports channel showing things in 3D. This will place the presenter in an immersive environment. The end result brings all these elements together to provide a captivating learning experience that enables the student a deeper understanding of all the skills required to fly a helicopter safely and effectively. 

Comparison

From chunky heavy textbooks moving to online learning will mean people can learn anywhere at any time. Reading big chunky books on the train just isn’t practical. Our formulaic layout will mean you could watch a 2-minute video about The effects of altimeter pressure settings while you’re cooking the pasta for tea! Then pick right back up where you left off.

Routes To Market

Proof of Concept

Below is a screenshot of the studio and environment in a demonstration video.

A demonstration of the Website

Below is a screenshot of the prototype website where we will host the E-learning.

With special thanks to MALF Media, Chris Hollier, Sarah Cox and White Light for helping us get here!