FAIRMONT — Flying is flying — no matter the scale.
A budding group of pilots and aviation engineers from middle schools and high schools across West Virginia and Ohio gave loft to that notion two years ago at a drone aircraft competition in Fairmont.
They whooped and yelled, as they sent the miniature flying machines through a course that included intricate mazes, tricky-to-negotiate archways and even a ping-pong ball challenge.
Also in the Marion County city this week, officials from Pierpont Community and Technical College were taking off with some whooping and yelling of their own.
That was after the state Legislature passed a $25 million budget allocation, which will be used to construct an aviation maintenance training facility — related to actual-size aircraft — at nearby North Central West Virginia Airport.
The proposed 70,000-square-foot structure will enable the college to increase enrollment in its aviation tech program from its current roster of 130 students to 200.
Two new “high-bay” hangers, which are designed with higher ceilings for better accommodations of larger aircraft, are already taxiing in from the architect’s table.
Other high-tech labs dedicated to engine and turbine repair, flight-control studies and hydraulic systems will be housed at the facility as well, the college said.
Brad Gilbert, who directs Pierpont’s aviation program, predicts nothing but clear skies — both for the courses he helps oversee and the facility under which several of the offerings will be housed.
“The new building and increased capacity will help Pierpont to better serve the economic interests of the aviation companies in north-central West Virginia,” the director said.
North-central West Virginia is quickly turning into the home of that burgeoning industry, with a number of operations in nearby Harrison County, just a short hop down the highway from the I-79 Technology Park near South Fairmont.
The park is also home to NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) facility for those who want to slip the surly bonds of Earth even more.
Meanwhile, Pierpont President Milan Hayward said the aviation program at his school has always had a clear runway to a quick career in the workforce — and the livable wage that goes with it.
“As the state’s aviation industry grows, this new state-of-the-art facility allows Pierpont to provide even-more highly skilled graduates,” he said.
Graduates “who can enter the workforce immediately,” the president added.
Todd Ensign agreed.
Ensign is a professor at Fairmont State University, Pierpont’s sister institution. He’s also a program manager at the NASA IV&V facility and helped coordinate the above drone competition.
“You don’t have to leave the area for training if you want to work in the industry,” he said.
“It’s all right here.”
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