Students explore aerospace careers at BBCC

Students from NEWTECH Skills Center arrive at the Grant County International Airport after a flight from Spokane.

by Herald Staff Writer & CHERYL SCHWEIZER
| July 16, 2012 1:00 PM

MOSES LAKE - Students from Spokane spent two days learning more about aviation careers at Big Bend Community College recently.

The 21 students from the NEWTECH Skills Center spent two days at the college, meeting pilots, flight attendants and ground crew as part of a 12-day camp promoting aerospace careers. The students spent the remaining nine days at Spokane Community College (SCC), learning about aviation maintenance, machining, welding and CAD drafting.

"The camp organizers tried to provide a complete picture of what aerospace has to offer in Washington," said Rebecca Milligan, recruiter for the aviation maintenance program.

The students flew to Moses Lake courtesy of Alaska/Horizon Airlines.

The college's flight program gave ground school classes in aerodynamics, showed the students options available to career pilots, and let students take the controls of an airplane during a training flight.

"Each of the professional instructors in the flight program donated an evening to give the students an opportunity to fly an airplane," said John Swedburg, the chief pilot of the college's commercial pilot program.

The students also watched a live aircraft fire fighting exercise at Grant County International Airport.

Both BBCC and SCC are part of the Air Washington consortium of 11 community colleges and one apprenticeship program. The goal is to train workers to enter the state's aerospace workforce. The consortium recently received a $20 million grant from the Department of Labor to expand aerospace career training, with a focus on training and degrees that can be obtained in two years or less.

The college is one of five aviation maintenance schools in the state and one of two community colleges with its own aircraft fleet.