By Earl Downs
Reprint from The Oklahoma Aviator

Oklahoma’s CareerTech Aviation Programs: What can you see from 30,000 feet?

It all started with the April issue of The Oklahoma Aviator when I wrote about my visit to Dallas, Texas, for a SportAir workshop course about flight-testing experimental airplanes. The class was held at the Skyline High School, which has a full aviation maintenance training facility on the campus. In the article, I rambled on about what a terrific opportunity this presented for high school students to start into an aviation maintenance career early in their education process.

Not long after the April issue of the Aviator “hit the stands,” H.L. Baird of the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education (also known as “CareerTech”) contacted me. H.L. suggested that I look at the Oklahoma CareerTech aviation program to see what opportunities Oklahoma high school students are offered in aviation career fields. We arranged a meeting that would allow me to visit three of the six maintenance training facilities and learn about CareerTech .

But, before we get into my “show and tell” tour, let’s look at the big picture of CareerTech. A common concern we hear is that high school graduates are faced with the choice of flipping hamburgers at minimum wage or going to college to gain a marketable education. Flipping burgers is a dead-end street, but college may not be in the cards for some students for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with desire. The fact is, the majority of Oklahoma high school students do have a choice that allows them to complete high school with a job skill that immediately exceeds minimum wage standards and, in some cases, provides a head start into college with credits for continued higher education. That is what CareerTech offers.

The big picture of CareerTech is that it offers training in numerous areas--architecture and construction, business administration, health science, engineering and manufacturing, and, my favorite, aviation maintenance, to name a few—--plus many other fields too numerous to mention. Because my interest is in the aviation realm, H.L. took me on a tour of those facilities.

Six CareerTech campuses provide aviation maintenance training programs. They are located at Enid, Tulsa, Shawnee, El Reno Oklahoma City, and Altus. The maintenance technology training is aimed at preparing the students for the FAA airframe and powerplant (A&P) certificate testing (airframe only at some locations), and all facilities are certified under FAR Part 147 training regulations. These six campuses are staffed by 33 instructors, and the enrollment averages about 700 high school and adult students. High school students may start in their junior year and the tuition is FREE. Training may be continued after graduation at reduced tuition, or in certain cases, at no additional tuition cost. The training courses are linked to various colleges for the accrual of college credit. Graduates are also part of an industry cooperative program that provides apprentice opportunities, internships, and outright jobs.

Let’s see, a student comes out of high school with aviation technology skills, may have passed FAA testing, have college credits, and a good potential for being employed at a good wage. What an outstanding way for a high school graduate to earn enough income to use those college credits to continue his or her higher education.

Taking the Tour

I met up with H.L. at his Stillwater office, and we headed for the Tulsa Technology Center (TulsaTech). There I met with TulsaTech Assistant Director, Shea Ferrell. TulsaTech, located at Jones Riverside Airport, is an impressive facility, to say the least. It’s huge, modern, and filled with everything a trainee could want or need for aviation technician training. The hangars are full of engines and airplanes for students to practice on, and the classroom and workshops are designed for ease of learning. All the FAA required subjects are covered, from fabric covering to modern composite structures. The engine test cells are impressive and allow students to run what they have built or repaired. I was able to spend a little time with a graduating class discussing aviation past, present, and future. If only something like this had existed in “my day.” TulsaTech is so expansive you have to see it to fully realize what is being offered to our high school students.

Back on the road (driving is a bummer), we headed for Oklahoma City to visit the Metro Technology Center (MetroTech), located on MacArthur Blvd. near Will Rogers Airport. Instructor Herman Bounds took us on another grand and extraordinary tour. The layout at MetroTech is different form TulsaTech, but I was pleased to see that the quality and scope of training is the same. It’s obvious that standardization is being achieved. Comfortable classrooms and well laid-out workshops are the rule. (I must organize my hangar workshop!)

Running behind schedule, we now hit the pavement (why didn’t we fly?) for the Gordon Cooper Technology center located adjacent to Shawnee airport. Instructor Ron Davis acted as my tour guide. This place is neat in a different way. It has the classes and training curriculum of the larger TulsaTech and MetroTech facilities, but it is on a hometown scale. As we toured, I noticed that a significant number of the students were female. Ron told me that the Gordon Cooper center was making a concerted effort to bring women into the maintenance technician program, and the results are obvious.

Back on the road for Stillwater (I would have traded a 20-knot crosswind in the Luscombe just to get out of that car!), H.L. and I reviewed the big picture of the CareerTech aviation technology program. It is a system for helping high school students, adult trainees, and the Oklahoma aerospace industry. Part of the reason Oklahoma is an aerospace powerhouse is because we produce a trained workforce for the industry. It is a partnership that is working.