727 landing puts spotlight on UAA's aviation technology programs
by Kathleen McCoy |
When that big FedEx Boeing 727 made the short trip from Ted Stevens International Airport to tiny Merrill Field on Tuesday, a senior airport engineer had to certify in advance that the tarmac could indeed take a 727-as long as the ground was frozen.
Never to fly again, the jet will live out its senior years as a training tool for UAA aviation maintenance students at the school perched on the airfield's edge.
The event got a lot of local attention, and seemed like a prime moment to find out what you can learn at the aviation technology school, how much it costs, and how its graduates blend into the tough and troubled modern aviation industry.
I met director Rocky Capozzi the day after the big event. Relief was written across his face. Like any good pilot, he'd worried Alaska's weather would force tedious delays. It didn't.
But more key than the weather were the local industry players who stepped up to solve any problems this transfer presented. FedEx's Nick Yale and John Parrott from Anchorage's main airport provided all kinds of gear and personnel that Merrill just doesn't have, Capozzi said. Northern Air Cargo's borrowed tug was still on campus, waiting to reposition the big jet to a final spot for integrating into maintenance classes next fall.
Capozzi, 60, is a retired Air Force fighter pilot who also worked a few years for the FAA before taking on the aviation school. The curriculum he and 11 faculty oversee offers four core tracks-professional piloting, aircraft maintenance, air traffic control and aviation management for running airlines and airports. Just under 450 students are enrolled, with the option of earning maintenance certifications, or associate or bachelor of science degrees in aviation technology.
There are about 120 aviation maintenance technology schools in the country. UAA's original facility was built at Merrill in 1981; a federal grant from the now-defunct federal Airways Sciences Grant Program in the mid-1990s (thank you, Ted Stevens) resulted in an expansion to house all four aviation tracks in one spot.
UAA draws students from around the country, Capozzi said, because the school is one of only a few offering simulated control tower and radar approach labs for student practice.
Capozzi often finds himself at a podium for community groups, answering aviation career questions. One of the most asked is 'How do I become a pilot?" He's very clear: If you only want to tool around Alaska for fun on weekends, head to a private flight school. But if you aspire to work professionally for a major carrier, you'll need a four-year college degree to compete successfully. Even certified aviation mechanics moving into management need that degree.
The most expensive track is piloting, with tuition and flight costs topping $67,000 for private, instrument, commercial, single and multi-engine certifications. Aviation management is the least expensive because it's taught in traditional classroom settings, ranging between $10,000-$20,000 for associate to bachelor's degree. Air traffic control makes use of high tech labs and runs from $13,000-$24,000 for associate to bachelor's degrees. In maintenance, the complete airframe and powerplant certifications are nearly $16,000 and an associate degree will top out just above $18,000.
How about job placement? Because of deregulation and fierce competition, industry volatility continues. Mergers (American Airlines and US Airways announced theirs on Valentine's Day) and recent congressionally mandated FAA rules (steeply increased pilot qualifying hours) added new wrinkles to the employment picture.
Paul Herrick heads up the aviation maintenance track, which took possession of the 727. He says he has 100 percent placement for all aviation maintenance graduates-"They're all over the state and in high demand." He's both proud and frustrated when Wilfred Ryan of Ryan Air calls UAA's aviation maintenance program the best kept secret in Alaska.
Other careers, like piloting and air traffic control, can have cyclical employment issues. Fearing a pilot shortage, five years ago the FAA pushed mandatory retirement to 65. "But even without that," Capozzi says, "many pilots had to keep working anyway because the national economic downturn had cost them their pensions."
The end of that extension would seem to bode well for new pilot graduates. But the FAA also raised total pilot qualifying hours in the air from 250 to 1,500 effective this summer, "with no clear path how to get there, " Capozzi said. Now major and national airlines are busy stealing time-qualified pilots from regionals, and regionals will be shorthanded until a cohort of fresh pilots earns 1,500 hours.
Still, it's not all bad news for pilots. The FAA's new rules also increased rest times between flights, requiring more crews to keep a plane busy and adding to pilot demand.
At one point, air traffic control jobs were a shoe-in for UAA grads. This school is one of only 30 nationwide whose graduates get an automatic recommendation to the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City. But that pool of potential controllers also has grown, and depending on retirement cycles, new grads can still struggle for those jobs. Capozzi recommends adding the management degree to broaden job opportunity.
But the romance of flight endures. Alaska-born Amanda Zharoff, 24, graduated as a pilot in 2011. She's teaching flying now and hopes to soon be flying for Hageland Aviation. Her dream job? One day, piloting a FedEx MD-11!