News about Aviation

The fall semester may be winding down, but there’s no end to the on-campus networking opportunities arranged by Career Services for Penn College students and alumni. On the other side of Thanksgiving break, Piedmont will staff a pop-up information table to talk with prospective airframe and powerplant mechanics. Watch for the airline’s recruiters from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 30, in the second-floor lobby at the Lumley Aviation Center.

In a colossal example of the rare opportunities that Pennsylvania College of Technology provides those who set foot on its campuses, a Dublin, Ohio, family got to operate a Boeing 727 during a two-day visit earlier this month. Connor Duvall attended the Aviation Workforce Success Mini-Camp at the college’s Lumley Aviation Center in Montoursville, and, because of the small-group nature of the event, his parents (David and Amy) were allowed to join in many of the activities. That included sitting in the cockpit of the plane, donated by FedEx Express in 2012, for individualized direction by aviation instructor Michael R. Robison. A seven-minute video of the experience – shot and edited by Thomas D. Inman, associate professor of aviation, and titled “Ordinary Family Starts a Boeing 727” – was posted to the faculty member’s YouTube channel. “I really enjoyed my experience at the aviation camp,” Duvall, a senior at Dublin Coffman High School, told PCToday. “The instructors were very welcoming and helpful, and I was very impressed with the school’s resources. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to continue my education at Penn College.”

A Penn College graduate is included on AviationPros.com’s list of 40 aircraft maintenance professionals under age 40, characterized as “some of the best, brightest and hardest-working young people of the industry.” Patrick J. Reed, a flight technician with Equus Capital, earned an associate degree in aviation technology from the college in 2003 and holds two master technician certificates. “I just had a really blessed career, a lot of really good opportunities, and it’s been an awesome journey so far,” said Reed, who is in line to become director of maintenance when the current director retires. “It’s such an interesting career – every day is something different.”

Located just off the runway at the Williamsport Regional Airport in Montoursville, Penn College’s Lumley Aviation Center is home to the next generation of aircraft maintenance technicians. A new YouTube video provides a glimpse inside the state-of-the-art facility complete with a fleet of instructional aircraft – including a Boeing 727, a Dassault Falcon jet and four helicopters. Viewers will also meet Matthew D. Krepps, instructor of aviation maintenance, and learn that many aviation students land job offers well before graduation day. “We start at the very basics, so that anybody who has an interest and a willingness to learn can definitely do it,” he says. “It can seem daunting and difficult, but we have a support system such that students will find success. That’s our goal. Our job is to get you to a place where you are the expert.”

Two Pennsylvania College of Technology entrants placed first in their respective categories during last month’s 58th annual SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta.

Bringing home the gold from the event – a showcase of the nation’s top career and technical education students – were Curtiss R. Gay, of Tunkhannock, who took part in the aviation contest, and Michael D. Shoemaker, of Orefield, who competed in welding. Gay graduated in May with a certificate in aviation maintenance technician, and Shoemaker is enrolled in the college’s welding & fabrication engineering technology major.

Read more

A second week of Penn College’s My Tomorrow day camp (July 12-15) led middle-school students down more time-tested roads to career success and personal fulfillment. The program – again sponsored by the Soars Family – followed the template of the first: offering sixth through eighth graders an enviable palette of hands-on options, from emergency preparedness and health sciences to concrete, aviation and electrical.

Read more

Nearly 140 campers from near and far participated in the past week’s seven Pre-College Programs, giving teens a taste of Penn College through an engrossing variety of academic adventure and social interaction: Architecture Odyssey, Autism Spectrum Post-Secondary Interest Experience, Automotive Technology, Aviation, Engineering, Future Restaurateurs and Health Careers.

A second week of camps, featuring an equally tantalizing menu of opportunities spread among eight more programs, convenes in mid-July.  Registrants for both weeks hail from 14 states – some from as far away as Connecticut, Florida and Virginia – and include a camper from Santiago, Chile!

Don’t think high school students are the only ones in on the fun, however! Pre-College Programs include My Tomorrow, a middle school career exploration day camp sponsored by the Soars family, from June 28 to July 1 and July 12-15.

