![]() ![]() It leveled off early on, but by fall of 2020, we started seeing incremental increases every single quarter,” he says. “Unlike a lot of colleges across the country, and not unlike COCC as a whole, our program has not seen a decline. “The instructors at the college are very knowledgeable, and the program is effective at developing pilots.”ĬOCC’s Aviation Program has a current enrollment of about 240 students, and Baldessari says the pandemic did not hinder it at all. “There is a big difference between being a student pilot versus where I am now,” he says. The lack of sleep was tough, and the rating I was working toward was fairly demanding.”ĭespite the hurdles, Manning says he has lots of fun flying around and has developed a heightened sense of confidence as a pilot. The time away from flying was hard.” He adds, “My wife and I also had a newborn during an intensive time in my flight training. ![]() “The school shut down for a couple of months in 2020, and that was when I was a student pilot working toward becoming a private pilot. He had to work around COVID closures, and the sleep deprivation that comes from having a newborn. Manning, who is married and has a one-year-old baby with another one on the way, says learning to fly did not come without its challenges. “Then I found this program and thought it would be a good path for using my benefits.” “I finished my active-duty service obligation in 2018 and didn’t really think I was cut out for going to college, so I had to think about what I was going to use my education benefits for,” he explains. “I feel like I have gotten through fairly quickly for someone with my experience.” His previous experience with helicopters, he says, involves being transported in them - and sometimes jumping out of them - while serving as an infantryman for the U.S. “They are really thorough at the college, and the flight school they partner with (Leading Edge Flight Academy) is really good,” he says. Manning has just one lab left to complete before graduating with his associate degree and has been hired by the college as a flight instructor for the helicopter program. “Most of our instructors are graduates: Approximately 80 percent of them are from our pool of graduates.”Ĭarl Manning, who is nearing completion of COCC’s helicopter degree, is one such student instructor. “We don’t guarantee employment, but we encourage students to apply to be flight instructors for us,” says Baldessari. Upon graduation, the aviation students can also become flight instructors for the COCC program. “The number of certifications and flight hours vary, but if a student comes to us with the goal of becoming a commercial helicopter or airplane pilot, they can walk away with a two-year degree, a minimum of five FAA certifications and either 200 or 300 flight hours depending upon whether they are a helicopter or airplane pilot.” “We have a degree-seeking program that in the end yields a professional pilot armed with a two-year aeronautical science degree,” says Karl Baldessari, director of the program. (Carl Manning in a helicopter cockpit with an instructor | Photo courtesy of Carl Manning)įor students dreaming of soaring through the heavenlies while piloting an aircraft, the Central Oregon Community College (COCC) Aviation Program offers an excellent way to achieve that goal. ![]()
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