Belgrade, Montana-based Summit Aviation is honoured to have both its flight school and chief instructor, Missy Harlow, recognised by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) for excellence in flight training. Both Summit and Harlow received a Flight Training Experience Award from AOPA's You Can Fly 2023 Flight Training Experience Survey. AOPA is the world's largest aviation association, representing over 300,000 pilots, and only gives these titles to high-scoring flight schools and instructors from its You Can Fly annual survey.

The Flight Training Experience Awards are highly respected in the aviation industry and were created to highlight the best flight training the industry offers. The fact that Harlow and Summit Aviation have been selected for these awards demonstrates the organisation's commitment to providing high-quality flight instruction and exceptional customer service.

“Successful flight training is about more than just learning to fly. Building a sense of community to support the people who are learning takes the experience to a much higher level where they can excel. This year's instructors and schools have clearly brought their customers into the pilot community,” says AOPA Foundation senior director flight training education Chris Moser.

"Receiving a Distinguished Flight School Award from AOPA is a great honour and demonstrates Summit Aviation's commitment to excellence in aviation education. We've been very fortunate to receive several awards from AOPA over the years, for both the flight school itself and our incredibly talented instructors. To receive this particular award for the fifth consecutive year is very exciting, and we look forward to continuing to benefit students with our expertise and dedication well into the future," says owner and president Ben Walton.

Chief instructor Missy Harlow received AOPA's Distinguished Flight Instructor award for the second consecutive year. “I have so many amazing people around me, and I am very lucky for that. A great joy of mine is watching people grow in their aviation careers and their personal lives. You don't do flight instruction for the money, you do it for the students,” she says.

“We've been very fortunate to have Missy as our chief instructor,” continues Walton. “She's done an amazing job in that role, not only with the students, but with her whole team of instructors as well. It's a big job, and we're very excited to see her recognised on the national stage once again for her talent and hard work.”

The aviation industry relies on the expertise and commitment of flight instructors like Harlow to ensure the safety and proficiency of pilots. Her recognition by AOPA is a significant achievement that reflects the quality of her training and Summit Aviation couldn't be prouder.

The 2023 awards were drawn from flight students and pilots who voluntarily reviewed their flight training experience this past fall through an AOPA online customer satisfaction survey. The process yielded an evaluation of 608 different flight schools and 1,153 individual flight instructors.