Norwegian Aviation College
Norwegian Aviation College is a flying school with its base at Bardufoss Air Station in Norway. SAS’s most experienced airline pilots/instructors participated in selecting the location, designing the training facilities, selecting the equipment and in the design of the training programmes and the follow-up. This, coupled with a rigorous testing and selection of the applicants, has resulted in a ab-initio pilot training programme, unique in the aviation industry.
Current issue
Norwegian Aviation College was supported financially by SAS, but around 2004 SAS wanted to cut the support. The Univercity of Tromsø was planning to take over and make the college a part of the univercity thus making this educational course a government offer. The process is taking a lot of time and for the time being the last integrated course class graduated in September 2006 and the college is not taking in any new students right now. (Updated April 2007)
History
Norwegian Aviation College was started in 1992 by Scandinavian Airlines System and SAS Flight Academy. The objective was to establish a pilot training facility providing education of such quality that the graduates easily could transition into the modern airliner cockpit.
Fleet
NAC operates a fleet of civilian trainers, with the twin engine training being completed on the Piper Seneca V. All aircraft are maintained by NAC Maintenance.
In 1999, NAC completely renewed it's fleet by replacing the Cessna and MFI-15 with 6 Piper Archer III's, 4 Grob 115D's and 2 Piper Seneca V. Later they have reduced their fleet by two Piper Archer III.
More information about the college available at the NAC website: http://www.pilotutdanning.no (English)
Location
Bardufoss is located in the beautiful nature of Målselv municipality, in the inner part of Troms. The municipality is characterized by wide valleys that cut in between tall mountains. At the floor of the majestic Målselv valley, runs the 140 km long Målselv, a river renowned for its salmon and trout fishing. The Målselv waterfall between Andselv and Øverbygd is 600 meters long with a 15 meter drop. Along the waterfall, a 450 meter long salmon bridge is blasted out of the rock. In eastern Målselv, Øvre Dividalen national park is located, known for its ancient pine forest.
The area has several large military camps, and Bardufoss is an important air base of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, being the home of two helicopter squadrons. Different NATO allies perform their winter training here, and during January to March there is high activity at the airport and in the airspace around Bardufoss.
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