Sierra Academy of Aeronautics is an international training center, approved by FAA and validated by CAAC, CAAV as a PART 141 Flight School. Sierra Academy currently has a fleet of over 40 aircraft which can satisfy the requirements of VFR / IFR training on single and twin-engine airplanes. Sierra specializes in training international students from Asian-Pacific region, primarily from China, South Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

We are aiming to provide high-quality flight training services to all students in a safe environment. Each student will complete at least 405 hours of ground class and 251 hours （including HPA） of flight training before they can graduate. You may think this is a great challenge, however, we can tell you proudly that in the past 50 years, Sierra Academy has contributed over 30,000 graduates to airlines from all over the world.

Established in 1964, Sierra Academy of Aeronautics settled its initial training base at Oakland International Airport (OAK) in San Francisco. Later, due to the busy traffic of the Oakland International Airport, Sierra Academy moved to Livermore Municipal Airport (LVK) in 1996. Later, with the expansion of the school, the number of students increased and the need for a larger airport and better facilities, it finally moved to the current Castle Airport (KMER) in Atwater, California.

Weather Conditions

Castle Airport for Sierra training is located in the Central Valley of California where it is nestled between two mountain ranges and sheltered from heavy storms and strong winds. As a result, Sierra Academy students can fly over 330 days in a year, except for a few foggy days in December. Thus, it's not difficult to understand that Castle Airport is used to be the US Air Force Base, which was established in 1941 and closed in 1995. During that time, it is always a major pilot training facility for US Air Force. At present, Sierra Academy of Aeronautics is the only flight school in Castle Airport where 99% of the airport's take-offs and landings are produced by Sierra Academy. The students can learn to fly without any outside interference.

Cross-country & Surroundings

Castle Airport has over 50 surrounding airports within 100 nautical miles, allowing for the kind of diverse and complex training environment that pilots need before going to an airline. Pilots who take-off from Castle Airport will also find a large variety of notable landmarks, terrains and weather climates to travel across; from the fertile agricultural valley and Sierra Rocky Mountains to the beautiful California coast. Flying here, you won’t feel boring.

Tower & Runway

Castle Airport enjoys its own FAA-certified air traffic control tower, which provides students with 24-hour constant radio communication service and the safety of guided take-off, approach and landing operations every day. Castle Airport has a 3,600-meter (11,800-foot) runway— ideal for safe landings and take-offs; complete with instrument approaches for

ILS or LOC/DME 13
RNAV (GPS) 13 / 31
VOR/DME 31

Sierra Academy currently has a fleet of more than 40 aircraft and complete equipment such as hangars, fuel trucks and tank farms, which are fully qualified for VFR/IFR operations for both single and multi-engine training. Our aircraft fleet consists of:

Admission Manager

Our admission manager of Sierra Academy of Aeronautics, qualified for SEVIS/CATS Testing, authorized by the Department of Homeland Security for fingerprint, has been cooperating with the US Immigration, Customs and Homeland Security for 12 years. She manages and monitors the visa & immigration status of all students, making sure each student remain in compliance with all U.S. government standards at all times.

Ground instructor and English teacher

All ground courses are taught by flight instructors. The students will fly while learning, and can apply what they have learnt into practices so as to improve the learning efficiency.

There are three English teachers in Sierra, providing pertinent training in the aspect of pronunciation, daily dialogue and aviation English respectively.

Meanwhile, the tower controller is arranged to help improve students' radio communication ability. This is a special course that we offered for international

students.