KTTI To Become A Reality

Hoping to head off a shortage of A&Ps at the pass, Wichita city officials last week okayed the creation of an aviation training center at Jabara Airport.

The next step is for the city to accept bids and design proposals from architects and construction firms.

The Kansas Technical Training Institute is already up and running in an old Cessna building, where some 130 students are learning the delicate craft of airframe and powerplant maintenance. It's an innovative partnership between the city, county, state as well as Boeing Wichita, Cessna Aircraft, Raytheon Aircraft and Bombardier Aerospace.

The school's first class is expected to graduate in May.

"KTTI will train workers for jobs that are actually going to be here in the future," Mayor Carlos Mayans told the Wichita Eagle. "In the past we have trained for jobs that haven't always been here."

But Mayans and others involved in the school say there's a coming shortage of technical types in Wichita -- the general aviation capital of the world. If Mayans has his way, that designation will remain in Wichita.

"It would afford us the opportunity to hire Wichita citizens rather than casting a net throughout the country," he told the Eagle.

FMI: www.workforcenetworkkansas.org