Up, Up and Away

Written by J.B. Bissell

MAE 2010 Volume: 5 Issue: 5 (July)

After buckling my seatbelt low and tight across my lap in preparation for a recent flight, I overheard a man say, “These things fly themselves now anyway,” to the person sitting next to him. It was overcast outside, so the comment was probably meant to calm the nerves of his slightly anxious traveling companion. A noble gesture, to be sure, but it couldn’t be further from the truth.

As Mike Couling, campus president at Redstone College in Denver, Colo., said, “There are myriad jobs behind the scenes that support aviation. All the various types of mechanics and technicians, re-fuelers, ramp agents and more are crucial to the safety of the world’s aircraft fleet and its passengers.”

The gentleman on my flight, of course, was thinking only about his immediate circumstances— counting on the plane’s autopilot mechanism to carefully navigate the aircraft through the fog and dense cloud cover. It’s understandable, but somewhat shortsighted, since he discounted all the other tasks that go into successful air travel. Still, it’s a good illustration of the general lack of knowledge about the aviation industry and the numerous associated educational and career fields that are available.

BEYOND PILOTING

Tell almost anybody that you’re going into the aviation industry and they’ll most likely ask whether you’re going to be a pilot or a flight attendant. “That’s one of the challenges of our job,” said Dr. Katherine A. Moran, dean of academic affairs for the western region of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide and department chair for the department of aeronautics. “We spend a good deal of time explaining exactly what we do, and what’s available from our university. There are associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees you can get, and we’ve just started the first of its kind Ph.D. in aviation, so there’s a pretty wide berth of education. We try to get that message out there.”

Simply put, the message is that if you’re interested at all in the aviation industry—from possibly becoming a pilot to managing an airport to ensuring the safety of the planes—there’s probably a learning track and career path that will fulfill your desires. “Based on where people are currently, or where they want to be, we can usually find a pretty good fit,” said Moran. Embry-Riddle prides itself on its diversity of courses, offering a number of potential minors for undergraduates and specializations for graduate students. But for potential learners who aren’t quite sure yet where they’d like to focus their energy, except to say that they’re interested in the idea of pursuing a career in aviation, a bachelor’s of professional aeronautics might be a good place to start.

“It’s a little more general, a really nice variety of courses, and students do get very much involved in the industry,” Moran said. It begins with the core classes. A certain number of credit hours in communication, humanities or social sciences, physical and life sciences, math and computer science, and economics all are required.

“But then, once they get going, they can start taking minor areas of study that are more specific to what their interests are,” pointed out Moran. “Maybe they end up wanting to go into airport management or even occupational safety and health, which can be used for other industries too. Students really can gear their degrees toward what works best for them, whether they’re new and just starting out in aviation or they want to get management-level experience.”

HERE, THERE, ANYWHERE

Embry-Riddle also allows students to choose where going to school will work best for them. “We have three different ‘campuses,’” explained Moran. “The Daytona Beach location is brick and mortar with a fleet of aircraft, full motion simulators, air traffic control simulation, that sort of thing. We’ve got another brick and mortar in Prescott, Ariz. Then we have what’s called Worldwide, which has 151 different locations.”

Embry-Riddle Worldwide makes it possible for students to obtain a degree in a variety of programs, such as maintenance, aviation business administration, technical management, project management and the aforementioned professional aeronautics, as well as many others, without having to relocate to either the Florida or Arizona locations.

“Worldwide has what we call campuses with a small ‘c,’” explained Moran. They may not be the big buildings and compounds of the other sites, and aren’t outfitted with all the planes and simulators and such, but they get the job done. And most importantly, they’re more convenient for a growing number of students who want to pursue their education, but can’t dedicate all their time to their studies. “Approximately 70 percent of them are located on military bases, in the education services centers,” she added.

“With deployments the way they are now, we try to reach out as best we can to students everywhere. We actually have campus locations in Kuwait and Afghanistan. We fly the best of the best faculty in there to offer courses.”

CREATING CHANGE

Redstone College also boasts some of the best of the best when it comes to educators. The school is known for its airframe and power plant program and also offers an advanced electronic technology—or avionics—course of study. Recently, Tim Guerrero, the school’s academic dean, was part of an 18-member committee that worked with the Federal Aviation Agency to revamp a number of outdated educational policies. “The system we’re operating under right now is from 1985,” said Mike Couling. “We’re proud to say that Redstone had a hand in creating the new and upcoming regulations, which should be out in late 2010 or 2011.”