Read more

Penn College was busily represented at the 31st annual World War II Weekend, “A Gathering of Warbirds,” held Friday through Sunday at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in Reading. “Visitors to the table could build a model B26 Marauder using aviation tools and materials,” said Thomas D. Inman, an associate professor of aviation, who facilitated construction of about 250 replicas of the vintage bomber. Among those visitors during the event – which attracted enthusiastic and engaged children, adults and prospective aviation students – was 99-year-old Dorothy Trate. “Dottie” was an original “Rosie the Riveter,” one of the thousands of women who stepped into manufacturing jobs to help the war effort.
Photos provided

Two Pennsylvania College of Technology students were the first to take the National Center for Aerospace & Transportation Technologies/ASTM International examinations at the college’s Lumley Aviation Center, obtaining certifications that reflect recent adjustments to the college’s four-year aviation maintenance technology major to more closely align with industry standards.

Teagan M. Low, a junior from Richmond, Vermont, and Kevin Pradel, of Bloomfield, New Jersey, who graduated May 14, were the first two students to take the NCATT/ASTM examinations under the college’s recent authorization to administer the testing on-site. (Prior to receipt of that permission, students needed to search for an external facility authorized to conduct the testing.)

Both were successful, earning the basic certification (Aircraft Electronics Technician), the Radio Communication systems endorsement and the Dependent Navigation Systems endorsement. Pradel went on to pass an additional test, by which he earned the Autonomous Navigation Systems endorsement.

Read more

Thomas D. Inman, associate professor of aviation, and William A. Schlosser, an incoming instructor of emergency management & homeland security, traveled to the Harrisburg area last weekend for the Civil Air Patrol’s Pennsylvania Wing Conference. Inman (assisted by his spouse, Valerie) helped CAP members build Piper Cub models using aircraft aluminum and fasteners. Those visiting the table enjoyed a hands-on experience while learning about the Penn College aviation program. Schlosser, who will join the full-time faculty in the fall semester, provided conference attendees with a valuable look at his program, among the college’s wide-open pathways to career success and satisfaction.

Two aviation maintenance technology students and a faculty member attended last month’s 65th annual Aircraft Electronics Association Convention and Trade Show in New Orleans – the largest gathering of general aviation avionics manufacturers, distributors and government-certified repair stations in the world. Wesley Alexander Lippincott, of Bedford, and Teagan M. Lowe, of Richmond, Vermont, joined Thomas D. Inman, associate professor of aviation, for the four-day event at the city’s Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

Read more

A Pennsylvania College of Technology student was among only seven selected worldwide to receive a Bill Sanderson Aviation Maintenance Technology Scholarship from Helicopter Association International’s Technical Committee.

Kevin Pradel, a senior in the four-year aviation maintenance technology major, was awarded a second-place scholarship that provides a tuition waiver for a helicopter manufacturer training school and a stipend to offset expenses. Pradel, of Belleville, New Jersey, will attend the Leonardo AW139 helicopter factory school in Philadelphia.

Read more

Eighteen aviation students at Pennsylvania College of Technology have earned wiring-inspection certificates from the Aircraft Electronics Association as part of the international organization’s training series.

All students at the college’s Lumley Aviation Center in Montoursville earn the wiring-inspection certificate; bachelor’s degree students earn four additional credentials in a variety of subjects relevant to aviation and human-error management.

“Some employers pay an additional 50 cents per hour for each training certificate held by their employees,” noted Thomas D. Inman, associate professor and co-department head. “As a result, Penn College students could start their careers making as much as $5,000 more per year than similar graduates from other schools.”

Read more

Two Penn College students qualified for this summer’s SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference during a faculty-judged competition at the Lumley Aviation Center in Montoursville. Curtiss R. Gay, pursuing a certificate in aviation maintenance technician, placed first, and Sam Cole, enrolled in the two-year aviation technology major, finished second. There is no aviation category at the state level in Pennsylvania, so Gay, of Tunkhannock, and Cole, of Peckville, advance to SkillsUSA nationals on the basis of their local performance. They will be joined in Atlanta from June 20-24 by other winners of the state competition, scheduled to be held April 6-8 at Hershey. SkillsUSA is a nonprofit partnership of education and industry founded in 1965 to strengthen the nation’s skilled workforce; Penn College students in a variety of academic areas have historically done well in state and national contests.
Photo provided

A first-year student at Pennsylvania College of Technology has been awarded a Viasat Technology/Maintenance Scholarship from Women in Corporate Aviation.

The $1,000 award to Alicia Martinez, an aviation maintenance technology major from Allentown, was presented at the National Business Aviation Association’s recent Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Las Vegas. Viasat provides the scholarship to assist a student attending a Federal Aviation Administration Part 147 school to attain Airframe and Powerplant or avionics-related certification.

Read more