Officials: SEMO aviation program success after 1st semester

Southeast Missouri State University's aviation program began its second semester Jan. 18, after completing what school officials consider a successful first semester in the fall of last year.

The 120 hour, four-year bachelor of science program provides students with hands-on experience in aviation and the students begin their education in the air on their first day.

Ken Jackson, director of aviation operations for Southeast Missouri State University, serves as the liaison among the City of Cape Girardeau, the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, the U.S. Aviation Department and Southeast Missouri State University.

Jackson said he believes the aviation program was a success in its first semester.

"As our Bachelor of Science degree program has progressed this first semester, the students have been great," Jackson said. "Most of them that I have talked with have really enjoyed the instruction they have received through the airport in Cape Girardeau through U.S. Aviation."

The program has six Cessna 172s being used for instruction, and as the program and number of students enrolled in the program continues to grow, so will the number of aircraft, according to Miranda Sullivan, assistant professor of aviation at Southeast.

"I was surprised by how little or few kinks we actually ran into, with this being a new program," Sullivan said. "And then with the aviation program, you're not just relying on students and instructors to get things done, you are also relying on the weather and airplanes and making sure they don't break down."

The aircrafts are owned by U.S. Aviation Group, not the university, and are maintained by Shane Alley, chief of maintenance for the SEMO base.

"Shane does a fantastic job of keeping the aircraft running well so the students can fly them," Sullivan said. "We have one airplane that we try to keep on the ground during each flight block for a period of time. That way, if an aircraft has some kind of mechanical problem, it does not keep our students from flying and we can easily swap out the planes and get students in the air and keep them going."

Thirty-three SEMO students are enrolled in the aviation program and they fly in two-and-a-half-hour blocks on either Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, or Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, depending on their elected schedules.

"If a student carries 15 hours a semester, they should be able to complete the coursework in four years," Jackson said. "The flight program that goes along with the program, the students will earn their private instrument, commercial CFI and CF double I ratings [flight instructor certifications] probably within a three-year period of time. And during that fourth year, once they become a certificate of flight instructor of CFI, they can actually seek employment with U.S. Aviation."

Since SEMO ground and flight school is a part 141 program, which means students who graduate from the university are able to reduce the number of flight hours from 1,500 to 1,000, allowing them to earn a restricted airline transport pilot certificate. The graduates would then be approved to pilot an aircraft instead of co-piloting.

For more information on the aviation program at Southeast Missouri State University, search for Professional Pilot at www.semo.edu.