Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

HSU aviation is topic at Rotary

The aviation program at Henderson State University is the only one of its kind in the state, and Gurdon Rotary Club members were able to learn all about the program during its meeting on Thursday, March 8.

According to Troy Houge of the HSU aviation program, Hendersons roots in aviation studies go back to WWI when flight training was conducted by the university. The program has continued to grow and is now considered to be one of the top in the country by many, he said.

The first HSU graduate with a four-year degree in aviation graduated from the university in 1976, but at the time, the university was leasing aircraft and did not employ its own instructors.

Houge said the university got rid of the leased aircraft in 1993, buying planes itself and hiring its own instructors.

In 1996, the aviation program at HSU continued to grow as the Caplinger Airway Science Center was constructed with most of the money being contributed by the federal government.

Caplinger houses three flight simulators and has state of the art aviation software.

Houge said that although the university had released its fleet of leased aircraft several years earlier, the program grew so much that the university has once again began leasing aircraft.

Those who graduate from Henderson with the four year degree in aviation are certified commercial pilots by the Federal Aviation Administration. The program offers three tracks for students to specialize their education: professional pilot track, management track, and the maintenance management track.

Houge said none of the money used to operate the aviation program comes from the universitys regular tuition and fees.

Our program is self supporting, he said.

The program makes money by operating the Arkadelphia Municipal Airport and from special fees paid by aviation students. Houge said that it is expensive for a student to complete the program, but many find the fees to be money well spent because they are often hired fresh out of college by commuter airlines.

The aviation program has seen some fall off in student enrollment since the terror attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001. Houge said that prior to the attacks there were 155 aviation majors at HSU. In the fall of 2006, there were only 98.

Houge said the enrollment figures are representative of what happened to the aviation industry as a whole after the attacks, but the numbers are slowly beginning to climb again.

At the Arkadelphia Airport, Henderson students assist with over 35,000 air operations each year, Houge said. Improvements at the airport have made the operation even easier over the last few years.

Hendersons fleet of aircraft is slowly growing. At present, he said the school has 11 aircraft used for training purposes. Seven more planes are being added at a cost of $1.4 million.