ECSU's aviation degree program is gaining altitude

Elizabeth City State University student Chris Virga climbed into a Cessna 172 cockpit simulator for takeoff from what the virtual vista on his windshield displayed as the local airport.

After a smooth takeoff through sunny skies and no wind, Virga climbed to 1,500 feet, observing the computer-generated countryside below.

Everything looked real. But just a few feet behind the open end of the simulator, Onestes Gooden, an assistant professor at ECSU, served as air traffic control from his computer for Elizabeth City on takeoff and Norfolk International Airport on landing.

Virga, who has logged four hours of actual flight time, finished his first simulator session with a smooth landing.

"That was pretty good," said J. Anthony Sharp, director of ECSU's aviation science program.

Virga, of Winston-Salem, was the first student to fly ECSU's new simulator, installed on Saturday. The training Wednesday was real, and it served as a demonstration of the equipment.

He and four others are in the first class going through the university's pilot training. All freshm en, they plan to have their pilot's licenses by May and to be qualified to fly regional carriers at the end of four years.

The students are part of ECSU's expanding aviation science program, the only four-year degree of its kind in the state.

Virga originally planned to attend one of six universities in Ohio, where aviation training ranks among the best in the nation and where Orville and Wilbur Wright first designed their flier.

Instead, he remained in North Carolina, where the Wright brothers first flew that flier.

ECSU plans to add an air traffic control curriculum by the fall, Sharp said.

He hopes that in the next four years the entire program can be certified by the Aviation Accreditation Board International. Later, Sharp will seek Federal Aviation Administration certification for ECSU's pilot training. Neither is required, but both would add to the program's reputation.

Sharp, a certified flight instructor, and the students use a private Cessna based at the Elizabeth City airport.

Construction of an aviation industrial park that began in October will include a building for the aviation science program in the next two years.

The number of pilots has been declining since a peak of 827,000 in 1980 to 590,000 now, said Chris Dancy, spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Most airline pilots come up through private flight schools, become flight instructors to log hours, then qualify for regional service or major airlines, he said. Years ago, most came from a military background. The third source is aviation graduates, he said.

The FAA plans to hire 17,000 air traffic controllers in the next 10 years, according to a news release sent out in March. In addition to the FAA's academy, 31 colleges and universities are accredited to train air traffic controllers, the release said.

In the past five years, the FAA has hired 3,000 of 4,000 graduates from air traffic control programs at colleges or universities, an October release said.

ECSU was not among the eight new schools announced in October and could be running out of time. The FAA plans to solicit schools to apply for an air traffic control program in a few weeks, said Kathleen Bergen, an FAA spokeswoman.

"This will likely be the last year we will add schools to the program," she said.

ECSU introduced aviation courses in 1986, when the FAA offered grants, Sharp said. In 2002, the university started the four-year degree.

Sharp, a Norfolk native, came to Elizabeth City in the fall of 2007 after heading the aviation department at Ohio University.

ECSU offers seven areas of concentration within aviation: aviation management, computer science, electronics, avionics, public administration, flight training for pilots, and space science. Air traffic control will be the eighth.

Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com