When completed, Butler Tech’s $15 million Aviation Education Hangar will replace cramped, make-shift classrooms currently shoehorned into one of the airport’s hangars and student enrollment will jump from 50 local students to about 200, said Rich Packer, aviation instructor and head of career school program.
“We believe it will be unique in the country,” said Packer of the varied aviation career paths local teens will study and earn professional certification in while on airport grounds.
These will include pilot licenses for both manned and unmanned aircraft, aviation maintenance and aviation engineering, which will also serve as preparation for college engineering study.
Butler Tech officials recently held a topping out ceremony, which included girder signing by students, teachers and officials, to celebrate completion of the structural phase of the new Aviation Center.
Officials from the career school said “students, instructors, Butler Tech Board members, administration, and key partners signed the final steel beam before it was hoisted into place. Painted white and covered in signatures, the beam now stands as a lasting tribute to the collective effort and vision behind this transformative project.”
When opened, the 30,000-square-foot hangar and learning center, located at 2301 Wedekind Drive in the northern portion of the airport, will offer specialized programs designed to meet the growing demand for skilled professionals in the aviation industry.
These will include businesses throughout Greater Cincinnati and Dayton region, including employers at the Dayton International Airport, Wright Patterson Air Force Base as well as in northern Kentucky, home of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
“This is a dream come true,” said Packer, a seven-year veteran Butler Tech instructional leader.
“We now have the main facility under roof … and all the steel up for the hangar. And we’re on course for an opening in February,” he said.
“This extra space will allow us to serve many more students. This will allow us to train students in aviation maintenance and to have the space to bring in equipment to get FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) certification. That’s a big deal because that (training certification) is something that now takes two or three years at a Cincinnati State or Sinclair Community College but students will be able to do all that at Butler Tech.”
“This will be a ‘go to’ center where students can do anything.”
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