Beyond the Flight Line

It's a typical fall day along Florida's Atlantic coast. Cumulus clouds are beginning to build just inland, but it is clear along the shore. Flying southeast at 5,500 feet, the ride is smooth.

Jacksonville hands you off to Daytona Approach, and as you tune the new frequency, you realize you've entered a busy sector. "Seminole Niner-Two-One-Echo-Romeo, company traffic, eleven o'clock and three miles, a Tampico," the controller says briskly. "One-One-Eight-Echo-Romeo, company traffic, one o'clock and three miles, a Seminole," the staccato voice continues without missing a beat.

Company traffic? That sounds like an air carrier. But flying an Aerospatiale Tampico?

If you get a chance to ask the controller, he'll explain that, no, it's not a new discount airline — classes are in session at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Daytona Beach campus. Although its average number of daily operations may exceed that of some air carriers, this "company" is actually Embry-Riddle's flight department. Its 64 airplanes conduct an average of 300 daily operations from Daytona Beach International Airport. The scenario is repeated — albeit on a smaller scale — by the 40 aircraft at the university's Prescott, Arizona, campus. Combined, the two campuses log 107,000 flight hours each year, plus about 20,300 hours of simulator time.

The flight program, which leads to a bachelor's degree in aeronautical science, is designed to produce airline pilots — and the professional training starts early in the process. Normal procedures call for students to fly approaches on a 3-degree glideslope, preparing them for the instrument landing system approaches that they'll routinely fly later. VFR departure and arrival routes are very similar in concept to the standard instrument departure and arrival procedures in place at most busy airports. The university's flight operations manual resembles an airline's in scope, content, and size. Cockpit resource management techniques are introduced in primary flight training.

Embry-Riddle's flight program is only part of the story, however. Sixty percent of the undergraduate students at Daytona Beach and Prescott are enrolled in other programs such as aerospace engineering, aviation business administration, aviation technology, or computer science. The two residential campuses' combined population of nearly 6,000 is dwarfed by Embry-Riddle's extended campus enrollment of more than 15,000. Embry-Riddle advertises that it is the only fully accredited not-for-profit university in the country oriented exclusively to aviation and aerospace.

At AOPA Expo in Orlando, Florida, last month, Embry-Riddle and AOPA announced a partnership designed to benefit both organizations. "This is a unique partnership of two industry leaders," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. The relationship with an up-and-coming university with wide-ranging extended campus programs accessible to many members offers the association a chance to give something back to the aviation community. It is our opportunity to help young people who are pursuing aviation careers, Boyer explained.

Full-time aeronautical science students and faculty members will automatically become members of AOPA. Special opportunities will also be extended to other Embry-Riddle students, including those enrolled in extended campus programs, and for every alumni who joins, AOPA will make a contribution to a scholarship fund at the university — jointly funded with the AOPA Air Safety Foundation. AOPA and the ASF will provide copies of their general aviation safety publications to Embry-Riddle's libraries; the ASF will present safety programs on campus and will collaborate with university faculty on various projects.

History

It should be no surprise that many think of Embry-Riddle primarily as a flight-training university. The Embry-Riddle Company was founded in 1926 as a Waco dealer at Lunken Municipal Airport in Cincinnati, Ohio, and opened a flight school later that year. Operations eventually moved to South Florida, where thousands of servicemen were trained as pilots and aircraft mechanics during World War II and the Korean conflict. In 1965, Embry-Riddle consolidated all of its training programs into one location at Daytona Beach. The Prescott campus was opened in 1978.

Embry-Riddle students have always been passionate about aviation, explained Dr. Steven M. Sliwa, the university's president. "There's a funny story in our lore," he recalled. "Miss Florida was here with her contingent. Somebody came in [to the auditorium, where the student body had gathered] and said, 'It's the Goodyear blimp.' The building emptied instantly — the girls on the stage were somewhat surprised." Because the students acted on that passion by pursuing aviation careers, Sliwa continued, there is a lot of energy at Embry-Riddle. "You go to most regular universities and you're not going to see that."

It quickly becomes apparent that Sliwa personifies that energy. He spearheaded a $100 million construction program at a time when university enrollments overall were down. But the effort appears to have been well-timed; the university's freshman enrollment is up 30 percent this fall.

