By Leah Murray

Plans for an aviation program at the college are taking off

Jan 15, 2018 | 4:28 PM

MEDICINE HAT – A new aviation diploma program is set to take off at Medicine Hat College in partnership with Super T Aviation.

The two organizations signed a memorandum of understanding this afternoon with the goal of making the program a reality.

Plans are still in the works for exactly what the program would look like and the courses that would be offered.

However, Terri Super, the owner of Super T Aviation, said it will involve both ground and in-flight training, plus classes at the college.

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“It’d be an 18 month aviation diploma course that would compliment the flight training that we would be doing here at the airport,” she said.

The announcement comes at a good time as countries across the globe are experiencing a shortage of pilots.

“Super T came to us and it was an excellent opportunity,” said interim vice president of academics, Dr. Sandy Vanderburgh. “We knew that there was a growing demand for pilots, not just in Canada, but world wide.”

In the US, the Boeing Pilot Outlook suggests 637,000 new pilots will be needed world-wide by 2036.

In Canada air travel has increased an average of 3.6 per cent over the past 10 years. Experts suggest the country needs to produce 300 more pilots annually to meet the demands of the growing air travel industry.

“[Airlines] are experiencing difficulties with getting qualified people, people they don’t need to do a lot of training with, so they’re able to fly these larger aircraft,” said Super. “Pretty much the whole industry is suffering right now because of that.”

Super said new pilots with a diploma to go with their flight school training will have an advantage over others looking to become commercial pilots.

“It shows a level of maturity, it shows that they’re able to learn, that they’re coachable and that’s really essential when they go on to these large aircraft, into the advanced systems,” Super explained.

The College said it’s an opportunity to increase enrolment and attract students from all over the country, while contributing to a growing industry.

“We have a flight school in place, a good local airport, Super T aviation has been a great partner to work with so far and they’ve got world class facilities,” Vanderburgh said. “I think it’s a huge opportunity for a wold class aviation program.”

The College and Super T are still working out the details of the program, but Super said, if everything goes according to plan, they could start taking applications as soon as the fall of 2018.