Also, you've probably learned this axiom: "A college degree will give you a fallback position; a security blanket." The advice, though worn and even somewhat trite, is nonetheless truer today than it ever has been.
Granted, a college degree isn't an absolute requirement for success in a flying career. Countless aviators with only a high school diploma are enjoying life behind the wheel of a DC-8 freighter. Untold numbers of pilots are conveying passengers from point to point in a turboprop or piston-powered people pusher with not one college credit hour. Corporate pilots, banner tow pilots, medevac pilots, Alaska "bush" pilots, scenic tour pilots, charter pilots, photo pilots, and many other pilots are making a good living doing the thing they love most - flying - without ever having stepped into a college classroom.
If you are expecting a "But," here it is.
BUT, today's most desirable cockpit careers with highest rewards in compensation, status, and benefits generally belong to those who are college trained.
To many aspiring flight professionals the major airlines represent the pinnacle of career achievement. According to industry sources, in recent years more than 80 percent of pilots selected for an interview with the most prominent air carriers have a college degree. You'll discover a similar profile in corporate aviation, where bizjet pilots who fly for the largest companies overwhelmingly have a college background. Get the picture?
Okay! You're convinced! But, what kind of college for you? Big? Small? Liberal arts, business, or aviation? Whether you're a high school student, a mid-life career changer, or simply a "late bloomer," ultimately you'll have a serious chat with yourself to establish your personal and professional objectives. Once you accomplish what the career consultants call "goal setting," the answers will begin to fall in place.
Some future flight pros opt for a liberal arts education to gain personal depth and development. Wonderful! Others plan for a back-up career in business, knowing that the flying track can be fickle. Great! You see, if you ask most company pilot recruiters, they will admit that what degree you have is not nearly as important as having a degree. A college degree, whether in aerospace science or zoology, demonstrates your commitment to a long-term goal - that you are trainable.
Your grades and extracurricular activities are important, too, because they represent your work ethic and character. Almost every major airline will require you to bring your college transcripts to the interview - even if you're 45 years old! A question likely to arise is this, "Are you happy with your college grades? Could you have done better?" If you're already enrolled in a college or plan to be, never take your grade performance for granted! Strive for excellence! Failing to do so can haunt you years after graduation!
Those who are oriented toward a flying career, but with college still ahead, often have a natural interest in a major in aviation and flight. Indeed, "piloting" has become an accepted academic discipline, as attested by the more than 200 U.S. colleges and universities that offer aviation or professional pilot majors.
Scan these pages and see the messages of but a few of the schools with an aviation focus. Explore the Internet and review the offerings of aviation colleges and universities large and small. With such a wide selection, which one is for you?
Cost is probably at the top of your list, followed closely by location, size, and facilities. You'll find the mega-schools with a thousand flight students and a veritable air force of training aircraft. You'll also find small, intimate programs with less than 50 flight students. You know where your comfort level is, and you're the one best qualified to decide what will fit you best.
Besides the foregoing, another quality might be quite important to you in the process of selecting a school - industry reputation.
An educational institution's reputation within the aviation industry can have positive ramifications for its graduates because of the halo effect. If aviation businesses hold a college or university in great esteem because of the school's quality of instruction, faculty, resources, curricula, and services, businesses presume that the graduates of these schools are unique beneficiaries of a higher standard of learning. In other words, they will make better employees. It's only natural for employers to favor applicants from schools they are familiar with.
Some institutions exist solely to educate and develop their students. They focus on campus life exclusively and rarely reach out to industry. This is a traditional objective for many educational programs, and you should not discount such schools. But, schools that have a mission to serve students and the industry may, in the long run, offer a more enriching educational experience and, as a bonus, career opportunities.
How does a college or university develop an industry reputation and awareness? A handful of examples follow. The intent is to simply show how a few universities and colleges go about making a name for themselves - and their students. We cannot catalog every effort of every aviation institution of higher learning, but we do want to highlight some of the creative industry efforts by a sampling of the many fine schools offering aviation-related coursework.
Western Michigan University in Battle Creek is one instance of how academia and business work together. In its published "Mission Statement," the school's objectives include "To offer quality academic programs that prepare students for a variety of aviation-related professions," and "To support the aviation industry and governmental agencies through research and service activities."
