{"id":24414,"date":"2022-12-22T00:55:21","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T00:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=24414"},"modified":"2022-12-22T01:05:04","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T01:05:04","slug":"western-north-carolinas-robust-aviation-education-network-supports-local-students-seeking-aviation-careers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/north-carolina\/western-north-carolinas-robust-aviation-education-network-supports-local-students-seeking-aviation-careers\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Western North Carolina\u2019s Robust Aviation Education Network Supports Local Students Seeking Aviation Careers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photo above – Asheville Regional Airport’s (AVL) Runway 5K was held in October and raised more than $19,000 for local aviation education. The sold-out race was capped at 1,000 racers. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the summer of 2020, western North Carolina local Tim\nMcBride found himself in a life-changing situation. His personal training\nbusiness in Hendersonville struggled during the pandemic and he had to make the\ndifficult decision to close its doors. But with a resilient mindset, McBride\nlooked forward to the future and the possibilities it held. Conversations with\nfriends working at Delta Air Lines led him down a path that he had never\nexpected: he would pursue a career as a commercial airline pilot. And a unique\npart of his story is that it is a local one, filled with perseverance,\ngenerosity of others and support from a vibrant local aviation education\nnetwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is estimated that the industry is facing a deficit of\nabout 8,000 pilots, or 11% of its total workforce. This shortage could reach\n30,000 pilots by 2025. Our country relies on aviation not only as a form of\ntransportation, but as an essential part of the economy, with the commercial\naviation industry contributing approximately 5% of the Gross Domestic Product\n(GDP). So, as McBride discovered, now is a great time to choose to become a\npilot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the path to becoming a commercial airline pilot is\nnot an easy one: there is a huge time commitment and a considerable financial\ninvestment. As McBride began to research and plan how to achieve his goal of\nbecoming a pilot, he knew that it would require determination and sacrifice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Pictured left to right are Matthew Burril (WNCPA member), Skip Capone (President, WNCPAEF), Dave Beckham and Tim McBride.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What he didn\u2019t realize is that western North Carolina has an amazing, interconnected educational system that supports the aviation industry and aspiring pilots. The region has extensive resources for students, including a local college aviation program at A-B Tech<\/a>, a flight school located at Asheville Regional Airport called WNC Aviation (that partners with A-B Tech), and local grants for aviation students through both the college and the Western North Carolina Pilots Association Educational Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McBride was happy to discover that WNC is a very supportive community for aspiring aviators. He connected with the Western North Carolina Pilot\u2019s Association<\/a> (WNCPA), and the WNCPA Educational Foundation<\/a> (WNCPAEF), which provides economic assistance in the form of grants to aviation students and has granted $116,000 to date since its start in 2012. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is such a tight knit community that makes aviators and non-aviators feel more than welcome,\u201d said McBride. \u201cThanks to the Pilots Association and the Educational Foundation and their generous donations, pilots like myself get to fulfill their dreams of becoming commercial airline pilots. Earlier this year I was fortunate to be the first recipient of the Mal Beckham Jr. Memorial Grant, which has helped tremendously with paying for my commercial training at WNC Aviation<\/a>.\u201d The grant is named in memory of long-time local pilot and aviation enthusiast, Malachy Beckham Jr. The Foundation\u2019s grant funds are raised from generous donations from individuals and the community \u2013 including from Asheville Regional Airport (AVL), the region\u2019s largest aviation organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AVL strives to support aviation education locally and\ndedicated this year\u2019s Runway 5K to raise money for the WNCPAEF and the A-B Tech\nAviation Fund. The sold-out event (held in October) raised approximately\n$19,000 for local aviation scholarships. \u201cWe believe that it is important to\npartner with our local aviation education organizations,\u201d said Lew Bleiweis,\nPresident and CEO at AVL. \u201cAviation, in my humble opinion, is the best industry\nin the world, and western North Carolina is fortunate to have such a robust\nnetwork to support careers in aviation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skip Capone, President of the Western North Carolina Pilots\nAssociation Educational Foundation stated that “we, at the WNCPA\nEducational Foundation, are very proud of Tim and of all the highly motivated\nand qualified grant recipients we have been able to help over the years with\nthe generous support of our Association members and from the community such as\nthe Asheville Regional Airport, Signature Flight Support, and others. We hope\nto be able to expand the number and amount of grants each year to help serve\nthe growing need for commercial pilots and to benefit the economy of western\nNorth Carolina.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WNCPAEF and Asheville Regional Airport are proud to be a\npart of McBride\u2019s story and to partner with the other local aviation\norganizations to foster ongoing excitement and interest in aviation careers.\nAnd it\u2019s fun to think that one day in the relatively near future when you take\na commercial flight out of AVL, your pilot may be Tim McBride or another WNC\nresident who pursued a career as a pilot, and with the generosity and support\nof the local aviation community, was able to earn those wings. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo above – Asheville Regional Airport’s (AVL) Runway 5K was held in October and raised more than $19,000 for local aviation education. The sold-out race was capped at 1,000 racers. During the summer of 2020, western North Carolina local Tim McBride found himself in a life-changing situation. His personal training business in Hendersonville struggled during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-education","category-north-carolina"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_7712-edit.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24414"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24420,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24414\/revisions\/24420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}