Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Flight Safety is flying high these days thanks to a student body from around the world

It’s no mystery why clusters of young Chinese men on bicycles are pedaling their way around Vero Beach these days. Whether buying groceries, visiting the mall or heading to the beach, these visitors are everywhere.

So are the Brazilians, Norwegians and Kenyans. Contingents from 25 different countries are here for one reason -- to become their countries’ future pilots.

Enrollment pilot training at Flight Safety Academy is its highest since 2001. While the numbers fluctuate a bit from month to month, they’re generally between 375 and 400.

Nancy Ritter, Flight Safety’s public relations director and a licensed pilot (class of 1966) says enrollment fluctuates because every individual learns at a different rate.

“Each student learns at his or her own speed based on ability,” says Ritter.

All instruction is done in English the international language for pilots. While it may take foreign students slightly longer than Americans to graduate, they’re key to the academy’s high enrollment rate.

“Well over 90 percent of our students are international,” says Ritter.

The most highly represented country right now is Germany. Students may enroll as a group and a single individual may also enroll. Only days ago, the Academy accepted its first Icelander.

“One-third of students are Asian and the greatest number of those is Chinese,” Ritter says. “There’s even a waiting list of several hundred international students.”

Such a discrepancy between American and international students wasn’t always the case.

“Since 2008, there’s no way for a U.S. student to get a commercial loan to fly,” says Ritter.

In other countries it’s a whole different game.

International airlines sponsor students to become licensed pilots paying tuition from enrollment through graduation and providing allowances for living expenses.

“Most students are here between 18 and 24 months,” says Ritter. “They spend a considerable amount of money locally.”

Whether in campus dorms or nearby apartments, students buy everything from groceries and cooking equipment to clothes, electronics, bicycles and even cars. They eat out, go to movies, attend ball games and enjoy life in Vero Beach.

While it would be ideal to speak with these students directly, that’s not possible.

They are under strict contracts with their sponsoring airlines prohibiting them from speaking with newspaper reporters or having their pictures taken.

“Asking them about their experiences here would put them in a difficult situation,” says Ritter.

Their presence benefits our local economy, but begs the question -- are we producing enough well-qualified pilots for this country?

Ritter says that’s a topic under congressional discussion.

“There’s definitely an ongoing concern we’re not creating the number of pilots we did in the past,” she says.

Both Ritter and Steve Phillips, Flight Safety’s marketing vice president at their New York headquarters, believe this topic will receive further attention.

“Clearly, there’s great concern we’ll experience a shortage of well-qualified pilots,” Ritter says.

Coinciding with the decline of American students is the tremendous growth in emerging markets Asia, Africa, and South America.

“The increase in Chinese students is unprecedented,” says Ritter.

Whether students are training to fly for commercial, military or U.S. government agencies, Florida’s great weather, location and number of airports makes it a perfect place to learn to fly.

Albert Ueltschi (former Vero Beach winter resident whose children attended St. Edward’s School) started the Flight Safety Academy in 1951 in Flushing, N.Y. after noticing corporate pilots didn’t receive the same rigorous training as commercial pilots.

Vero Beach, Ueltschi’s third Flight Safety academy in the nation, opened in 1966 and has just graduated its 20,000th student.

Today, there are Flight Safety academies throughout the U.S. and Canada as well as around the world.

The youngest of seven, Ueltschi was born in Kentucky in 1917. Inspired to learn to fly as a boy, he opened a burger stand called Kitty Hawk, when he was 16 and bought his first airplane, a Waco 10 from the profits.

After a brief stint at college, Ueltschi started barnstorming, eventually teaching student pilots in Cincinnati. He survived falling out of his plane, parachuting into a briar patch while his student safely landed.

Ueltschi began his career with Pan Am in 1941 as the airline’s founder Juan Trippe’s private pilot, retiring in 1968 at age 50.

The motto he started with in 1951 remains today, “The best safety device in any aircraft is a well-trained crew.”

Many of Flight Safety’s 170 employees (including 46 maintenance and approximately 90 instructors) have long careers there and are proud of the academy’s state of the art contribution to aviation.

The airport’s single greatest client, Flight Safety also buys 80 percent of its aircraft from Piper Aviation.

“We work with the Chamber for the economic development of the airport,” says Ritter.

Don Doohen, director of aircraft maintenance, has been a Flight Safety mechanic for 37 years.

“We enjoy working with the young students. They keep us going,” says Doohen.

Doohen and Ritter both wish that more locals would visit the campus.

“I’m always surprised at how many residents don’t know about us,” says Doohen.

“We invite the public to visit us as well as Piper,” says Ritter. “This is an exciting time for aviation and we are proud to be in Vero Beach.”

Flight Safety International Incorporated is located at 2805 Aviation Drive in Vero Beach. For more information visit www.flightsafety.com or call 772-664-7600.

Story and photo gallery:  http://www.tcpalm.com

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