Sierra Academy of Aeronautics

The Sierra Academy of Aeronautics is an aviation flight school headquartered in Livermore, California. It operates two training facilities. The largest is at the Livermore Municipal Airport. The other facility is located at the former Castle Air Force Base in Merced, California. Sierra Academy is also contracted by several foreign air carriers to perform pilot training, including Shanghai Airlines.

History

The Sierra Academy formerly was based at the Oakland International Airport, where it had hangars, offices, and classrooms. It was owned by the Everett family of Atherton, California.

It operated a fleet of commercial jetliners, to provide instruction leading to "ratings" on each class of plane. Tuition fees were considerable (and remain so), because they included the cost of jet fuel.

By the mid-1960s, Sierra was training pilots from many countries, some for national airlines, like Saudi Arabian Airlines.

In the 1990s, Sierra developed a new campus in Livermore for Korean students. In 1996, Hani Hanjour who would later fly a hijacked airliner into the Pentagon was admitted to the Sierra Academy of Aeronautics, but before beginning flight training, the academy arranged for Hanjour to take intensive English courses at ELS Language Center in Oakland. . The flight school also arranged for Hanjour to stay with a host family, with whom he moved in with on May 20, 1996. Hanjour completed the English program in August, and in early September 1996, he attended a single day of ground school courses at the Sierra Academy of Aeronautics before withdrawing, citing financial worries about the $35,000 cost.

Near 2003, the company filed bankruptcy and many students lost their accounts and dollars. Two Korean business men, Dan and John Yoon, bought out the debt and re-opened Sierra Academy. The company is now opened under KSA Aviation.

The new owners moved its Oakland program to a new facility in Livermore, CA (KLVK) in 2004. The company took advantage of the growing Indian market and began accepting students from all over India. This was mostly a result of the declining U.S. based students who could no longer find funding for flight training.^{[citation needed]}

While the Livermore campus was running, they also opened up a large campus at Castle Airport (KMER, formerly Castle AFB) in 2005. Here, Sierra focuses on contractual training for Shanghai, China, and Mongolian Airlines. It has a fleet of over 60 aircraft, four fixed simulators, two full-motion simulators, dorm-style living, and approximately 80 instructors. Sierra began hiring instructors from around the country to fill the demand. Before the Castle Campus, Sierra was known for hiring only former students who had finished their program.

In January 2007, the company moved all remaining students and employees to its existing facilities at the former Castle AFB (KMER). This consolidation was necessary as the Chief Pilot was not available to oversee daily operations, and all resources and money were being spent towards the Castle campus.

Currently, all of Sierra's operations are out of Castle Airport in Atwater, CA.

Accident

On November 15, 2008, a student walked into the prop of a Cessna 152, suffering fatal injuries.

http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20081117X33612&ntsbno=WPR09LA040&akey=1

Awards

In 1992 the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) honored Sierra Academy of Aeronautics with the Excellence in Pilot Training Award. This prestigious national award, sponsored by Jeppesen Sanderson, provides recognition for "outstanding contributions in safety, professionalism, leadership, and excellence in the field of pilot training."

External links

• Sierra Academy of Aeronautics website
• FAA Accident Report
• local news article