35th Anniversary of Flight Academy
The Jat Flight Academy on Saturday, August 2, marked its 35th anniversary and celebrated St. Elias' Day – the patron saint day of airmen.
Since December 2007, Serbia has been member of the European aviation authorities so that licenses issued on completing its courses equal those elsewhere in Europe. This means that licenses obtained from the Jat Flight Academy are not subject to subsequent tests nor are its holders required to take additional examinations thus rendering license nostrification elsewhere in Europe and beyond much simpler. In addition, the Jat Flight Academy light aviation maintenance center in Vršac has been in possession of the EASA PART 145 certificate - required for maintenance and repair of smaller aircraft from the European Union - since 2005.
The Jat Flight Academy has an airport with a concrete runway and an air traffic control building making it one of the three largest such centers in Europe. One of the most up-to-date ALSIM ALX FNPT II flight simulators for twin-engine aircraft is to be installed there shortly. This will allow improved training quality as well as shorter and cheaper training.
By joining the jet era aviation, with the positive experience gained thereof and results achieved by introducing the Caravelle SE-210 into JAT fleet in the late 1960s, a major decision has been made on significant expansion of the Euro-Mediterranean traffic, including plans and preparations for overseas traffic. At the proposal of the JAT Training Center in Belgrade, the company opted for an ab initio training of 300 pilots. Also, the decision was taken to integrate the Federal Aviation Center at Vršac with the JAT Training Center in Belgrade. Through this integration, the JAT education system came by two organizations: the Advanced Aviation Pilot School at Vršac and the JAT Training Center in Belgrade. In 1973, further development and program expansion transformed the Advanced Aviation Pilot School into the presently world renowned Flight Academy. A total of twenty-two Cessna 172, three Cessna 152 Aerobat, three twin-engine Cessna 310, two Cessna 402 B and three Piper PA 31 with turbo-prop engine aircraft were obtained.
Theoretical training at the Academy is carried out by experienced teachers and aviation engineers in modern classrooms using sophisticated teaching aids. Training on the FC 172 and the twin-engine FC 310 flight simulators as well as (practical) flight training is carried out by experienced instructor pilots. Each generation of pilots from the Pilot Academy has from the outset undergone training on most modern training aircraft in accordance with all ICAO recommendations.
Over the 35 years, the Academy trained 70 percent of the pilots that used to fly or still fly Jat Airways aircraft. Aside from meeting the needs of the parent company, more than 1,500 pilots from some thirty world countries received their training at the Academy.
Currently, candidates from India, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro are attending courses at the Flight Academy, while candidates from Australia, Germany, Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have just completed their training.
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