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In today's turbulent aviation environment, there is one constant: Commercial flight schools are the "gatekeepers" for thousands of civilian pilots who will someday take their seats in the cockpits of planes ranging from small single-engine aircraft to the largest jumbo jets.
The Federal Aviation Administration oversees more than 500 flight schools and training centers nationwide to make sure their training programs, personnel and aircraft satisfy all appropriate Federal Aviation Regulations. Going even further, we actively work with those schools to improve the quality of their flight instruction and help reduce accidents and incidents during flight training.
Picture by courtesy of Lewis University
We at the FAA know that the quality of flight school training is an essential component of future aviation safety. Flight schools, as well as the colleges and universities that include pilot training in their curricula, offer a wide variety of training aids and special facilities that prepare students to fly safely in the nation's increasingly crowded and complex airspace. The instructors at these schools take a fundamental interest in making sure their charges learn well -- after all, it won't be long before they will be sharing the same sky! Whether a student is just learning to fly for fun or progressing through his or her career with additional ratings, flight schools have a critical impact on the present and future safety of American aviation.
As you read this, somewhere in the nation a young person has just walked through the door of a flight school to say magic words: "I want to learn to fly!" It's a dream that has existed long before two brothers from Ohio made the first powered airplane flight nearly 100 years ago. It's a dream that today's flight schools are helping to make a reality.
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