Aviation/Aerospace Advisory Board Meeting

October 4th, 2016

Fernandina Beach High School

Meeting Minutes

Attendance

Board Members – Sean McGill, Sam Fischer, Brad Wood, Tom Piscitella, Keoki Gray, and Brent Lemond

Absent –Calista Bestor, Jim McCannell, Lewis Eason, and Nick Feakes

Meeting began at 12:15pm.

Minutes were approved.

Program Report

  • Keoki Gray mentioned that there are changes in this year’s program for the first-year students, by doing a basic rocketry program that starts with being able to build something right away. Students will test their projects within a week or two at the airport. These rockets will likely achieve a high altitude so good weather is important in order to hopefully not lose any of them. Some of the upper-level students are mentoring the first-year students during the launching. After this project is complete, the goal is for students to have kit options that open up their creativity in design. Upper-level students have started an Aerospace Club, and Mr. Gray is still figuring out what the club should be all about. He’s leaning towards rocketry for the focus at this point. He also shared a video about the Team America Rocketry Challenge, with hopes that some of his students can participate in at some point if there is enough interest. He would also like to have a project airplane for his upper-level students to work with.

Certifications

  • Mr. Gray would like to offer some industry certifications for students that tie into CAPE funding. Mr. Fischer mentioned that he’s aware of an unmanned-aircraft safety certification of some sort, and plans to research that further and send any pertinent information to Mr. Lemond for review. The information he got was from the Unmanned Safety Institute. Mr. Lemond shared that there is now a Fundamentals of Engineering certification as well as a Robotics certification. He is looking to see if these certifications might be partnered with Mr. Gray’s program, as well as researching whether CAD is used in a way that could be tied in.

Industry Outlook

  • FSCJ -Sam Fischer shared that this past summer, the Congress did the FAA reauthorization specifying that the FAA needs to consider hiring graduates from colleges like FSCJ. As part of that, there is new leadership at the North Campus of FSCJ that would like to begin using the upstairs Air Traffic Control lab at RBC. Right now they are looking at enrollment for potentially using the facility in the spring semester, if not the following fall. FAA needs to hire roughly 6,500 new controllers over the next five years, so the need is definitely there. The mechanic program is going well, and they are partnering with a few high schools to create foundational classes using a new state framework. Every student that graduates from this program is employed, with starting pay of roughly $15-$18 dollars an hour. For pilots, there is still a tremendous demand, and the latest is that a regional airline is offering $38.50 an hour for first-year pay, with a $20,000 signing bonus. They also have a transitional program that can put those pilots into American Airlines’ employment ultimately. The program at FSCJ has dropped in enrollment now that the GI Bill no longer pays for a student to enroll.

Other Business

  • Mr. Lemond shared that marketing efforts should be more effective for things like scholarship opportunities now, thanks to the new school district website and the Career Education Facebook page. He asked that anyone interested in sharing news with Facebook, send that promo to him for the information to be posted.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:55pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Leah Jennings