As of 2022, the percentage of women pilots in the U.S. was 4.9%, according to CAPA-Centre for Aviation, an organization that tracks aviation market data. The program aims to offset this underrepresentation by providing an alternate path for women pursuing aviation.
TWU is seeking approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to begin the aviation program in fall 2024 at 25 students per semester. Upon launching the program, the university will seek Federal Aviation Administration approval, per the news release.
Pilots must complete an Airline Transport Pilot certification to fly commercially, which requires 1,500 flying hours. FAA-approved coursework will allow graduates to apply for a Restricted Airline Transport Pilot Certification, which reduces the hour requirement to 1,000. Therefore, college programs can create commercial pilots in less time with less expense, which will increase the percentage of women in the field by mitigating cost barriers, according to university officials.
“TWU is uniquely positioned as an educational institution because they’re a woman’s university. I don’t know of any other woman’s university in the U.S. that's doing anything like this,” said Clint Grant, dean of aviation, business and logistics at Tarrant County College.
Grant was recently selected to direct the program at TWU starting Oct. 23. A private pilot himself, Grant brings decades of knowledge to the position with an aviation technology degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and experience in aviation maintenance at Delta airlines. He also helped launch the aviation flight program at TCC in 2012 and has been teaching since 2000, he said.
Grant aided TWU in designing the new aviation curriculum, which will offer a Bachelor’s in Aviation Sciences with two tracks: one in professional pilot training and the other in aviation management, he said.
What to expect
The professional pilot track is targeted to students interested in commercial piloting and certified flight instructor training. The management track is intended to certify students as commercial pilots while teaching flight operation management skills rather than instructor training. Together, these two should cover the bulk of what the demand will be for a startup flight program, Grant said.
In addition to hiring qualified faculty and staff, Grant will also be working to secure partnerships with third-party flight programs who can supply the university with aircraft and instructors. The next step will be to form an advisory committee that would include industry professionals from major airlines, Grant said.
Collegiate flight programs are growing in importance to help mold capable pilots, but the journey can be intense, Grant said. To ensure student success, TWU’s program intends to provide individual instruction to supplement classroom training and answer any questions they may have, he said.
“[There will be] a lot of intentional advising going on. We aren’t going to just sign them up and forget about them,” he said.
These subtleties may provide increased accessibility for the next generation of students, including Ava Elder, a Denton High School junior who has already begun her pilot training. Ava is attending the ground school portion of her high school’s aviation program, which lays the basic framework for pilot training, she said. She said she plans to test for her private pilot license at the end of the year.
Ava said she has wanted to become an airline pilot since elementary school, but before TWU unveiled its aviation program she was considering schools out of state. Now she has a more accessible avenue to pursue her dream, she said.
“It means everything. I get to do what I want to do, and be close to home and be close to my mom, and now I get so many opportunities to do what I love a little bit easier,” she said.
Going forward
The aviation program was a natural evolution for TWU, which is strong in health sciences, said Wandaliz Turner, Ava’s mother and associate director for the center for women in politics and public policy at TWU. The aviation program will help pave the way for the university to branch into other sciences, Turner said.
Five years down the line, the hope is that TWU has a thriving aviation program, a presence at the local airport and an expanded concept of aviation sciences to include majors for nonflight students, Grant said. But for now the focus is getting the program off the ground.
“I cannot wait to see a maroon and white airplane in the sky,” he said.
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