Sliwa credits the university's growth to its transition from training to education. "You have to learn how to learn, because you're probably going to go through three generations of technology during your career," he explained. "Once we got that vision, bang — things have been going great for us."

New facilities since Sliwa became president in 1991 include the Lehman Engineering and Technology Center in Daytona Beach, which is electronically linked to the new King Engineering and Technology Center in Prescott; a 50,000-square-foot field house and a chapel in Daytona Beach; and new dormitories at both campuses. All student rooms on both campuses offer Internet connections. The new Advanced Flight Simulation Center at Daytona Beach is home to Level D full-motion Beech 1900D and Boeing 737-300 simulators, installed by FlightSafety International and operated in partnership with the university. A facility at the Prescott campus contains two Boeing 727 simulators.

The four-bay flight simulation center was constructed to increase training opportunities for students, and the partnership provides equipment the university couldn't otherwise afford. Students won't have to pay extra for training in the simulators, which has been integrated into several courses, said Dr. Thorsten Hisam, director of flight simulation. With the Beech 1900D already scheduled through 1998, Hisam is looking at the two empty bays. "The future for new airline pilots is the regional jet market," he said; a regional jet simulator is "a preference that many of us have." A heavy aircraft — a Boeing 747-400 or 777, or an Airbus A320 — would round out the simulator offerings. "Our goal with all of this is getting our graduates jobs," Hisam explained. And, according to officials, 90 percent of all students do have jobs within a year of graduation.

Flight programs

Aspiring professional pilots — more than a third of Embry-Riddle's undergraduate enrollment — pursue degrees in aeronautical science. As juniors with commercial certificates and instrument ratings, these students can then focus on more specific training needs like turbine transition or cockpit resource management. "We have a well-rounded graduate who's well versed in all arenas, not just a technically competent pilot," said Ken Stackpoole, director of flight training.

The university's training fleet is relatively young. Seven Seminoles were purchased from The New Piper Aircraft last year, and a recent partnership with Cessna Aircraft includes the purchase of nearly 300 single-engine aircraft over the next 12 years; the first new Skyhawk was delivered in early October.

Embry-Riddle will wring out those new Skyhawks in a hurry. Training aircraft average about 120 hours per month, or 1,200 to 1,400 hours per year. Maintenance is performed in-house; a night shift completes 100-hour inspections overnight, and aviation technology students help to overhaul the trainers' engines.

Flight instruction at the Daytona Beach campus is provided by 100 full-time instructors, most of them former students, and 20 students working part time. "We have a big pool to hire instructors from, but they're not staying as long," Stackpoole said. "We have a fairly steady crew of 20 to 25 who help us with the management and continuity of the program."

Cindy Zagar, of Sussex, Wisconsin, an August 1996 graduate who is now a flight instructor at the Daytona Beach campus, logged between 700 and 800 flight hours in the past year. She hopes to be flying for a commuter airline within the next six months or so and feels prepared for the change. "We have a curriculum that starts small and really builds you up," she said, "not only academically, but socially, and with the professional skills you need to make it out there."

Zagar worked as an intern at United Airlines two years ago, and she hopes that will help her to eventually land a job with the carrier. United has a history of hiring former interns, she explained.

Mike Lauro, of Valley Stream, New York, has been working full-time as a flight instructor since he graduated this spring. Although he hopes to fly airliners eventually, Lauro enjoys his current job. "I'm using flight instruction as a stepping stone to build experience and knowledge," he explained. "Let's face it — becoming an airline pilot doesn't happen overnight. A lot of graduating students have that misconception."

Other programs

Less than a decade ago, Embry-Riddle's board mandated the development of research capability. "We've come a long way," said Dr. L. William Motzel, vice president for research and special projects. NASA's Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiment consortium recently issued the university a $1.2 million contract to lead the development of a curriculum integrating primary and instrument flight training. Motzel said the greatest emphasis is on applied, solution-oriented research in the areas of human factors and traffic management.

Human factors is the focus of two new degree programs this year, a bachelor's degree in applied experimental psychology and a master's in human factors and systems. Other popular programs provide training in aircraft maintenance and aircraft maintenance management, computer science, and a variety of engineering disciplines.

