{"id":19846,"date":"2021-10-31T21:16:51","date_gmt":"2021-10-31T21:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=19846"},"modified":"2021-10-31T22:18:54","modified_gmt":"2021-10-31T22:18:54","slug":"craft-flight-training-simulation-presented-with-entrepreneur-of-the-year-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/south-carolina\/craft-flight-training-simulation-presented-with-entrepreneur-of-the-year-award\/%20","title":{"rendered":"CRAFT Flight Training & Simulation Presented with Entrepreneur of The Year Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pictured above (left to right) is Jay Robinson, Synovus; Amanda Aldea, co-owner of CRAFT; Jay Aldea, co-owner of CRAFT; Tom Lauria, SBDC Business Consultant; Paul Featheringill, UofSC Region Director, SC SBDC.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CRAFT Flight Training & Simulation<\/a> has been awarded Entrepreneur of the Year by the South Carolina Small Business Development Center (SBDC). The Entrepreneur of The Year award honors unstoppable business leaders whose ambition, ingenuity, and courage in the face of adversity help catapult us from the now to next and beyond. CRAFT was selected for its successes owning a small business in the Charleston region<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CRAFT has come a long way over the past 2 and a half years.\nWhen presented with the opportunity to buy CRAFT Flight Training in June 2019,\nOwners Jay and Amanda Aldea jumped at it because they had a vision of creating\na unique flight training experience using modern aircraft and technology to\nraise the bar for pilot training in Charleston. In 2019, CRAFT started with\njust 2 airplanes and 2 flight instructors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as Jay and Amanda, along with their business partner, Barry Emerson, stabilized the business and started to grow, COVID-19 struck, and with that, brought new challenges to overcome. During the COVID-19 shutdown, mentors from the SBDC<\/a> and SCORE helped CRAFT navigate government relief programs. With this knowledge, and with contacts made through the Chamber of Commerce, CRAFT was able to secure PPP and EIDL funds to sustain the business. They were able to keep their staff and reopen a few months later, emerging stronger than before. Now CRAFT boasts 18 employees, 16 aircraft, 2 Redbird simulators, and locations at the Charleston International and Summerville Airports. In 2021 CRAFT became the second school in South Carolina to obtain Provisional Part 141 approval from the FDA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur mission at CRAFT has always been to provide the best\nflight training experience for our students, and to help the Charleston\ncommunity to explore and enjoy aviation,\u201d said Amanda Aldea. \u201cThrough our\ndedication to our mission and the mentorship we have received from the SBA,\nSCORE, the SBDC, and the relationships we\u2019ve made through the Chamber, CRAFT\nFlight Training is a recognized center of excellence for flight training\nattracting future pilots from across the nation to South Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SC SBDC Entrepreneur of The Year awards are given to\nbusiness owners whose efforts and contributions stand out as having enabled\ntheir business to grow and thrive during the past academic year. Synovus\nsponsored the SBDC’s participation in the EXPO and the award presentation. Jay\nand Amanda Aldea were presented the award during the North Charleston Business\nEXPO Thursday, October 21st.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pictured above (left to right) is Jay Robinson, Synovus; Amanda Aldea, co-owner of CRAFT; Jay Aldea, co-owner of CRAFT; Tom Lauria, SBDC Business Consultant; Paul Featheringill, UofSC Region Director, SC SBDC. CRAFT Flight Training & Simulation has been awarded Entrepreneur of the Year by the South Carolina Small Business Development Center (SBDC). The Entrepreneur of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-education","category-south-carolina"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/CRAFT-Flight-School-PR-Image-edit.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19846"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19852,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19846\/revisions\/19852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}