Aviation program is awarded Honor Roll

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Rinamay Rhoten, Reporter @RinamayLopez

 

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) has awarded the Honor Roll Award to UVU’s Aviation Science Program in flight training excellence.

The Aviation program is proud to be the recipient of this award; however, the program doesn’t plan to stop there; it has big plans for the future.

The school of Aviation Science is one of the oldest facilities established in Utah Valley University. What started in the early 1930s as just a fantasy for some young people has turned into reality for a lot of students.

The Aviation program prepares students for great career opportunities, and this year the program is ready for more. It has been recognized for its high standards of accomplishments in flight teaching.

“We feel it’s important to recognize flight training providers like UVU who create a quality customer experience that supports student pilots and their entry into all aspects of the aviation community,” Shannon Yeager, vice president of AOPA’s Center to Advance the Pilot Community, said.

The award ranks them third in training excellence in the AOPA. Along with that award, they have received other awards such as first place in the Best Flight School Award (best instructor) and second place for Outstanding Flight School (outstanding instructor).

“The cool thing about the award is they determine it by student votes,” Ryan Tanner, director of Aviation Science at UVU, said. “To think that the students are giving positive feedback makes us all very proud.”

The school is also known for its award winning online programs, which has helped many students achieve their goal of a bachelor’s degree.

“The great thing about the online program is that students have the opportunity to train at the local flight school while finishing the aviation program online through UVU,” Tanner said.

Aviation careers include commercial, medical evacuation, aircraft sales, military flight instruction, test pilots, airline administration and more.

These careers have a starting salary of $18,000 a year and can increase to $104,000 a year.

To be a commercial airline pilot a student must have a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Aviation Science with a professional pilot emphasis. They must then complete 300 hours of flying before graduation. After this, a student will most likely become a flight instructor and finish with up to 15,000 hours of flying before working for an airline.

UVU is the third largest collegiate aviation program in the United States. It has over 2,500 students enrolling every year

“We are always looking to expand our student body,” Tanner said.

Recently the students and alumni have requested a master’s program at UVU.

“It’s a possibility. We have a lot of request from students and alumni,” said Tanner.

The aviation school is exploring the master’s program right now and testing new possibilities.

The Aviation School is now working on recruiting international students, especially from countries like China and Brazil, who know that the U.S. has a lot of good flight programs.

“We get quite a number of veterans,” Tanner said. “We love veterans, and they love the program.”

A lot of vets that come to UVU were actually students from Brigham Young University. BYU doesn’t have a flight school they only offer the U.S. Air Force R. O. T. C., so the students have to look at other options.

The flight school campus is located in Provo, off of Center Street. It is well known for not only being advanced and full of opportunity, but also a school that provides some of the most reliable equipment.

“We encourage people to come out and tour our campus, and see our advanced aircrafts, so they can feel the safety and everything that UVU has to offer,” Tanner said.