In other words, students can be assured that Redstone is at the forefront of airframe and power plant education, and committed to staying there. “Airplanes today are nothing but flying computers,” Guerrero explained. “The technology is advancing at absolute breakneck speeds.”

At the National Aviation Academy, another acclaimed maintenance and avionics school that is headquartered in Clearwater, Fla., new technologies mean that it’s time to introduce additional courses. “We are currently developing more new programs,” said Greg L. Owen, the college’s marketing manager. “Advanced airframe and composite materials are the future. The days of driving rivets or bending sheet metal will soon be referred to as old fashioned. Advanced avionics and inflight entertainment are also big. By offering classes on these subjects, we’ll be able help our students build the future of aviation.”

The bottom line is that no matter the school or the program, “One of the biggest challenges is keeping up with technology, and making sure our students understand those concepts,” Guerrero said. Ironically, one of the best ways to accomplish that is by delivering the material in a very traditional method. “We work under the philosophy that you can’t troubleshoot it and repair it unless you understand the theory of operation and what makes it work,” he added. “So lecture here is pretty important.

“Let’s use landing gear as an example. We’ll start in the morning and continue through the day, however many days it takes, to fully complete that topic. We may spend three or four days in class going over the theory of landing gear. And then we break into the labs to enhance what they’ve learned during lecture.”

And to say that lab time is hands-on is a vast understatement. Students might be required to completely disassemble the landing gear and then put it all back together. “It’s not like your car when you open the hood and just start tinkering,” Guerrero recognized. “In the aviation world, you’ve got to be sure.” One of the best examples of Redstone’s dedication to handson training is the recent purchase of a wind tower for their new wind energy technology program, which avionics students will soon have the option to transition into. “We bought it,” said Couling, “not to have it up and running, but to tear it down so students can work on all the components.”

The lecture/lab system, which Guerrero estimates is about a 55/45 percent split, seems to be working. At the end of the 18-month program, students must take three written FAA tests and complete extensive oral and practical examinations in order to be certified to work on airplanes. “Our pass rate on those tests is over 90 percent,” Couling said.

Guerrero added: “Students can actually have all of their curriculum requirements completed on a Thursday, take their three written exams on Friday, take their oral and practical exam over the weekend, and start work Monday morning. That’s happened a number of times.”

Indeed. “Our placement rate is about 90 percent as well. It’s not uncommon for our students to have seven job offers. The record is 24 at graduation,” Couling said.

CAPTAIN’S WINGS

All the behind-the-scenes people certainly are vital to making the aviation industry fly, but as mentioned above, airplanes really don’t fly themselves. They need a pilot for that. And while there may be various routes to becoming a captain for a commercial airline, one of them travels right through the college classroom and requires no relevant experience to get started.

“It’s like any college degree,” explained Daniel Erhardt, education consultant at Academy College in Bloomington, Minn. “Students take accounting and algebra, and so on. We also try to keep it heavy on things that will be useful for aviation, such as meteorology. You’d actually get a bachelor’s degree in business administration, but you pick up your associate’s in professional piloting along the way.”

So in addition to handling what would be considered regular university coursework, students at Academy College also dedicate plenty of time toward obtaining their private pilot’s license, instrument rating, commercial license and multiengine commercial license. Eventually, “you’ll be signed off as a certified flight instructor, an instrument certified flight instructor and a multi-engine certified flight instructor,” said Erhardt.

Those last three are very important because, according to Erhardt, most graduates begin their piloting careers as teachers. “That’s real common,” he said. “You have to build time. My guess is that you need at least 1,000 hours of total flight time to get a look by a regional airline. And when you’re instructing, the hours go toward both the student’s flight time and your own, because the instructor is considered the pilot in command.” Essentially, teaching allows prospective pilots to earn a paycheck while they’re accumulating the experience necessary to seriously compete for any available employment openings.

SAFETY FIRST

Whether you’re the pilot in command or charged with maintaining the landing gear of a particular aircraft, the one overriding point of emphasis in the aviation industry is safety. “Safety is always number one,” Owen said. “Airplanes do not take off from the runways until an airframe and power plant technician signs off.”

That attention to detail is good news for hopeful job applicants. Obviously, maintenance professionals are imperative to the aviation industry’s success, and, as Owen explained, “the field is only growing” in terms of jobs and the call for new, up-to-the-minute know-how. Plus, “the average age of an A&P technician is 58,” Owen said, so it’s an area of great need. ♦

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