This week includes a national salute to aviation. In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed August 19, the birthday of Orville Wright, as National Aviation Day. The tradition has expanded to include the entire week around the 19th, and serves as an opportunity to peek into aviation’s future.
The aviation industry has undergone some changes since the Wright’s flight in December of 1903. That flight was 120 feet, about as long as the wingspan of a contemporary Boeing 747. Keeping up with the innovations has fostered aviation training and certification programs across the country. Colleges and universities are featuring degrees built on basic aviation classes, adding instruction in management and people skills classes. In Montana, most colleges contribute at some level of certification for pilots or mechanics.
At Rocky Mountain College in Billings, the degrees offered are spread across three fields of emphasis: traditional aeronautical science, Uncrewed Aviation or UAS, and aviation management.
In this session, YPR’s Karl Lengel chats with Dan Hargrove, Director of the Rocky Mountain College (RMC) Aviation program and Rocky Mountain College Associate aviation professor Matt Prinkke.
Hargrove starts by suggesting that flying today is a lot more than the idyllic image some people might have, and that justifies an educational approach on an academic liberal arts college platform.
RCM divides the program into three bachelor of science majors - Aeronautical Science - Professional Pilot program, Uncrewed Aerial Systems, known as UAS, or drones, and Aviation Management.
Hargrove is positive about AI’s integration into the aeronautical technology industry and does not feel that it threatens the future of most aviation careers.
The former Air Force pilot suggests that the successful student in an aviation program must have a “spark” for flying, and is confident that a relationship with the Billings Airport is integral to the program’s success and relationship to the larger community.
Rocky Mountain College Associate aviation professor Matt Prinkke details the UAS program, also endorsing the college’s strength in aviation technology and in ethics education and programming. Prinke discusses the “legal, safe and smart” considerations in flying unmanned craft, and the numerous applications of the technology. Prinke also cast a positive view on AI technology in UAS applications, suggesting that the drone is simply a robot in human hands. The realization of “drone taxis” or “advanced air mobility”, Prinke suggests, may not be that far in the future.
Prinke also discusses the traffic density of drone traffic and its regulation, reminding us that “we need to be there in case.”
Reflecting the rapid growth of the industry, Rocky Mountain College’s aviation program now regularly jockeys with the college’s business degrees for most enrolled students; around 150 are starting classes this week - National Aviation Week.