Joe Dunlap is WMU's director of the school of aviation sciences, and under his guidance, the school educates some 550 U.S. domestic students in flight, maintenance, and management degree programs.
Six years ago, Dunlap and his WMU staff investigated the future of pilot demand. In their research they discovered that through 2010, at least, the need for cockpit talent will continue to increase concurrent with a shrinking pilot pool.
Not content to educate future pilots in traditional academics and train them to meet FAA certification standards, the WMU Aviation Department engaged in months of dialogue with government agencies and companies of the highest caliber. The word from industry and government was this: The successful candidate for flying and aviation-related jobs in an ever-complex working arena must be skilled in these competencies among others - business focus; environmental awareness; global perspective; computer literacy; and critical decision-making skills. The message was clear. Future flying professionals must do more than read, write, and keep an airplane upright.
To design a program that would develop these qualities in its students, WMU fashioned a five-point plan: 1. State of the art curriculum. 2. Correct training aircraft and instruction medium (such as advanced training aircraft with (EFIS) electronic flight information systems and (FMS) flight management systems). 3. Upgrade school facilities. 4. The "right" people to execute the plan. 5. A research and a service agenda that supports industry and governmental agencies.
The result? The United Kingdom took note of WMU's superior efforts and impressive curriculum. In a program approved by the British Civil Aviation Authority, WMU is authorized to conduct true ab initio training for British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Emirates airlines on a contract basis. (Ab Initio training is a program wherein an airline recruits prospective pilots of high school or college age, sends them into "total immersion" airline training at company expense. Ab initio means "from the beginning." The student is trained for an airline crew position from the outset.)
At present, approximately 100 foreign students receive 1,000 hours of academic instruction as well as flight training at Western Michigan University. Upon completion of specialized training at WMU's International Pilot Training Centre and attendance at a five-week jet orientation course, the graduate goes immediately to the right hand seat of a Boeing 737, 757/767, or Airbus with 200 to 300 flight hours.
Dunlap readily admits that WMU designed their ab initio program to demonstrate to American airlines that it's possible to train a new pilot to airline standards, and have that pilot perform as well as, if not better than, a 5,000-hour pilot who's climbed the traditional career ladder. Naturally, while proving the concept, Dunlap hopes to position WMU as a pilot resource for domestic airlines as the pilot pool dwindles and less experienced flyers become the norm through routine channels.
Florida Institute of Technology, located in Melbourne, has several academic/industry initiatives in place. Dr. Mike Barker, the associate dean of the school of aeronautics and director of the division of flight training, says the School of Aeronautics is one of six schools that comprise the university. With between 300 and 600 students enrolled in Aeronautics from year to year, Barker says the school offers six undergraduate aviation majors, most of which can be earned with or without flight training. They include management, aeronautical science, meteorology, computer science plus three masters degree programs.
Sponsored by the Boeing Commercial Airplane Company, FIT is in a special partnership with the Civil Aviation Flying College of China, which Barker says is analogous to a civilian air force academy. It is a government-run school that trains individuals for various Chinese ab initio airline programs.
A feature of this multi-year association is bringing key Chinese flight and ground instructors to Melbourne for a full summer. There, they learn the ways of western flight training, technologies, and methodologies. The objective is to establish and meet an international standard of flight training most effectively and at optimum cost. Further, FIT staff and faculty will travel to China to reinforce the transfer of information and to provide mentoring and support.
The Florida Institute of Technology also has been selected by the National Transportation Safety Board as a training site for the agency's certificated pilots. Each pilot travels to the FIT campus for a period of refresher and recurrent training.
And just how do these initiatives benefit the everyday student at FIT? "Recognition is valuable to our graduates," Barker says. "Remember that premier organizations such as Boeing and the NTSB have firsthand experience with us, our mission, and the quality of our program. When our students leave campus and are in the job hunt, we believe that these associations make the graduate more desirable in the eyes of those employers, or any employer for that matter."
