- FROM: Carolyn Winchell, Business Aviation Services
- cwinchell@busav.com
- Phone: (605) 336-7791 Fax: (605) 336-8009
- DATE: August 2, 1999
SUBJECT: PRESS RELEASE—FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BUSINESS AVIATION SERVICES PARTNERS WITH SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY OFFERING UNIQUE DEGREE PROGRAM
Beginning with the fall 1999 semester, students at South Dakota State University (SDSU) have the opportunity to enroll in a innovative degree program that is ready to train professional flight instructors and other general aviation career professionals.
Business Aviation Services, an FBO and Flight School based at Joe Foss Field in Sioux Falls and SDSU, located in Brookings, SD, are collaborating to provide a Bachelor of Science in Career and Technical Education with a specialization in Aviation Education. Coursework and flight training for the degree will be available in both cities. Flight instruction will include the computer-based instruction and students will fly new Cessna aircraft.
Aviation companies are struggling to find pilots and flight instructors who want to stay with a job for longer than a year or the first call from a commercial airline. Those dynamics prompted SDSU and Business Aviation Services to embark on the unique program.
Dale Froehlich, president of Business Aviation Services said there are other places people can go to learn to be a flight instructor. "The unique thing about SDSU’s program is we’re really combining the education and the pilot training; so not only will they be good pilots, but good instructors."
"Graduates would be qualified to teach at any technical institutes, community colleges and often at universities because of the specialized degree," states Dee Hopkins, Dean of the College of Education and Counseling. Hopkins is excited about the program and the real-world education the students will receive. "We have included courses on professional ethics, public speaking, and technical writing," she said.
Steve Wilson, Director of Fight School operations at Business Aviation School of Aeronautics, commented, "Programs geared toward the airline industry presently train most of our flight instructor population. We’re very excited to be part of the solution to the scarcity of professional flight instructors."
Hopkins reports, "there has been a tremendous interest in the program in the month since the Board of Regents approved the program for takeoff, on June 25." For more information on the degree program, contact Dr. Dee Hopkins at SDSU, (605) 688-4321 or www.sdstate.edu/wedc/http/avied.htm
