IBERIA PARISH — The Aviation Academy of Louisiana is partnering with New Mexico State University to bring unmanned and highly automated aircraft to Louisiana, creating a direct pathway from research to real-world operations focused on next-generation aircraft, autonomous systems, and future airspace integration.
The academy is the only Part 141 FAA-certified flight school in Acadiana and one of only four in the state.
Craig Simon, president of the Aviation Academy of Louisiana, said the partnership is pushing aviation into new territory.
"We're talking about the certification process, and we're talking about the possibility of advanced air mobility without a crew in an aircraft."
It is a new frontier for aviation — one so new that regulations have not yet been written into law. The Aviation Academy of Louisiana will conduct research on the technology while also training and certifying pilots in it, with findings from New Iberia expected to help shape future federal rules.
Beau Prine, general manager of the Aviation Academy of Louisiana, said the work will have real regulatory impact.
"So what we're going to be doing is bringing the lab-to-flight-line approach in an operational environment using helicopters and airplanes. The framework that we're setting is all of the evidence that we'll be collecting, and the data will be used for regulatory measures so that they can write laws based on it in the future."
The academy currently offers training in drones, helicopters, and fixed-wing aircraft. Its facility includes a modern fleet, a state-of-the-art training center, and an array of flight simulators that give students hands-on experience before taking to the air. One simulator replicates a helicopter commonly flown over the Gulf of Mexico.
Prine said that simulation is central to one of the academy's key training partnerships.
"This is primarily used by our partnership with Bristow and their cadet program, and this is where we're going to be able to take our helicopter flight students, and once they get done with their training, they can fly here in a simulated environment and go out to the Gulf, and do all their training here."
The partnership connects advanced testing in New Mexico with live flight operations in Louisiana, positioning students for careers in an emerging sector of aviation through what the academy calls the lab-to-flight-line model.
