FlightSafety incubating future corporate pilots
The FlightSafety Academy in Vero Beach, Fla., has a reputation for highly trained graduates with the skills and knowledge to move into the right seat of tu

The FlightSafety Academy in Vero Beach, Fla., has a reputation for highly trained graduates with the skills and knowledge to move into the right seat of turbine aircraft. Historically the emphasis has been on the regional airline market, but the post-9/11 environment had a devastating effect on the Academy’s enrollment.

Bill Wagner, chief pilot of Townsend Engineering and member of the academy’s advisory board, told AIN how the academy faced a critical period. “About two years ago Al Ueltschi, FlightSafety’s founder and CEO, attended an academy board meeting. We were discussing the profoundly negative effect 9/11 was having on the academy because the airlines were in such bad financial condition,” Wagner said. “Student enrollment, normally around 500, had sunk to about 250. There were no airline jobs to be had, so students stopped enrolling in the program.

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