About FTI
Founded in 1993, Flight Training International (FTI) is an FAA-approved training center authorized under Title 14, Part 142 to provide initial, recurrent, requalification, and specialty flight training. From the A320 to the B787, FTI offers flight training by airline pilots for airline pilots. FTI also offers specialty courses such as ATP-CTP training and RVSM training, and a complete training solution for aircraft operators, including courseware development, LMS access, and electronic grading and documentation of training records.
Challenges
FTI had an online scheduling tool that offered planning functionality, but was built around airplanes checking in and out maintenance and calculating fuel costs, which was not functional for simulator training. They also used another system they relied on for managing training, that offered a lot of features they liked but was a bit buggy, and they were promised fixes and upgrades that were never released. FTI realized they were starting to outgrow their current tools and decided to look for another solution.
Solutions
FTI transitioned to MINT TMS, a versatile solution offering automation for training planning, data management, and instructor qualification tracking. Leveraging MINT Forms Builder, FTI developed tailored electronic grade sheets to streamline grading and record-keeping tasks. MINT’s scheduling suite, featuring an auto-scheduling tool, facilitated efficient training planning across multiple locations, minimizing conflicts and ensuring instructor availability. FTI benefited from MINT’s extensive reporting capabilities, enabling real-time monitoring of training courses and student progress through customized reports. Additionally, with the integration of MINT LMS add-on, instructors and students could conveniently complete web-based training within the platform. Since adopting MINT in 2016, FTI has centralized training-related data access, enhancing the overall training experience for both instructors and students.
- Streamlined training management
- Custom grade sheets via MINT Forms Builder for streamlined data collection
- Enhanced planning across locations
- Custom reports for real-time insights into training progress
- MINT LMS integration for web-based training completion
- Centralized FTI’s training data access
“MINT has given us the autonomy we need to manage and schedule training in the way that meets our specific requirements. We can create and edit our curriculums, records, forms, and reports in a quick manner and don’t need to rely on the vendor (MINT) when things need to be updated.”
Chuck Hagan
FTI Training Center Manager
Results
In his role as FTI’s Training Center Manager, Chuck Hagan wears many hats in the training operation and spoke to us about MINT’s positive impact on their process. “It’s not just a scheduling platform. It’s a Training Management System. Our company is a training department, but you can run a training department off of this.”
Chuck highlighted the efficiency and savings that FTI has experienced with MINT TMS. “I had one employee dedicated to running end of course transcripts and another doing nothing but tracking instructor qualifications and the associated documentation. With MINT, I was able to set specific triggers that automated both processes and eliminated two fairly large salaries. Not only did we reduce head count, but we improved accuracy and timeliness in the process.”
FTI continued to share the importance that MINT has played in the survival of their small business.
“I could put a dollar value on the salaries that we were able to eliminate. We have eliminated the need for a full-time scheduler, which is probably a $50k to $ 75k-a-year job. We were also able to eliminate a 90k/year administrator and a $100k+/year flight manager by automating much of the work they were doing manually. For a small company, that is a substantial amount of money.”
Chuck Hagan
FTI Training Center Manager
In conclusion, Chuck has enjoyed working with our team and stated, “The MINT team are tinkerers. They like to tinker with things. If you present them with a problem or a question or query. They don’t see it as an opportunity to make money off you. They view it as a problem to be solved, take it as a personal challenge, and attempt to solve it. And I would say that they solve it most of the time. And if they can’t solve it, they’ll tell you why it can’t be done and offer an alternative solution to meet your needs.”
Read the Full Interview with Chuck Hagan
