As evidence of the continued growth of Santa Rosa County as an aviation hub, Aircraft Management Services (AMS), the fixed base operator at Peter Prince Airport celebrated the conversion of its attic into four more classrooms for pre and post flight briefings. The owners of AMS dedicated the remodel to the Francis M. Weston Audubon Society.
According to Dr. Carlos Diaz, the AMS doctor for pilot medical services, the AMS flight school has 30 to 40 students at any given time. Both military and private students go through the school, introductory flight screening for military. Additionally, he said, AMS began taking military aviators from Saudi Arabia a few years ago and those from Algeria recently.
Diaz said before the renovation, flight instructors were holding briefings with their students in the lobby and anywhere else they had space.
The newly renovated area will feature a series of bird related artwork according to Diaz. When considering what organization to support for the new rooms, Diaz said the bird watching group, the Audubon Society was a natural choice. The other connection to aviation is with Weston himself, after whom the regional chapter of the Audubon Society was named.
Lucy Duncan, on the Audubon Society’s board of directors, said Weston started as a naval aviator and came to Pensacola in 1916 already a birder. At the time, Duncan said, little was known about birds in the area. She said Weston would go on to document the migratory patterns of birds over the bay bridge by collecting those hitting the electrical wires over the bridge.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Airport dedicates renovations