Naples Daily News reports on Europe-American

Jan/22/09 23:18 Filed in: Europe-American

Naples Daily News has a great article about Europe-American Aviation including some cool photos:

Naples-based aviation company survives post-9/11 turbulence to flourish as pilot school

NAPLES — Manuel Lercher learned all he could about flying in his native Austria.

“It all starts when I was 5 years old,” he said one day after a brief flight at Europe-American Aviation. “My mom said, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ And I said, ‘A pilot.’”

After performing flight simulations and learning the basics of piloting a single-engine aircraft, Lercher’s ground-training with a family friend and private instructor had reached the end of its usefulness.

So he and a friend came to the United States on student visas, found a place to live in Naples and began their in-air flight training at Europe-American Aviation.

It is a common story at the flight school’s two-story office just north of the General Aviation Terminal at Naples Municipal Airport, where about half of owner Carsten Sturm’s students come from overseas. It is stories like Lercher’s that are lending the school powerful word-of-mouth credibility in European countries, as well as helping the business increase 40 percent to 50 percent each year.

Read more here: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/jan/18/naples-based-aviation-company-survives-post-911-tu/

Tags: Printmedia, Training, Team