Coe College in Cedar Rapids is opening an aviation management program and a professional pilot flight school in partnership with Revv Aviation and the Eastern Iowa Airport.
Coe College President David Hayes says this is part of a vision of the operator of the airport to make it an aviation campus. “As things unfolded we had an opportunity to study what it would look like for CCO to expand our business offerings to include an aviation management track concentration as well as partnering through the airport to establish a commercial pilot flight school,” he says.
Hayes says Cedar Rapids offers the busy regional airport and other connections that make it a good place for the program. “We have global industries here that are linked to aviation throughout all parts of the production process and design process, coupled with the history of aviation in Cedar Rapids, all the way from the Wright brothers to working on NASA Space programming,” Hayes says.
He says there’s been a need for more pilots and the industry has responded with better working conditions and salaries. “A pilot that completes a BA and commercial flight license is looking at a very healthy salary for his or her first year in the right seat of a plane, of regional jets,” Hayes says. Hayes says there’s also a need for people with the aviation management business degree to run the airports. “You know these airports are like small cities and you need people that are well trained and experienced to make our experience when we go through an airport as comfortable as possible,” he says.
Hayes says these programs would go along with a program already underway with Kirkwood Community College that trains maintenance technicians to work on the plans. Hayes says they are waiting accreditation approval and the program could be up and running by the fall of 2025 and could possible start earlier if things fall into place.