NWACC Aviation Center Relocating
Program Will Move To Regional Facility in September
Last updated Wednesday, August 2, 2006 7:12 PM CDT in News
By Sharla Bardin
The Morning News
BENTONVILLE — A Fayetteville aviation center operated by NorthWest Arkansas Community College will relocate in September.
The Arkansas Aviation Technologies Center will move from a hangar at Drake Field to the Regional Technology Center, formerly known as the Fayetteville High School West Campus center, officials announced Wednesday in a news release.
The college also oversees finances and administration of the regional center
The aviation center trains aviation maintenance technicians, and the college started overseeing its operations in January.
The move starts Sept. 18 and the aviation classes will resume Sept. 25 at the new location.
College President Becky Paneitz said some remodeling is taking place to prepare for the aviation center. Some offices at the regional center will relocate but Paneitz said no existing programs at the regional center will be displaced.
“We think it’s going to be a good move for the program,” she said.
Paneitz said the decision to move came about after an assessment of all aspects of the program, including the existing facility. It would have been costly to bring the facility up to college standards, she said.
The college leases the hangar from Fayetteville and notified the city of its plans to vacate, according to the news release.
The new location will meet be in compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and accreditation standards and will allow the college to have a centralized operation in Fayetteville, Paneitz said in the news release.
Mike Kratchmer, the aviation center’s director, supports the move. “We won’t skip a beat in our training,” Kratchmer said.
The Federal Aviation Administration has authorized the college to relocate the program and aviation officials will inspect the new location after the move. College officials also will ask the FAA to recertify the program.
Kratchmer said the FAA does not require aviation training to take place at an airport, but it has to approve training facilities. “We can still provide quality training wherever we do it,” he said.
Aviation students will continue to have access to airports through internships, officials said.
The aviation center opened in 1999 and has 30 students. Recruitment is ongoing, and Kratchmer thinks the new location can help that effort. High school and adult students take classes at the Regional Technology Center.
The aviation center is certified to educate up to 100 students during the day and 100 in the evening.
The program is the third that the college is relocating to the Regional Technology Center this fall. The others are the early childhood education and hospitality programs, which will move from the college’s main campus in Bentonville.
A Brief History
The Arkansas Aviation Technologies Center opened in 1999 at Drake Field in Fayetteville. There are 30 students in the program, and the center has trained more than 300 aviation technicians in its history.
Recruitment for the program is ongoing. To learn more, call (479) 444-3058, Ext. 118.
Source: Mike Kratchmer, center director
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