The school
A demanding flying school to make your training a success
Since its founding in 1995, the Cannes Aviation Academy, the only DGAC-approved professional school in the South-Provence-Côte d'Azur region, has been engaged in a virtuous circle of constant improvement that goes beyond the simple legal and regulatory obligations that fall to any DGAC-approved EASA-standard aviation training center.
Whether you wish to become an Airline Pilot, Commercial Pilot or simply a Private Pilot, this approach to excellence in quality and safety is based on the participation of our teaching team, feedback from our students in training and from our former students now working for airlines, and on the monitoring of the best training practices in force in the most efficient European schools. We thus implement the best training practices so that each of our students becomes an excellent pilot and is distinguished during the airline selections.
For the ground courses for the training of the 14 theoretical ATPL certificates, we have a team of particularly experienced instructors; current pilots in practice in airlines and former pilots of reputable companies such as British Airways, Singapore Airlines, ... And others such as Globeair, leader in business aviation in Europe. In this way, we put forward, beyond pure theory, the return and passing on of experience. Our ground instructors are true masters in their discipline.
For flight training, we go beyond the minimum number of flight and simulator hours required by regulations and have developed a teaching methodology based on individualized monitoring of our students' progress by a team of very demanding instructors. This allows us to train our student pilots at a practical level higher than most European schools.
For our fleet of aircraft, we chose innovative composite material aircraft, the Diamond DA40 single-engine and DA42 twin-engine, which are light, reliable and fuel-efficient, as soon as they were launched in 2005. To reduce noise pollution, they are equipped with silencers, and our latest DA42-VI have exhausts located on top of the engines.
Additionally, Cannes Aviation Academy, participates with the Cannes-Mandelieu Airport and several associations in solidarity and responsible projects.
The Pedagogical Team
High level professional instructors
The Aircraft Fleet
A homogeneous fleet of Diamond aircraft for efficient progression
- Composite cell
- 135HP Turbo Diesel Engine
- Cruise speed 120 KT / 130 KT
- Autonomy 5:30 hrs
- Service ceiling 16,000 FT
- Fitted with Garmin 430 (GPS, COM, NAV)
- "Classic" instrumentation, ideal for PPL
- Classed for VFR night-flying
- Composite cell
- 135HP Turbo Diesel Engine
- Cruise speed 120 KT / 130 KT
- Autonomy 5:30 hrs
- Service ceiling 16,000 FT
- 2 GPS + 2 EFIS (MFD/PFD)+ WAAS
- Automatic pilot
- Ideal for learning EFIS and IFR for the transition to the DA-42
- Composite cell
- 2 Turbo Diesel engines 135HP to 170HP
- Speed cruise 150 to 165 KT
- Autonomy 5 hrs
- Practical ceiling 18,000 FT
- Ideal for IFR, MEP or CPL training.
- Garmin 1000 or 1000 Nxi - 2 GPS + 2 EFIS (MFD/PFD)+ WAAS
- Equipped with FIKI
- 1 unit equipped for LPV RNP approaches + weather radar + TCAS
- Used for UPRT training (Upset and Prevention Recovery Training)
- 200 HP engine
- Approved + 8 G / - 8 G (duo) and + 10 G / -10 G (solo)
- 2 places in duo
- Cruising speed 150 KT
Flight Simulators
3 FNPT II flight simulators for all training phases
- 2 Alsim FNTP2 DA42 simulators
- Exact replica of the DA42 cockpit
- 3D to 180° visual on a panoramic screen
(3 video-projectors) - Tactile feedback for stick and rudder pedals
- Data base with all the European terrains included
- Instructor’s place making possible all simulated failures
- Allows for a credit (up to 40 flying hours) for an IFR course
- Allows for a credit (up to 5 flying hours) for a PPL course
- Approved for the IRSE course
- Used for MCC and APS-MCC training
- Airbus A320 cockpit replica
- FLPV, TCAS, EGPWS, WINDSHEAR functions
- Equipped with SMOKE MACHINE for on-board fire simulation
- Data base with all the European terrains included
- Briefing / débriefing station
The Facilities
Modern teaching equipment adapted to pilot studies
All courses take place in the Cannes Aviation premises. With 450 sq. m. of classrooms and 1,500 sq. m. of adjacent hangars, these recently renovated premises are perfectly adapted for technical training and flight preparation. Theoretical courses are given using multimedia course materials. The individual ground training rooms are all equipped with PCs as well as the group rooms, which are also equipped with very large video screens for displaying course presentations. Students also have self-service study rooms, also equipped with PCs. Access to the Wi-Fi network is free. Students have free access to a catalogue of tutorials and an aeronautical library.
