Paragon Flight School Accepts Delivery of their First Piper Pilot 100is

The award-winning flight school, located in Fort Myers, Florida, and based at Page Field (KFMY), is planning a five-year fleet modernization, starting with the 10 Pipers that have been delivered. 

The school also plans to purchase an additional 40 Piper aircraft over the next five years. The announcement was made Wednesday by Paragon Flight president and owner, Christopher Schoensee.

“It’s exciting to see our growth plans further unfold with the addition of this beautiful Piper aircraft, which we are confident is the training aircraft of the next generation,” Schoensee said in a statement. “It follows our groundbreaking in January for an expanded 9,000-square-foot learning center on Page Field and brings us one aircraft closer to our goal of tripling our current fleet with the additional purchase of up to 50 Piper aircraft by the end of 2027. 

“Our partnership with Piper, beginning with this first aircraft purchase, represents a milestone in the history of Paragon Flight.”

The school will focus on a training platform that uses the Piper P100i, a new model of the Piper PA-28 Archer. The Archer has been used to train pilots for more than 30 years, as part of the long-running PA-28 series. 

“Piper Aircraft is proud to work with Paragon Flight as they expand their pilot training program," John Calcagno, Piper Aircraft president and CEO, said in a statement. "The addition of the Pilot 100i to the Paragon training curriculum will help enable them to provide a cost-effective training solution while working to cultivate a well-trained pilot pipeline for the airline industry.”