Pan Am International Flight Academy
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Pan Am International Flight Academy (PAIFA) is the only remaining division of the once iconic Pan Am Airlines, forced into bankruptcy in 1991 after the infamous terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103[1]
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[edit] Aviation School
The flight academy, headquartered in Miami, is an aviation school that specializes in training airlines and pilots from around the world. On a lesser scale, the academy also provides air traffic control and flight attendant training.[2]
Founded in 1992, the company began operating by using the flight simulation and training center of the then defunct Pan American World Airways. In 2006 the Nasdaq corporation American Capital Strategies Ltd invested $58 million in PAIFA with their trademarked “One Stop Buyout™."[3]
[edit] Sept 11th Attacks
In 2001, Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called “20th hijacker” of September 11, 2001 attacks is presumed to have been meant as the fifth terrorist on the Pennsylvania plane which had only 4 terrorists whereas the 3 other planes had 5 hijackers apiece. Moussaoui was arrested Aug 17th, 2001 after a teacher at Pan Am International Flight Academy became suspicious of him.[4] In a piece in the New York Times, Michael Erlandson, chief of staff on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation is quoted as saying: “The Pan Am people are heroes who worked very diligently to make themselves heard at the FBI.”[5]
[edit] Television & Film
Because of their flight simulators and professional aviators, the Pan Am Flight Academy often lends their equipment and experts to TV shows and films.[6]
In addition to it’s Miami headquarters, PAIFA has facilities in Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Arizona, and Virginia.
