WINCHESTER, Va. (WHSV) – A new program at Shenandoah University is aiming to help address the nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers.
The university is now Virginia’s first school to join the FAA’s Enhanced Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative.
Shenandoah University is giving students a new way to train for air traffic control without having to start at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City.
The program is designed to help fill a national shortage of air traffic controllers. Tony LaRosa, director of aviation studies at Shenandoah, said students who complete the two-year program can move directly into training at an FAA facility.
“The enhanced ATCTI is really the next step of that in getting more air traffic controllers into facilities, bypassing the FAA’s Academy, having a separate training pipeline, and getting them into facilities quicker,” LaRosa said.
LaRosa is a former air traffic controller who helped write the policies behind the enhanced program. He said the goal is to create another pipeline into a career where training capacity has not kept up with the need for new controllers.
“The enhanced ATCTI allows colleges to do that, use their resources and their knowledge to teach air traffic control and get them a job as controllers down the road,” LaRosa said.
Students are training with a new simulator system that uses voice recognition and realistic air traffic scenarios.
Kim Blosser, president at Laurel Ridge Community College, said the college has been partnering with Shenandoah University and the Winchester Airport to add more aviation programs in the region.
“One of the things about this northern region is us, Shenandoah University, the Winchester Airport, we have been looking at ways to add more aviation programs. And so we’ve been partnering with them. They’re doing, as you know, the air traffic controller program. We’re starting avionics next fall. We have a Go Virginia grant with the public schools in Winchester Airport to also start in high schools, giving additional pathways for students in the aviation. And then we have our drones program. And so we’re just looking at filling out all of those so we can attract more businesses up in the aviation sector to this part of the region,” Blosser said.
Blosser said there are not a lot of aviation programs in Virginia, noting that Blue Ridge Community College’s aviation maintenance program is one of the only ones at a community college in the state.
“So the cost helps students, the fact that they don’t have to travel. And they have jobs in this region, both with those drones programs, with the avionics, certainly with air traffic control. So being able to bring it here makes all the difference for our students,” Blosser said.
Blosser said she was at Blue Ridge Community College when it started its aviation maintenance program, and there was not a lot of talk at the time about aviation as a large career cluster or that the region might attract more businesses.
“That has changed dramatically in the last couple of years. And so there are businesses up and down the valley that need employees. We know the demand now certainly with drones, with drones manufacturing that’s likely coming to our region. We just need to be scaling up our aviation offering. So this is really a good time to start launching these programs,” Blosser said.
Blosser said the college’s drone operator program has grown recently, with public service employees, including firefighters, using drones as part of their work.
“I mean we hear a lot now about drones in terms of warfare, but drones are used everywhere. I mean our public service, we’ve had employees go through, firefighters and all different sectors that are using drones as part of their work. It’s just becoming integrated. And so that’s one of the ones that’s really grown for us recently. And we expect aviation, the avionics program also is going to be one of the real popular programs that’ll grow,” Blosser said.
Nick Sabo, Winchester Regional Airport executive director, said the program helps fill a major need.
“It’s so important that we as an airport consider a regional strategy around aviation workforce development. Having an enhanced CTI so close to our airport allows us then to augment these student experiences by providing experiential opportunities at the airport and really round out their knowledge base around aviation,” Sabo said.
Shenandoah currently has ten students in the program. LaRosa said the university eventually hopes to expand its aviation training even further.