Flight School

Echo Academy of Flight, originally Governor Leo's Flight School for Aspiring Pilots, is a major faction in Skytopia, by virtue of being the starting place of most of today's Skyrates. Founded on Echo skyland sometime after the Great Upheaval, the school has inducted over ten thousand students since that time, and has become a widespread, powerful organization with political and military branches.

Students
The youngest students at the Echo Academy of Flight arrive at fifteen; it is against school policy to allow anyone younger at the school. The youngest age of graduation is eighteen, and any student that arrives before his or her eighteenth birthday is required to stay at the school for a full three years. Older Skytopians, especially those with prior flight experience, are often allowed to pass through the Academy more quickly, skipping classes that they already know well.

A few exceptions have been made in the past, with younger students entering or graduating the school, but they are very rare.

The Echo Flight School is well known for its tradition of giving all new graduates a Hoover CR-4P and a small stipend to get themselves started.

Organization
Flight school is run by a Board of Directors, which currently includes Kyra, Sildar, Talon, Draco, Jareeta, and Xenos. Below them comes the Faculty, who have proven their loyalty to the school and been hired to help bring the next generation of pilots to the skies. Next are the students, both undergraduates and grad students who are officially enrolled in the Academy. As the campus is not closed, many non-students can often be found on and around the school on Echo. However, unless accepted to and currently affiliated with the school, they have no input on any official school matters.

Politics
Flight School believes in the availability and sharing of information. Although not necessarily as dedicated to research and discovery as the Azure Conclave, research is still an important goal, and all discoveries are made available to the public. As the source of all pilots, combat, trade, and performance, the school tends to have an overall balance of skills, and many dedicated members of the organization Flight School For Life (FS4L for short) have become widely known for the trading acumen and combat prowess, as well as their dedication to good relations with the Core skylands, the traditional powerbase of the faction.

Faculty
The Faculty has traditionally been composed of former faction pilots who have retired from their posts and joined the Echo Academy of Flight to teach a new generation of pilots the tricks that they learned the hard way. Recently several members of the faculty have joined without factional experience, preferring to fly alone under the Academy's colors to gain the experience otherwise found in a factional setting. Current faculty include:


 * Lord Gilbert - Flight Master
 * Moros - Professor
 * Burrito Loco - Professor
 * Kyra - Professor, Public Affairs Coordinator
 * Lynx Adorienne - Professor
 * Hesjonur - Professor
 * Lavi - Professor
 * Sildar - Professor, Public Affairs Coordinator
 * Talon Karrde - Dean of Interfactional Relations
 * Captain Posner - Dean of Tactics and Dogfighting
 * Professor "Flying Bear" Johansson - Dean of Applied Sciences
 * Maximillion - Professor of Somnambulant Studies

Classes

 * Combat 101 taught by Professor Moros
 * Combat 201 taught by Professor Moros
 * Advanced Combat 301 taught by Guest Instructor Burrito Loco (Azure League)
 * Combat (Graduate Level) taught by Guest Instructor Burrito Loco, of the Azure League
 * Trading 101 taught by Professor Lynx Adorienne
 * Trading 201 taught by Professor Kyra
 * Inter-factional Politics and Influence 101 taught by Professor Hesjonur
 * Inter-factional Politics and Influence 201 taught by Professor Lavi
 * Inter-factional Politics and Influence (Graduate Level) taught by Professor Talon Karrde
 * Plane Design and Construction 101 taught by Professor Hesjonur
 * Advanced Plane Design and Construction taught by guest instructor and Post Aviation founder Pierce N.V. Post of the Azure League
 * Skytopian History 101 taught by guest instructor and Skybrarian Hans "Firefox" Raginhart of the Crimson Empire
 * Advanced Skytopian History taught by guest instructor and Skybrarian Hans "Firefox" Raginhart of the Crimson Empire
 * Psychology, Skyrates, and You (a.k.a Roleplaying 101) taught by Professor Kyra and guest instructor Loki Baltazar of the Jade Hand
 * Intro to the Skybrary taught by guest instructor and Skybrarian Calvin November formerly of the Jade Hand