ALANSON – The Aviation Science and Technology program, a Char-Em ISD Career and Technical Education offering hosted by Alanson Public Schools, is providing more students the chance to earn their pilots’ licenses in high school, thanks to a number of recent donations to the program.
Instructor Duane Enos said the donations, totalling $5,000 school year to date, help students continue to advance in their training by covering initial licensing costs and flights that can exceed $10,000 per pilot.
“These donations make a big difference for our students and the industry. We want to ensure we do everything we can to keep students in our program on the path to becoming pilots,” said Enos. “Becoming a pilot does incur some costs along the way. We are grateful to local residents and organizations for stepping up to provide the extra funding we need to help our students.”
Aviation Science & Technology is one of the few high school classes in the nation where a student is prepared to take the FAA license test and work toward earning a private pilot license. The students have access to top-of-the-line flight simulators to aid in their training.
This year, the aviation program, which is housed at Pellston Regional Airport, has 14 juniors and seniors enrolled from Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Pellston, and Alanson. In the program, students learn about a variety of aviation-related careers, from becoming private or commercial pilots to air traffic control, and aviation maintenance.
Last year, the program trained 3 students who are currently enrolled in post-secondary pilot training programs. Enos expects 7 more students will continue their aviation career when they graduate this spring.
Enos noted special thanks to this year’s donors, Tim Statler, WW Fairbairn & Sons, Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Harbor Springs Chapter 1087. All donations go directly to fund the students plane rental and fuel costs. The donations supplement career and technical education funding, due to the high costs required for insurance to allow students to fly airplanes. The donations allow the program to provide more flight time to students.
How to donate to the program: The program is a public school program and donations are tax deductible. Make checks payable to Alanson Public Schools with ‘Aviation CTE’ in the Memo.
Mail to:
Duane Enos
7400 North St
Alanson, MI 49706
To learn more about the program, visit www.charemisdcareertech.org. The aviation program and all Char-Em ISD CTE programs are open to all students, from any Char-Em ISD district. Ask your high school how to enroll.