Houston Howell was a young boy when he became intrigued with the idea of one day becoming a pilot, navigating the skies above. His grandmother taught an introduction to aviation class at a high school, with the Washington state native sitting in on the flying airplane simulators every moment he could.
Student pilots speak at an open house Aug. 8 at Skyborne Airline Academy Vero Beach. PHOTO BY NICK SAMUEL
“She got me started,” said Howell, now working to obtain his certified flight instructor license at Skyborne Airline Academy Vero Beach. The license will allow him – like his grandmother before him – to train other rising pilots.
“She took me to the airport and up in a plane. I was hooked ever since then.”
Howell, 20, is among many other young, aspiring pilots around the world who enrolled at Skyborne, considered by many at the school to be the “gold standard” for pilot training nestled in a state where aviation is a driving force for tourism and private businesses.
Experts point out that aviation is seeing a boom in student pilots – some inspired by flight simulators, having a family tradition of aviators or simply enjoying the freedom of soaring the skies and witnessing breathtaking views. The market for cockpit-ready pilots or flight instructors, however, remains highly competitive.
Many of the student aviators hope to one day replace the seasoned commercial pilots who lead mandatory retirement waves every few years.
Skyborne’s Vero Beach branch – operating out of the 1,700-acre Vero Beach Regional Airport since 2021 – is the only U.S. location for the global air training academy. Skyborne is headquartered in Gloucester, United Kingdom, and has a third location in India.
Aviation students like Howell have their eyes on the skies with hopes of flying with big-named U.S. commercial airlines such as Alaska Airlines or Delta.
Howell said piloting a plane felt overwhelming at first, but over time, he became more comfortable with navigating the controls as he practiced flying over the lush green spaces of Indian River County.
“You’re flying a plane, not just driving a car down the road. You have to go up, down, left and right,” said Howell, who spoke at an Aug. 8 open house at Skyborne at the airport. “Now, I can fly a plane and it’s pretty easy. I can fly solo.”
Soaring to new heights
Student Mac Givens is passionate about flying planes. Givens, also working to obtain his certified flight instructor license, said he’s building a network, making lifelong friends with other classmates at Skyborne.
He wants to expand his experience by getting a certified flight instructor instrument rating, which will allow him to teach aspiring pilots to navigate the gauges and other avionics in an aircraft through fog, rain, clouds and low visibility. The student pilot said he will also obtain his multi-engine instructor rating.
Givens, 20, said his ultimate career goal is to fly with an airline.
“I have a big passion for flying, so wherever I end up, I know I’ll be happy,” Givens said.
Skyborne Airline Academy
Students from the United Kingdom, India, and Dubai, as well as U.S. students are enrolling at Skyborne Airline Academy’s Vero Beach branch. The academy has 400 students enrolled but can take up to 600, said Monica Tierson, the school’s commercial manager.
“A lot of students need structure,” Tierson said. “The syllabus is laid out. You’re prepared before you even get there. You know exactly what it is you need to study.”
A flight simulator at Skyborne Airline Academy Vero Beach. PHOTO BY NICK SAMUEL
The lessons are a combination of robust classroom instruction and hands-on flight training at the Vero Beach site. Most of the in-classroom training is done in the flight operations building. There are also state-of-the-art flight simulators, a maintenance facility and an assessment suite.
The full-time, 13-month residential program has 92 certified pilot instructors. Skyborne brings in new students each month, with orientation being held every first Monday.
The annual tuition is $102,000, according to Tierson. Aviation scholarships can be found on websites including the Safety In Motion Flight Center, Aviation Start, and the Bold website.
Safety training is heavily emphasized at the academy for the students, who can be seen dotting the skies over Vero Beach, officials say.
“Students learn the basics of flight and preflight,” Tierson said. “They take what they learn in the classroom and apply it to actual flying. They learn maneuvers, stalls, safety procedures and reviewing the emergency safety checklist. They’re learning to fly as if it were an airline.”
The academy, which provides 320 flying days every year in Florida, has a fleet of 69 single and multi-engine Piper planes at the airport.
“A lot of people come here for the fleet. We have a very well maintained fleet of aircraft,” Tierson said.
The 10-acre campus has a fully furnished dormitory where international students stay. The dorm has kitchens, bathrooms, living areas and beds. There is also a pool, gym, crew lounges, basketball courts, soccer fields and volleyball courts.
Skyborne has a number of airline partners including British Airways, TUI Airways, Jet2.com airlines, Ryan Air, Envoy Air, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Avelo Airlines, Wheels Up and JSX. Many of the graduates take on roles with the big airlines where salaries can climb in the six figures as experience grows over the years.
“Our airline partnerships are a very big piece of why students come here,” Tierson said of Skyborne, which purchased the Vero Beach-based Flight Safety Academy in Feb. 2021. “It’s how they get to network with airline partners.”
Airline recruiters usually conduct presentations on campus and meet with students before they are ready to fly with the airlines.
Navigating the Avionics
The Piper aircraft are equipped with Garmin G3X programs on the dashboards for multi-function navigation. The touchscreen flight display system is user friendly and provides pilots with more situational awareness, said Nathan Hagen, a certified flight instructor at Skyborne.
The dashboard of a Piper aircraft at Skyborne Airline Academy Vero Beach. PHOTO BY NICK SAMUEL
“You can tune into other airports. It’s very beneficial for training students,” Hagen said. “It has autopilot, which you need when you’re getting your commercial license. A lot of people don’t get that autopilot experience.”
The G3X displays show if a pilot goes off course, along with other data.
“We’re not as advanced as the regional (airports) where they have their own radar systems,” Hagen said.
Training
Skyborne students need a Class 1 medical certificate, which examines a person’s mental and physical capacity. The training at Skyborne is similar to training to fly for an airline, which will also require a Class 1 medical certificate, according to Tierson.
“We are training students for the airline,” Tierson said. “Our expectations are at the airline level.”
A Piper aircraft at Skyborne Airline Academy Vero Beach. PHOTO BY NICK SAMUEL
Under FAA guidelines, students must complete at least 1500 flight hours before working at an airline. Pilots need to obtain commercial pilot licenses – allowing them to be paid to fly – in order to work for the airlines.
If commercial pilots aren’t hired by the airlines, there are other jobs they can get paid to do such as skydiving or banner towing. Private pilots, who are not paid, fly planes for personal use.
Commercial airline pilots must retire by age 65, according to the FAA. However, there is no upper-age limit for non-commercial pilots in the U.S.
Learning to fly
Student pilots said their overall experience at Skyborne has been “awesome” and “amazing.”
“I’ve been looking for a program like this for quite a while. I feel like I’ve never been more prepared and accepted in such a professional setting in my life before,” Givens said. “It might seem daunting to start, but once you get through the first rating, everything starts to get easier.”
Photos by Joshua Kodis
