Academy of Aviation (AOA) is a multi-campus FAA Part 141 career pilot school with its White Plains campus based at Westchester County Airport (KHPN) in White Plains, New York. Founded with its flagship campus at Republic Airport in Farmingdale, NY, AOA has grown into one of the most significant career pilot training networks in the northeast United States, with campuses across New York, Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida. The White Plains campus — operating from T-Hangar facilities at 67 Tower Road on the KHPN field — serves students throughout Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, and Fairfield Counties, and is the closest full career pilot program for the northern New York City suburban market without requiring a commute to Long Island.   The school is led by President Chris Richards and Vice President Frank D'Elia, and carries an A+ BBB rating. AOA's training is delivered exclusively under FAA Part 141, a structured, approved curriculum framework well-suited to students pursuing professional aviation careers on an accelerated timeline. The Part 141 structure also enables certain hour reductions versus Part 61 for instrument and commercial certificates, and the curriculum's sequence and ground school components are approved by the FAA for consistency and verifiability — important credentials for airline-bound graduates.   The White Plains campus offers the full career pilot pathway: Private Pilot Certificate, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot Certificate (single and multi-engine), CFI, CFII, and MEI. The campus participates in two of the most consequential airline cadet pipelines in the country. The Delta Propel Program provides students who complete their CFI ratings and instruct at AOA with a conditional flow offer to Endeavor Air — a Delta Connection carrier — with a clear route to Delta Air Lines at the 1,500-hour ATP minimum. The Republic Airways RJet Cadet Program gives qualifying graduates a structured pathway to regional airline employment, with flow opportunities to Delta, United, and American Airlines. Both programs make AOA's White Plains campus one of the most direct pathways from student pilot to major airline in the northeastern U.S.   Financing is available through Sallie Mae for eligible students, and the White Plains campus is approved for GI Bill benefits for veterans and eligible service members. An academic articulation partnership with Liberty University is also available for students pursuing aviation-related degree programs alongside their flight training. AOA offers a referral credit program and no academic tuition component — all pricing is structured around flight training costs only, with no embedded university-style overhead.

Home Airport(s)

Westchester County Airport (also known as White Plains Airport) ICAO: KHPN | IATA: HPN | FAA LID: HPN   Located approximately three nautical miles northeast of downtown White Plains in the towns of Harrison and North Castle, Westchester County, New York. The New York–Connecticut state border runs along the airport's eastern perimeter. The airport covers 702 acres at an elevation of 439 ft MSL. Approximately 33 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. Categorized as a primary commercial service airport; currently served by JetBlue, American, Delta, United, and Cape Air. Full-time ATC tower; Class D airspace. Significant noise abatement procedures in effect; operations restricted between 10 PM and 6 AM. Runway 29 closed to aircraft over 12,500 lbs due to terrain considerations.   Runways: Runway 16​/​34 — 6,549 ft × 150 ft (primary; asphalt, grooved; ILS​/​DME for Runway 16 and 34; RNAV​/​GPS approaches; HIRL; Cat I​/​II approaches) Runway 11​/​29 — 4,451 ft × 150 ft (secondary; asphalt, grooved; RNAV​/​GPS approaches; displaced threshold on Runway 29 of 1,297 ft due to trees; Runway 29 closed to aircraft over 12,500 lbs)   For flight training, KHPN is one of the most demanding and professionally formative environments in the country. The airport sits inside the New York Class B airspace structure — one of the most complex and intensively managed airspace environments in the world — and students coordinate with New York Approach and TRACON from their earliest flights. Radio communication at KHPN is professional-grade from day one, and the constant rotation of corporate jets, business turboprops, and regional airliners alongside training aircraft creates a real-world operational tempo that has no equivalent at quieter GA fields. Students here develop airspace situational awareness, ATC communication discipline, and traffic pattern professionalism at a pace and intensity that directly mirrors what they will encounter in airline operations. The 6,549-foot primary runway comfortably handles all training aircraft, and the instrument approach infrastructure — including Cat I​/​II ILS approaches on Runway 16 — gives instrument students access to some of the most precisely managed approach environments in the northeast. New York's seasonal weather (including genuine IMC, icing conditions, and complex weather systems from Long Island Sound and the Hudson Valley) produces pilots with authentic all-weather experience. The Hudson Valley terrain to the north adds VFR practice area variety and cross-country routing options.

Fleet and Facilities

AOA's fleet across all campuses is built around a standardized, modern glass cockpit foundation: Cessna 172S ​/​ Cessna 172 G1000 — Primary single-engine trainer used for Private Pilot through Commercial and IFR training. The G1000 glass cockpit suite with GFC 700 autopilot mirrors the avionics environment students will encounter in professional turboprop and jet operations. TAA-qualified, meeting the commercial pilot TAA requirement. Diamond DA42 Twin Star — Twin-engine piston trainer used for Multi-Engine Rating, MEI, and advanced commercial training. The DA42's Garmin G1000 avionics, glass cockpit environment, and FADEC-managed diesel engines provide a technically advanced multi-engine training experience. Redbird FMX Full-Motion Simulator — FAA-approved full-motion AATD used for IFR training, approach practice, emergency procedures, and pre-checkride preparation. Simulator hours count under FAA Part 141 toward instrument rating requirements, reducing overall cost and accelerating the instrument training phase.   The White Plains campus is located in the T-Hangar area at 67 Tower Road on the KHPN field. Ground school and pre​/​post-flight briefings are conducted in campus facilities on-site.

Additional Notes

Academy of Aviation's White Plains campus is the right-fit option for the Westchester County and lower Hudson Valley market — a densely populated, high-income suburban corridor with a significant population of career-oriented prospective pilots who don't want to commute to Long Island. The campus's position at KHPN delivers the most complex, high-value training environment available in the region: New York Class B airspace, professional airline and corporate jet traffic, and instrument approaches that genuinely prepare students for the operational realities of airline flying.   The Delta Propel and Republic RJet pipelines are the clearest differentiators for career-track students. AOA is among the relatively small number of Part 141 schools with confirmed airline cadet programs that flow directly to major carrier employment — and having those pipelines available at a campus 33 miles from Midtown Manhattan is a genuine competitive advantage over schools that require relocation for equivalent opportunities.   The standardized fleet and curriculum across AOA's multiple campuses also gives students flexibility — a student who needs to relocate during training can transfer between campuses without losing continuity in syllabus or aircraft type. That portability is meaningful for the professional demographic that KHPN's market tends to attract.