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The AOPA Foundation announced the winners of the 2026 Flight Training Experience Awards during an award ceremony on Wednesday at Redbird Migration.
The ceremony was held at the Aerospace Center for Excellence in Lakeland, Florida. The awards are meant to recognize the country's top flight school and top flight instructor. More than 4,200 pilots and student pilots submitted reviews, voting for their picks.
Tiziano Bernard at Savannah Aviation at the Midcoast Regional Airport (LHW) in Georgia won the national Best Instructor award. He was previously announced as the best instructor in the southern region of the U.S in January. This is the second consecutive year that Bernard has won the award.
"Flying is something humans are not built for, so when you have a student that actually ends up flying on their own for the first time, and then they come back and tell you how that was, it really is extremely rewarding," Bernard said in a 2025 interview with AOPA.
The winner of the Best Flight School was Nova Pilots in Leesburg, Virginia. The school won the best flight school in the eastern region in January. The other regional winners in the flight school category include:
Central Southern: Neu Aviation in Benton, Louisiana
Great Lakes: Moore Aviation, Inc. in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania
Pacific: Mike Smith Aviation International, Inc. in Napa, California
Southern: Centennial Aviation Academy in Atlanta, Georgia
Western: Sierra Charlie Aviation in Scottsdale, Arizona
The other regional winners of the Best Instructor include:
Central Southern: Ty Ashe at JKA, LLC at the Auburn University Regional Airport (AUO)
Eastern: Grayson Bertaina at FlyHdg360 LLC at the Fitchburg Municipal Airport (FIT)
Great Lakes: Sydney Pilling at the Illinois Aviation Academy at the Dupage Airport (DPA)
Pacific: Austin Smith at ATP Flight School at the Camarillo Airport (CMA)
Western: Andrew Hamouda at Leopard Aviation at the Falcon Field Airport (FFZ)
"With thousands of students and pilots nominating hundreds of flight schools and instructors, our team works hard to figure out who rises to the top," said Chris Moser, Foundation senior director of flight training education. "We're proud to honor this year's national winners—in addition to regional winners and distinguished schools and instructors nationwide—to shine a spotlight on the dedicated professionals who are growing the next generation of pilots."