Beginning

Beginning with a vision for motivating and educating this country's youth in math and science, the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation has been working since 1996 to create an educational vehicle to spark the interest of our children.

Through a stair-step approach that created an ongoing science program supporting the middle schools of Escambia and Santa Rosa County School Districts, we have proven the concept of using aviation themes to teach math and science in an exciting environment.

In 2001, Florida Governor Jeb Bush helped kick off our Capital Campaign aimed at raising $35M for the creation of a National Flight Academy.


The NFA Campus

The Phase IV/National Flight Academy Project is a 240,500 square foot expansion to the National Museum of Naval Aviation. The expansion will provide approximately 90,000 square feet of additional museum exhibit space as well as 155,000 square feet to accommodate 264 7th through 12th grade students weekly at the National Flight Academy.

Located adjacent to the Museum, the National Flight Academy will be housed in its own 50,000 square-foot facility with classrooms, simulators, system trainers, laboratories, flight physiology equipment, dormitory and dining facilities. The building will contain six open-bay training spaces, six "ready rooms" (meeting spaces used for pre-flight briefings and post-flight analysis in the military), and 36 cockpit simulators. The instructional spaces and living areas will be styled after similar areas on an aircraft carrier, and will accommodate our 264 students and 44 flight leaders.


Distance Learning

Off Campus education is an integral part of the National Flight Academy vision. Our facility will be, in effect, a 21st Century high-tech broadcasting laboratory. Curriculum taught to the on-campus students will be shared with students and teachers unable to attend our science programs on site.

Even as our Capital Campaign reaches out to supporting donors, and long before the completion of the two year construction process, our Distance Learning offerings will be available to thousands of classrooms. Science and math education specialists are presently creating the web and broadcast subject matter that will form the core of an expanding library of available educational material.