Designed To Stimulate Cadets' Interest In Aviation Careers

Citing the growing shortage of pilots over the next few years, the Army and Navy Academy is launching a four-year aviation training program in the 2018-19 school year, designed to stimulate interest in an aviation career on the part of high-school age Cadets and prepare them to pursue further training after graduating.

The University of California-approved Warrior Aviation Course will connect aviation and aeronautics, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses with other core subject curriculum to prepare Cadets for future careers as certified pilots of commercial and military aircraft as well as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or drones. Cadets will receive college credits to help them pursue aviation at a four-year college or university.

"There currently is a major shortage of pilots around the world with estimates that 255,000 new pilots will be needed by 2027," said Ethan Segovia, Dean of Academics, for the all-boys military academy. "The U.S. will need an average of 70 new pilots per day to overcome the rapid rate at which current pilots are and will be retiring. There will be tremendous career opportunities for those interested in aviation," he said.           

For the past two years, an extra-curricular Warrior Aviation Club has been on the academy's campus to generate interest and develop hands-on skills through flight activities and simulations, guest speakers, and field trips to nearby aviation-oriented venues, including local military aircraft squadrons, the San Diego Air and Space and March Field museums, area flight simulators, and the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum.

(Image provided with Army and Navy Academy news release)

FMI: www.armyandnavyacademy.org