Embry-Riddle Wins Contract to Train Air Force Pilots

The $14.5 million, 5-year contract calls for a 50-hour flight-training program resulting in a private pilot's license. Training will take place at the Air Force Academy airfield in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The program, which begins Oct. 1, will train up to 300 Air Force cadets in the first year and involve up to 540 students per year the remaining four years of the contract. The Air Force will provide advanced training to the cadets after they graduate from the academy. The contract includes a three-year extension worth $10 million.

"We are extremely pleased," said Guy McClurkan, Embry-Riddle's vice president of affiliate operations. "It's the ultimate compliment to have the U.S. Air Force say, 'You do such a good job of training pilots that we want you to train the best pilots in the world.' "

Embry-Riddle is one of several organizations that bid for the training contract.

"They gave us the best value for our money," said Col. Brian Bishop, commander of the 34th Operations Group at the academy. "They are very well respected in aviation communities. We want to be a safe program, a quality program, and we know Embry-Riddle's going to be able to provide this for us."

The new contract will enable cadets to get pilot training before graduation. Offering the program on the academy campus will provide more military oversight and mentoring, Bishop said.

The academy did its own single-engine flight training until 1997. After that, most cadets had to wait until they graduated to get their private pilot licenses through civilian flight schools.

Training will be done in 35 Diamond DA20-C1 airplanes, which Embry-Riddle will lease. The university will begin implementation plans in Colorado Springs immediately.

Embry-Riddle's ties with the U.S. military go back to World War II, when it trained more than 25,000 aviators and technicians, and the Korean War, when it taught airplane maintenance to U.S. Air Force pilots.

For more information, contact Embry-Riddle's Communications and Marketing office at 386-226-6182 or james.hampton@erau.edu. Embry-Riddle's web site is www.embryriddle.edu.

Embry-Riddle, the world's largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, meets the needs of students and industry through its educational, training, research, and consulting activities. Embry-Riddle educates 24,000 students annually through the master's level at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., at more than 150 teaching centers in the United States and Europe, and through distance learning.