Florida Flight School Expands Fleet With Piper Pilot 100i Aircraft

Piper has delivered four Pilot 100i aircraft to the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida. [Courtesy: Piper Aircraft]

When the number of enrollees increases at a flight school, more aircraft are needed to keep up. That’s the reason the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) has added four more Piper Pilot 100i to its Melbourne campus.

The aircraft are the second installment of Pilot 100i deliveries this year, according to Piper. The FIT fleet of 50 aircraft includes Piper Seminoles, Archers, Warriors, and now the Pilot 100i.

“At Florida Tech, our students learn by doing, and we are eager to get them into the flight deck of these cutting-edge Piper Pilot 100is to start learning with our amazing flight instructors,” John Nicklow, president of FIT, said in a statement. “What makes all of this even more meaningful is that many of our alumni working at Piper helped design, build, and test these aircraft. It’s a high-flying example of the power of a Florida Tech education in action.”

According to school officials, the additional aircraft were necessary to support growth of the program and student need.

Seventeen Florida Tech alumni currently employed at Piper Aircraft joined Florida Tech staff to celebrate the fleet expansion. The alumni fulfill roles in engineering, project management, technical marketing, and production flight testing.

“It’s an honor to continue supplying planes to our long-term Flight School Alliance member, Florida Tech," said Marc Ouellet, Piper’s vice president of engineering and manufacturing. "Their program is one of the best, and we know from firsthand experience as we have multiple Florida Tech graduates working at the Piper factory.”

FIT Flight School Florida Institute of Technology Pilot 100i Pilot Training Piper

Meg GodlewskiAuthor

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.