John "J.T." Spangler of North Huntingdon said that when he and a friend, David Castaldo, decided to become private pilots, it was "like lightning striking twice."

First, a friend took Mr. Spangler to a golf outing in his private plane. He enjoyed it so much, he said, "I want to be a pilot."

So he got his license.

Years later, he flew Mr. Castaldo, of Murrysville, to another golf outing. Mr. Castaldo had flown "close to a million miles" on business but had never been in a small plane.

"I have to learn how to do this," he said, and he did.

Last year, the two friends opened Westmoreland Aviation at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity to give other people the same chance they had to learn to fly. They celebrated the service's first anniversary on July 31. On Sept. 28, they will begin a 12-week Private Pilot Ground School in conjunction with Westmoreland County Community College.

"We had our first class with WCCC over the winter, and we ended up with twice the number of projected students," Mr. Castaldo said. "We were expecting 12 and we had 25."

The partners got the idea for the flight school when they heard the one at the airport was going out of business. They put Westmoreland Aviation together in a few months and offer scenic flights as well as training.

"It's important to have a place like this to provide an opportunity that people in the area might not otherwise have," said Mr. Castaldo, 51, a consultant for venture capital companies.

"Arnold Palmer Regional Airport is an outstanding facility, a gem with very large runways and an excellent control tower."

The partners got enthusiastic support from the Westmoreland County Aviation Authority and later from WCCC.

The flight school and ground school are focusing on getting younger people and more women interested in aviation because, Mr. Castaldo said, "I don't think a lot of them realize that you will be seeing more [career opportunities] coming out of aviation than pilots, like traffic controllers. The Federal Aviation Administration is now looking to see how they are going to be filling those positions."

Mr. Spangler, 43, has been flying for 10 years and learned from local aviation legend Elias "Babe" Krinock, who claimed that his first student was golf great Arnie Palmer and that Mr. Spangler was his last.

"I don't know if that was true, but he really did teach Arnie Palmer," Mr. Spangler said.

Mr. Krinock flew stick-and-rudder biplanes in the early days and modern jets later. He was a pilot in World War II, then became a renowned flight instructor in the area. He flew until the weeks before he died in 2009 at age 84.

"He always told me I needed to replace myself, that I needed to bring another person into the ranks of being a pilot to do it justice," Mr. Spangler said. "He was one of the true inspirations for me to get involved in this, and I hope he's looking down on us."

Mr. Castaldo, a pilot for three years, took lessons from Bill Wright of Greensburg, who is now one of their instructors. The others are Adam T. Marshalek of Washington, Pa.; Don Matthews of Murrysville; Randy Krofick of Latrobe; and Bob Yaley and Stephen Graham, both of Greensburg.

Mr. Wright, 74, is the oldest on the team. Mr. Graham, 23, is the youngest and is training to be a professional pilot.

Westmoreland Aviation has a Piper Cherokee D, a Piper Arrow and a Beechcraft Bonanza for different levels of instruction.

"Everybody learned to fly in one of these very small planes," Mr. Castaldo said. "Then it becomes a matter of where you move up."

The ages of the students vary; several are in their mid-teens. In July, Mr. Yaley took up Kyle Piper, 9, of Apollo, whose aunt, Heather Piper of Greensburg, gave him a one-hour lesson for his birthday.

People want to fly for various reasons. Some simply like being in the air and the feeling of flight. Mr. Spangler likes the freedom that flying gives him in his job as president of his investment company.

"I can fly to Philadelphia, visit with customers, be in Washington, D.C., in the afternoon to meet other customers, and be home with my wife the same evening," he said. "I used to do that on commercial flights and it would take three days."

It also has an economic advantage, he added. For example, it costs about $250 in gasoline and fees for a round trip to Washington, D.C., and four people can be aboard.