Taking the College Track to the Cockpit Continued from page 43 The university’s Commercial Aviation major is designed for those seeking careers as professional pilots. Under the program, students earn the Private, Commercial, Instrument and Multi-Engine rating, along with the Certified Flight Instructor and Certified Flight Instructor Instrument (CFII) ratings. An Advanced Aircraft Operations course, requiring 20 hours in a CRJ regional jet fixed- base flight training device (FTD), focuses on flight man- agement, high speed operations and aerodynamics. In addition to flight training, 30 credit hours are devoted to complementary courses, including Aviation Safety, Global Navigation, Crew Resource Management and Meteorology, as examples. “From the private certificate, up through the CFII, the average student will graduate with 240 hours of flight time,” said Polovitz. UND’s flight training program was the first at the uni- versity level to get FAA approval for the R-ATP at 1,000 hours. The average UND student in the Commercial Aviation major builds time as a flight instructor for about 14 months in order to reach the 1,000 hours. Under bridg- ing agreements with most of the regional carriers, students who achieve their R-ATP are hired by those airlines. At this time, UND’s training fleet consists of 70 single engine Cessna 172s, 20 twin-engine Piper Seminoles and three Beechcraft King Air 200s, along with six piston engine Sikorsky 300s and one turbine Bell 206 helicopters. UND is in the process of transitioning from the Cessna 172 fleet in favor of a new fleet of Piper Cherokees, which could total as much as 100 if all firm orders and options are exercised. First deliveries are slated to commence in November 2016. UND owns, operates and maintains all its aircraft in- house, with most based at Grand Forks International Airport (GFK)—a public airport with commercial airline service. Part of the fleet is based at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (AZA) in Mesa, Arizona, where the university provides flight training under contract to local students at Chandler Gilbert Community College. Also from Gateway, UND is contracted as a training provider to several foreign airlines. The university promotes its aviation training pro- gram through regional and national aviation trade shows, and college recruiting fairs, as well as via print and digital advertising in aviation publications. “Our approach to aviation education is one with a liberal arts bias and we offer a comprehensive education,” stressed Polovitz. “We don’t just teach people to fly airplanes.” http://aero.und.edu/ EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY, FLORIDA AND ARIZONA With campuses at Daytona Beach, Florida, and Prescott, Arizona, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) offers Bachelor of Science degrees in four aviation-related programs—Aeronautical Science, Meteorology, Aeronautics and Unmanned Aerial Systems. The Aeronautical Science degree is the university’s second largest program by en- rollment, after Engineering, according to Cass Howell, Associate Dean of the College of Aviation in Daytona Beach. ERAU’s flight training program takes stu- dents from the Private through the Commercial, Multi-Engine and Instrument ratings, with a com- bined Certified Flight Instructor/Certified Flight Instructor Instrument course as an option. Graduates of the Aeronautical Science program will finish with about 250 flight hours. “About 75 percent of the graduates will take the CFI course and remain with Embry-Riddle to build the 1,000 hours they need for the restricted ATP,” said Kenneth P. Byrnes, Associate Professor of Aeronautical Science and Flight Department Chair. “Right now, we have about 140 graduates with us as flight instruc- tors. The majority will go on to the regional airlines to build the turbine time they will need to go with the majors.” The university has bridge agreements for its graduates with eight air carriers, as well as four corporate flight departments. All of ERAU’s flight training is in-house. For its Daytona Beach campus, the university owns and operates a fleet com- prised of 42 single- engine Cessna 172s, eight Piper Arrows, 10 twin-engine Continued on page 46 Aviation Business Journal | 3rd Quarter 2016 45