University of Alaska-Anchorage is but another example of an aggressive institution in pursuit of industry ties. As Alaska's chair of the Aviation Technology Division, Jim Crehan has fashioned strong associations that enhance the school's stature for its 300 students. The four key areas of study are professional piloting, air traffic control, aviation maintenance technology, and aviation administration.
"At this time, our strongest suit is in the air traffic control program," Crehan says. "We are acknowledged by the FAA as a Collegiate Training Initiative School. We were one of four institutions so recognized prior to this year." The FAA recently has brought in additional schools.
"We have developed a $20 million plant that has a one of a kind simulation facility," Crehan says. "In it we marry a full, 10-station air route traffic control center simulation laboratory with a full-size air traffic control tower simulation laboratory, and a Frasca 242 flight training device, which is an FAA-certificate Level 3 full-motion general aviation simulator.
"Because all three components interact, we can put a crew in the Frasca and control that flight from the control tower cab through the radar environment through to its destination. Thanks to a large (a series of 14-foot screens), 360-degree visual system control tower simulator, we can actually see that flight taxi and take off. Once airborne, the flight is handed off to the radar controllers in the ARTCC lab, then ultimately back to the control tower for landing. Remember that our students are doing all the flying and controlling. The outcome of this training is that the FAA has accepted 100 percent of our graduates into the ATC system, bypassing the FAA Air Traffic Control Academy in Oklahoma City."
But, that's not all. One of Alaska's largest regional carriers has selected the university as the site of its pilot recurrent training. Each of the company's pilots fly UAA's simulator twice annually for proficiency and currency. The offshoot of this relationship is the development of a Second-In-Command program for UAA's pilots. At this writing, the carrier's insurance company is signaling its acceptance of UAA-educated graduates as first officers with substantially less total flight time than is normally required of applicants.
And, on August 17 FAA Administrator Jane Garvey visited the University of Alaska-Anchorage campus with Alaska Senator Ted Stevens to discuss the FAA's "Flight 2000" initiative. This is a "free flight" demonstration project where Alaska and Hawaii will conduct this exercise with some 2,000 aircraft. Installed in these aircraft will be the latest technology incorporating GPS, Automatic Detection Surveillance Broadcast, and data-link technology with both a terrain and weather database. UAA's Cessna 180 has already been outfitted with the most recent technological marvels as a precursor to "Flight 2000." As such, the university has been designated to be the human factors point of contact for all training within the "Flight 2000" project.
At University of Nebraska-Omaha, Dr. Brent Bowen is director and professor of the Aviation Institute. Approximately 500 students are now enrolled with about 60 percent majoring in aviation administration and 40 percent pursuing professional flight.
Bowen has a proactive philosophy toward industry associations that extends to regular curriculum assessment and development. The UNO Aviation Institute has assembled an advisory board of 24 industry leaders that meets twice annually to give feedback and guidance. Members include representatives of American and Southwest Airlines, FAA headquarters in Washington, state aviation organizations, the aviation press, Boeing, and other high powered companies.
"This is a real, practicing advisory board that we at UNO treat like a corporate board of directors," Bowen says. "The industry and governmental advisors keep our curriculum in constant sync with industry expectations. As a result, we've made substantial changes in our curriculum."
As an example of this, Bowen says "the board tells us that we need trained pilots who have good communication skills. So, we have incorporated more communication programs into our agenda, including a special course in aviation writing. After another advisory board suggestion, we instituted a course in aviation diversity for our students. These are just some examples of how we are attempting to be responsive to industry needs, and those needs are constantly communicated to us by some of aviation's best ."
Although building an industry profile and reputation seems to spring primarily from collaboration on various aviation business and training endeavors, Bowen attributes a good portion of UNO's recognition and prestige to scholarly research. "We are pursuing ab initio relationships like so many schools and are on the verge of consummating an agreement with Chicago Express, but the national and international exposure to our research efforts has truly enhanced awareness of the Aviation Institute at the University of Nebraska-Omaha."