Flight bookings (airplane / instructor) are made online via the school's secure extra/intranet on a GDPR compliant planning software.
Each student has his/her own secure electronic progress book, filled in and managed by the teaching and administrative team.
Finally, a club house with cafeteria is available to students to organize their meals on site, relax for a few moments and of course celebrate with friends the success of the various flight tests, all in a friendly atmosphere.
The Maintenance Workshop
Cannes Aviation Academy has its own aircraft maintenance workshop
Riviera Plane Maintenance (RPM) is an aeronautical workshop to the new EASA Part CAO standards, approved by the DGAC under the N° FR.CAO.0037. It is installed in the same hangar as the school on an area of 750 sq. m. of hangar and 150 sq. m. of offices and technical premises. Three mechanics form a very experienced team, especially for the Diamond aircraft.
The Aeronautical Environment
Cannes-Mandelieu, an airport ideally located for learning to fly
Ideally located in the heart of the French Riviera, Cannes-Mandelieu (CEQ, LFMD) is the 2nd business aviation airport in France after Le Bourget. Spread over 115 hectares, it welcomes more than 16,000 rotations per year thanks to its own control tower and its 2 runways of 760 (04/22) and 1610 m (17/35) in asphalt. It is open to international traffic and allows IFR-VFR night safety approaches (localizer, DME). More than 200 aircraft are based there.
The French Riviera and the Provence Aples Côte d'Azur region offers an ideal climate for flying all year round with more than 300 CAVOK days.
The topography of the Southern Alps, the proximity of the Mediterranean Sea and the multiplicity of destinations allow student pilots to be placed in all the technical conditions of flight, navigation and approach necessary for the acquisition of high level hands-on skills while evolving in the magnificent setting of the French Riviera.
Originating from Cannes-Mandelieu, student pilots practice continental fights, over-sea crossings and over-mountain flights. Within a radius of a 1-hour flight, over 30 aerodromes and airports of all categories are accessible: Albenga, Aix-en-Provence, Ajaccio, Avignon, Barcelonnette, Bastia, Calvi, Cuers, Fayence, Gap, La Môle Saint-Tropez, Le Castellet, Le Luc, Toulon-Hyères, Marseille-Provence, Nice-Côte d’Azur, …
This variety of flight paths and destinations offers a range of graduated challenges suitable for sequential training: simple airports and aerodromes (Cuers, Aix-en-Provence), foreign (Genoa, Albenga), with topography (La Môle, le Castellet), mountain (Barcelonnette), with sea crossings (Calvi, Ajaccio), as well as ones with heavy air traffic and complex procedures (Marseille, Toulon, Nice).
Cannes Aviation Academy is the only professional Flight Training Center to benefit from such an aeronautical environment in France!
Cannes-Mandelieu (CEQ, LFMD)
Aix en Provence Airport (LFMA)
Barcelonnette Aerodrome (LFMR)
Ajaccio Airport (LFKJ)
Calvi Airport (LFKC)
Castellet Airport (LFMQ)
Nice Airport (LFMN)
Albenga Airport (LIMG)
Saint-Tropez Airport (LFTZ)
A Responsible Approach
Solidarity and Ecological Participations
On an environmental level, we actively participate in the development and implementation of the "eco-friendly" policy of the Cannes-Mandelieu airport, which was implemented in 2003 and has been constantly updated since, with for example : Avoiding residential areas, monitoring and control of trajectories and analysis of deviation cases, increasing pilots' awareness of low-noise procedures, participation in the "Airport Carbon Accreditation" initiative of the Aéroports de la Côte d'Azur (ACA), ... We have also switched from physical books to digital books, online manuals and tablets that we offer to our students in integrated ATP(A) training to avoid wasting paper.
Mindful of our social responsibility, we also play an active role in the association "Les Ailes des Enfants", whose goal is to share our student pilots' passion for flying with sick or disabled children and offer them first flights on our aircraft. We also support at our level the humanitarian NGO "Aviation Sans Frontière", notably and recently by offering our services for example for "Covid-19" missions but also by participating in their financing needs.