The North American Institute of Aviation (NAIA) was a private,

FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

Part-141

flight school Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

located in

Conway, South Carolina Conway is a city in Horry County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 24,849 at the 2020 census, up from 17,103 in 2010 census. It is the county seat of Horry County and is part of the Myrtle Beach metropolitan area. It is the home ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Founded on July 7, 1972 in Hammonton, New Jersey, then later moved to South Carolina in 1978, NAIA specialized in flight and aircraft maintenance training. It has also had a campus in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The school had close connections to North European Aviation Resources (NEAR) of

Vigra Vigra is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county on the west coast of Norway. The municipality existed from 1890 until its dissolution in 1964 when it was merged into the present-day Giske Municipality. The former municipality was mad ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, and was for a period of time the

ab-initio ''Ab initio'' ( ) is a Latin term meaning "from the beginning" and is derived from the Latin ''ab'' ("from") + ''initio'', ablative singular of ''initium'' ("beginning"). Etymology Circa 1600, from Latin, literally "from the beginning", from ab ...

school of

Scandinavian Airlines Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark ...

. The school subsequently commanded an excellent reputation in Northern Europe. NAIA boasted an international student population and graduates work for airlines worldwide. The school concentrated its efforts on FAA Part-141 operations and their European JAR-FCL approved program in cooperation with NEAR, which maintained a representative at the school. NAIA operated out of the Conway-Horry County Airport where it was also the fixed-base operator (FBO). NAIA ceased training operations September 5, 2008. The school was up for sale, and had been approached by potential buyers. Most staff members had their employment terminated in order to revert the operations into a pure FBO service. European program students have not yet been refunded for their training tuition, although some of the American students have been refunded due to an insurance policy maintained by the school. European program students were transferred to Pelican Flight Training Center and Hillsboro Aviation. North American Institute of Aviation filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy at a federal court in Columbia on February 16, 2009.

Training programs offered

North American's Professional Pilot Program included the FAA Private Pilot License (PPL), Instrument Rating (IRA), Commercial Pilot License (CPL), Flight Instructor Certificate (CFI), Instrument Flight Instructor Certificate (CFII) and the Multi-Engine Rating courses. The JAR-FCL approved training syllabus used by the school in cooperation with

NEAR NEAR or Near may refer to: People * Thomas J. Near, US evolutionary ichthyologist * Near, a developer who created the higan emulator Science, mathematics, technology, biology, and medicine * National Emergency Alarm Repeater (NEAR), a form ...

was a derivative of the original SAS ab-initio program. The school's Aviation Maintenance Technology Program included the training courses Airframe Systems and Components, Aircraft Structures, Reciprocating Powerplant Systems and Components and the Turbine Powerplant Systems and Components course. NAIA's School of Aviation Maintenance Technology also had an operational technical maintenance service which provided aircraft maintenance to the flight school's fleet as well as to the local aviation community.

The fleet

North American operated until September 5, 2008, a fleet of 6

Cessna 152 The Cessna 152 is an American two-seat, fixed- tricycle-gear, general aviation airplane, used primarily for flight training and personal use. It was based on the earlier Cessna 150 incorporating a number of minor design changes and a slightly ...

, 11

Cessna 172 The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company.

, 3 Cessna 172RG, 2

Piper Seminole The Piper PA-44 Seminole is an American twin-engined light aircraft manufactured by Piper Aircraft. The PA-44 is a development of the Piper Cherokee single-engined aircraft and is primarily used for multi-engined flight training.Montgomery ...

s and one DA-40 Diamond Star. In early 2008 the school underwent operational tests of the Liberty XL2 as a replacement aircraft for the aging fleet. No purchase or lease of the Liberty was made. The average age of the fleet was 21.6 years per 2008.''NAIA Training Aircraft Weight Balance Data sheet'', specified aircraft production years. Upon closure of the school, the majority of the fleet was transferred to Pelican Flight Training Center where it continued to operate on lease from Christiansen Aviation.

Trivia

Students and alumni of North American are colloquially nicknamed "The Conway Bombers", pertaining to their historically often high activity level with aircraft departing from the home base with, what might appear as, similar time-spacing between each flight as that used by aircraft of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

bomber squadrons. Several flights often went to similar destinations at the same time, normally due to a class being in the process of accomplishing the required 37 hours of solo cross-country flights. A popular dining option for students and instructors alike was Kyoto Fantasy Express (Mon Cafe Japanese, as of late 2008). It was situated next to the Conway Walmart, which was on the extended centerline of the Conway-Horry County Airport's runway 22. This led to the coining of the term "Kyoto Arrival" for the visual approach to that runway, mimicking the often creative names of

STARs A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

at major airports.

External links

Official website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:North American Institute Of Aviation Aviation schools in the United States Education in Horry County, South Carolina Companies that have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Educational institutions established in 1972 Defunct companies based in South Carolina Buildings and structures in Conway, South Carolina