UNO's annual National Airline Quality Rating is a good example, Bowen says. "This is an academic research study based on 19 quantitative criteria. Monthly data are gathered from a variety of sources, such as the Department of Transportation, NTSB, Moody's Bond Rating Service, etc. It measures performance in such critical areas as on-time arrivals, baggage delays and loss, ATC deviation, and we are able to objectively rank the top 10 airlines' overall performance. It started as a scholarly effort, but the airlines and media soon embraced it as a public relations tool. Indeed, we have presented our findings on Good Morning America and, each year, the study's conclusions are published in the press nationwide including 3,000 domestic newspapers."
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, with campuses at Daytona Beach, Florida, Prescott, Arizona, and a network of 125 teaching centers across the United States and Europe, is the largest educational institution in the world dedicated exclusively to the study of all facets of aviation. More than 6,000 students on the Daytona Beach and Prescott campuses are preparing for careers ranging from aeronautical engineering to professional pilot to aviation management and more. Some 2,560 students are in the flight program alone.
With powerful and substantial resources, ERAU has forged forceful and innovative associations with the industry it serves. In November, 1997, the FAA certificated a brand new FlightSafety International Boeing 737-300 full flight simulator at the Daytona Beach campus. FlightSafety is a renowned advanced training organization that specializes in flight crew development and proficiency for the airlines and business aviation. The University's Advanced Flight Simulation Center, where the 737 simulator resides, also offers training in a Raytheon/Beech 1900D regional airliner simulator. The facility is part of an educational partnership of ERAU and FlightSafety .
This FlightSafety and ERAU cooperative operation, with its two Level D full flight simulators, gives students a new opportunity to combine higher education with the disciplines and skills of advanced aircraft operation and flight training. The AFSC is a new component of the Embry-Riddle master plan that not only creates research opportunities, but provides both student and commercial pilot training services.
Last year ERAU and Atlantic Coast Airlines signed an agreement to implement a New Hire Bridge Program designed to provide ERAU aeronautical science students an opportunity to become new-hire pilots with ACA. The comprehensive agreement establishes selection criteria, specific course requirements, minimum flight experience, and preferred hiring status for qualified graduates at ERAU's residential campuses. In other words, these students will have the opportunity to gain employment immediately after earning an ERAU degree.
In addition, ERAU and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association entered into an exclusive partnership that gives students benefits and services that complement their education. Under the plan, 10 percent of dues paid by AOPA members who are Embry-Riddle alumni, go into to a new AOPA Career Pathways Scholarship Fund.
Of special importance to upper-level students ready to embark on a job search is ERAU's annual Industry/Career EXPO. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore careers and interview with more than 100 aviation/aerospace business, engineering, and high-technology employers from across the nation, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky Aircraft, Oracle, and United Parcel Service. Many airlines, such as American, British Airways, Continental, Delta, and United will also participate.
ERAU's influence extends to international markets as well. The school serves as Turkish Airlines' new training site for pilot candidates. This past September, two dozen Turkish Airlines pilots began a one year training program on the Daytona Beach campus that will lead to an FAA Commercial Pilot Certificate with multi-engine and instrument ratings. The University has previous experience with similar arrangements such as a program at Daytona that has been training Saudi Arabian Airlines cadets for more than two years.
So, on campuses large and small, from the University of North Dakota and its thousand plus flight students to petite schools such as Hesston College in central Kansas and its 30-some future flying professionals, you'll see a new awareness of the need to incorporate university studies into aviation careers. Faculty and students agree that traditional academics and flight training are no longer enough in the sophisticated world of aviation. Partnering with the industry it supplies is a strategy that is no longer merely an option for aviation colleges and universities, it is essential.
Before you launch your college career, which, of course, is the first step toward a flying career, take a critical look at the schools you would like to attend. After you learn the cost of tuition, the size of the training fleet, and whether the dorm rooms are air conditioned, investigate each school's recent efforts to position itself as a notable, credible, and influential institution of higher learning in the eyes of aviation.
Does the university offer internships and cooperative programs? Is the college bonding with key players? Is the administration energetic in cultivating outside opportunities for the student? And, if that salesperson on the other side of the desk, the one trying to get a signature on the enrollment application, should display a look of astonishment and ask, "Why?" You simply say, "I hear that to succeed today in the complicated and competitive world of flight, I need a school that does more for me than teach readin', writin', and rudder control!"
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