Unique to the Prescott campus is the Harry Robertson Crash Laboratory, where students in safety and aircraft accident investigation courses can inspect wrecked aircraft. Also offered only in Arizona are Embry-Riddle's electrical engineering program for aviation and aerospace and a new science, technology, and globalization program that emphasizes three key areas: international management, security, and environmental issues.

Extended campus

Three out of four Embry-Riddle students will probably never attend a class in Prescott or Daytona Beach, however. These individuals, enrolled in one of more than 100 extended campuses in 30 states and several European countries, represent "one of the largest extended campus programs, period, and certainly the largest in aviation," said Dr. Leon Flancher, associate vice president and chief operating officer of the extended campus. A variety of technologies is used, he explained — from traditional classroom lectures to live video or using the Internet for research and coursework after meeting with the instructor. In a true distance learning course, students never see the instructor. The university's goal is for course content and quality to be the same regardless of how the course is taken, Flancher said. "That's really the way education will be going in the future."

The independent study program added graduate courses three years ago. The typical master's degree student is 35 years old and has worked in aviation or aerospace for 10 to 12 years. To be eligible a student must hold an FAA or military certificate for an aviation profession; academic credit is awarded for that professional achievement. Eventually, all of the independent study courses will be available over the Internet.

Contract training

The Center for Aviation Training at Embry-Riddle (CATER) offers contract training customized to the customer's needs — whether an ab initio program for Saudia Airlines or for an individual like Laura Buck, a Northwest Airlines flight attendant who set her sights on the flight deck. Buck took a leave of absence to receive flight training at Embry-Riddle, earning in 6.5 months her private and commercial pilot certificates with instrument and multiengine ratings.

"A lot of folks are reading about the airline pilot situation and recapturing their dream," said Kellie Kelley, director of CATER. The year-old program has seen a lot of interest from people like Buck, who are considering career changes, she commented. "I've come almost full circle. [CATER] would have been an ideal program for me back in 1987." Kelley wanted flight training as a college student, but it was not available then to nonstudents — so she enrolled at the Prescott campus, became a certificated flight instructor, and worked for Embry-Riddle there until moving to Daytona Beach to pursue a master's degree.

Beginning next summer, Embry-Riddle will offer a Summer College in conjunction with family vacation packages. "The effort is to offer the family something that is educational and fun," Kelley explained. Offerings might include flight training, maintenance and computer courses, and a "fantasy camp" that could put participants in the university's airliner or air traffic control simulators. There would be a variety of offerings for children, and everyone could go on field trips to the Kennedy Space Center or Walt Disney World. University officials said that they will offer discounted registration fees to AOPA members.

At the recent National Business Aviation Association convention in Dallas the university announced a new corporate aviation management certificate curriculum. Three of an eventual 26 courses are already available.

The future

What will the Embry-Riddle of the future be like? University President Sliwa sees a change in the paradigm in which flight-program graduates will move directly into airline jobs, without working as flight instructors or engaging in other time-building apprenticeships.

In September, the university announced a direct-hire agreement with Atlantic Coast Airlines, which operates as United Express from Washington Dulles International Airport. Each year, as many as 100 students from both residential campuses — selected after completing their sophomore year — will have the opportunity upon graduation to move into the right seat of the carrier's Jetstream turboprops.

Sliwa said that the agreement — and others expected to follow — was the result of changes that Embry-Riddle made to its curriculum, as well as the construction of the new simulation center in Daytona Beach. "It's all part of the strategy," he said.

Undergraduate tuition at Embry-Riddle is $4,550 per semester ($4,850 for engineering programs); room, board, and flight fees (averaging about $4,400) are additional. For more information, write to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at 600 S. Clyde Morris Boulevard, Daytona Beach, Florida 32114; telephone 800/862-2416 or 904/226-6000; e-mail [email protected] or visit the Web site ( www.embryriddle.edu). Telephone the Prescott, Arizona, campus at 800/888-3728 or 520/708-3728 or e-mail [email protected]. For information on extended campus programs, call 800/522-6787 or 904/226-6910; e-mail [email protected].

E-mail the author at [email protected].