The Smart Marty Sky Dispatch
Elizabeth City State University Opens New Flight Training Center
The project aims to expand the college’s aviation programs through a network of locations in North Carolina.
Aviation workforce development takes another step forward near the spot where the Wright Brothers first took flight, with the latest initiative from a nearby university aviation program making its official launch.
Elizabeth City State University celebrated this week the opening of its new flight training center in Maple, North Carolina, at the Currituck County Regional Airport (KONX). The center includes two Redbird AATDs, as well as supporting the university’s fleet of 19 Cessna 172s and one Diamond DA-42 to use for multiengine training.
This is now ECSU’s third location in northeastern North Carolina, with previous facilities established in Elizabeth City and Kinston. The program has grown from 152 students in 2021 to around 500 students just five years later.
ECSU will add further to its North Carolina state network with the development towards an additional base in Statesville, announced in August. With $1.6 million in total investment—$1.44 million in state funds and $160,000 in a local match—to expand the airport’s apron, the move will lay the groundwork, literally, for the next step in the university’s $12 million plan towards five locations statewide.
“ECSU’s aviation expansion plan has been in the works for several years. The legislature has been incredibly supportive of the program,” Nicholas Lenczycki, director of operations for ECSU’s Department of Aviation Science, said in a release. An additional facility will open on the ECSU campus in the middle of 2027.
The university has partnership programs with several airlines through United Aviate, Delta Propel, the PSA Airlines Cadet Program, Republic PJet Cadet, and JetBlue Pilot Gateway. The flight team chalked up its first placing at the National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) SAFECON competition, with a second-place finish in early October at the Chesapeake Regional Airport.
The post Elizabeth City State University Opens New Flight Training Center appeared first on AvBrief.com.