But Still Under Review By FAA Two Years After Its Planned Launch

An A&P program at Baton Rouge Community College in Louisiana hopes to be able to open in time for the fall term, but for now, it's still under review by the FAA.

The program has been in the works since 2010, when it was announced by the school. At that time, officials said they hoped to have the program in a position to accept students by 2011 ... but that hasn't yet happened.

The problem, according to the program's director Mark Peeples, is that the FAA still has to review the proposed curriculum and conduct site visits ... and they are way behind. "We are just waiting for them to get around to us," he told the newspaper The Advocate, according to the Associated Press.

The college has rented a hangar at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport in which to conduct the program until a planned $4 million facility can be built. A bond issue approved by the Airport Commission is pending before the city's Metro Council.

But Peeples says waiting for the FAA is "frustrating." He said it can take up to two years to get the necessary infrastructure in place and "go through the federal bureaucracy."

The FAA has given no indication as to when the program might receive its approval.

FMI: www.mybrcc.edu, www.faa.gov