Flight School Spotlight: Illinois Aviation Academy

With more than 230 students and 20 flight instructors, Werderich has built a well-oiled machine—one that students are eager to praise. Werderich was named the AOPA Flight Training Experience Award Great Lakes Region instructor of the year in 2015, and Illinois Aviation Academy has received recognition as a distinguished flight school multiple times.

The son of an airline pilot, Werderich has been involved with aviation from a very young age, but he wasn’t always interested in an aviation career. He began flying in high school for fun, but “It was very much more recreational based than a vocational orientation,” he said. However, a temporarily paralyzing injury on the football field led to an epiphany. Suddenly, “how much I could bench press and how fast I could run a 40 was not as important as what I’m going to do for the rest of my life,” he said. Werderich realized that he loved flying airplanes, and by his senior year of high school he had obtained a CFI certificate.

“I started flight training out the trunk of my car,” Werderich said. “I had … literally two milk crates with my books, a coffee table, and two lawn chairs, and I did ground school in the parking lot behind my car.” Leasing airplanes to provide instruction, he was willing to do whatever it took to make it in the flight school business. As he established himself, he began to take on more students, contracted work with local colleges to offer ground school, hired additional instructors, and even flew for the airlines for a short period of time in the early days of IAA.

Today, he is president of a sprawling organization that provides ground school, flight training, and drone training, sponsors aviation youth programs, and more. Werderich is honest about the pillars that contribute to this success.

First, ongoing training is a top priority. “I’ve had the pleasure to work with people that have been able to contribute great ideas to help innovate and keep the company on an innovative front with cutting-edge ideas, helping me manufacture a training program that’s unique in its style,” Werderich said. It’s not only innovation in training for students, but also staff. With Werderich’s roots in education—he graduated from Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois, with a bachelor of education in biology and earth science—he values the impact education has on instructors and the dynamic product it creates. He brought in his wife, Donna Werderich, who has a doctoral degree in education, to train his CFIs to be more than just great instructors, but also great teachers. “We’re always training here at Illinois Aviation,” Robert Werderich said.

Another important business strategy and organization pillar is IAA’s commitment to accessibility. Upper management, even Werderich himself, are always available for individual questions, and they like to stay updated on student progress. “I don’t have an office,” Werderich said. “I believe in management by walking around.” At every level, instructors and managers are monitoring the complete training process to make sure students are getting the full value out of the flight training.

IAA also values giving back to the community in West Chicago, specifically supporting and working with aviation youth programs. Werderich describes community involvement as a “backbone of Illinois Aviation from the beginning,” and investing in aviation organizations like The Ninety-Nines, the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, and Tuskegee NEXT helps IAA make a positive contribution to the community while also highlighting the value of the aviation industry. Saddened by the sudden closure of Chicago’s Meigs Field in 2003, Werderich believes showing the community the value of aviation can help prevent airport closures in the future. “The community didn’t see the value of that aviation industry there in Chicago,” he said, “so they didn’t fight for it.”

Werderich continues to stay passionate about preserving the freedom to fly. And when asked of advice for other flight school business owners he reflected on his own humble beginnings out of a car in a parking lot, when he was just trying to make good pilots. “Stay true to what your core product is going to be,” he said. “Stay true to teaching your staff to feel and believe in that same core product.”