 |
 |
SEARCH |
| |||
      |
||||||
|
||||||
      |
||||||
|
||||||
Aviation Program
Cowley has a long history of responding quickly
to the needs of business and industry. On Jan. 26, it embarked on another
training venture when classes began at the Aviation Tech Center in
Wichita.
Spearheaded by the Kansas Technical Training Initiative, the
Aviation Tech Center, operated by Cowley, will begin offering daytime
and nighttime classes in Power Plant. The day program will be taught
from 7:30 a.m. until 2 p.m., while the night program is from 4-10 p.m.
The sessions will run congruently so that workers whose shifts change
at their jobs still will be able to take classes.
Greg McCoy, executive director of aviation programs at Cowley, said the center’s
ultimate goal was simple. “We want to create an aviation training corridor
in south-central Kansas,” McCoy said. “It will go from Hutchinson,
through El Dorado, to Independence, and back to Arkansas City and back to Wichita.
We want to create a corridor in that area to train aviation technicians. We’re
serving a multi-county corridor.”
Cowley has taught airframe and power plant classes at its Strother Field facility
for many years. The college is teaching classes in Independence, and more than
70 students were expected for Monday’s opening of the Aviation Tech Center
at 7603 E. Pawnee in Wichita. Pete Gustaf, executive director of KTTI, said the
center’s potential is virtually infinite. “I think it will be a regional
center of aviation training,” Gustaf said. “Hopefully, we can draw
students in from neighboring states and give them the opportunity to receive
world-class aviation technical training that can meet the demands of the aviation
employers in our area.”
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for 5 p.m. Feb. 4 at the center and will
feature Lt. Gov. John Moore and several dignitaries from Wichita and Sedgwick
County. Unlike Cowley’s program at Strother Field, the Aviation Tech Center
will be an open-entry, open-exit system. McCoy said students could enroll at
any time. “We call it a wheel system,” he said. “A student
can join the wheel, and when it goes completely around, they’ll be finished.
It doesn’t matter where they start. Once they take all 11 classes, they
would have completed the power plant session.”
McCoy said a prep class was going on now for students in airframe. “The
prep class is for individuals with extended years of experience in the aviation
industry and a knowledge of the majority of the subject areas,” McCoy said. “They
have to have experience in the industry, not education in the industry.” McCoy
said the prep class would last a maximum of six months. “It’s based
on their exact background,” he said. The prep class is assisting laid-off
workers to expand their skills and get them back into the aviation industry once
they’ve obtained licensing from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Wichita aircraft manufacturers Boeing, Cessna, Raytheon and Bombardier have donated
more than $600,000 worth of equipment to the center. The four, along with the
city of Wichita, the Sedgwick County Commission and Unified School District 259,
helped form the private non-profit KTTI to prepare for future workforce needs.
Due to projected critical needs in aviation, the first phase is the implementation
of a world-class aviation maintenance school. Butler County Community College,
Hutchinson Community College, and Wichita Area Technical College also will develop
centers of excellence covering other areas. The program at the Aviation Tech
Center is fast-paced and can be completed in 18 months. Credits apply toward
an associate of applied science degree from Cowley. Financial aid is available.
