Sue Loughlin
The Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, Ind.
(TNS)

In mid-August, instructor Terrie Wernz-Fowler worked with high school students at the West Central Indiana Aviation Academy on safety wiring in an aircraft.

Safety wiring is used to secure components — including nuts, bolt heads and screws — that can become dislodged.

"On an aircraft, it has lots of vibration, so we use safety wire to keep the hardware in place," Wernz-Fowler explained. The class took place in a small parts lab on the third floor of a facility at Terre Haute Regional Airport.

This is the second year for the aviation academy. As of Aug. 18, 16 students were enrolled, 14 from the Vigo County School Corp., another from Clay County and one who is home schooled.

The academy, which is open to students from other west central Indiana counties, is a partnership between the airport and VCSC, with support from the city of Terre Haute and Vigo County government.

The Vigo County School Board approved the new aviation pathway program in December 2024; the school district provides the instructor, and the airport provides the facility.

Students studying at the academy are preparing for in-demand fields that include being pilots, air traffic controllers and aircraft mechanics.

"We teach pathways to a career in aviation," Wernz-Fowler said. "We introduce them to all aviation fields of employment and then they decide which way they want to go and we try to get them there."

The goal is to have a workforce that airport officials can then market to aviation companies, said Craig Maschino, Terre Haute Regional Airport executive director. In turn, companies that locate here would employ those skilled workers, who would have good-paying jobs.

Students in the program earn dual high school and college credit. As the program began last year, students studied aviation management.

This year, "We have launched the aviation maintenance program," said Doug Dillion, VCSC career technical education director.

A small parts lab is in place "where students learn basic skills like how to safety wire a propeller so the propeller doesn't come off," he said.

"We also built some custom trainers; one of them came from an airplane wing that was over 30 feet long and 8 feet wide. We cut it down and built these custom trainers so the kids can repair parts of the plane in the lab," Dillion said.

In another major development, the airport is constructing a hangar for the aviation maintenance component of the program.

The airport received $250,000 from the Terre Haute Casino Resort Foundation for hangar construction, and the airport will also invest about $250,000 in the project, Maschino said. It is being built along Indiana 42 and is expected to be open spring semester.

The new hangar also is close to businesses that hire aviation mechanics, he said. The new space will allow the high school students "to actually work physically on an aircraft," Maschino said.

Another future goal is to offer an aviation maintenance program for nontraditional students.

Right now, aviation academy students are taking classes on the third floor of what once housed an Ivy Tech program and more recently has been leased by Enjet Aero; the airport worked with Enjet so the third floor could be used for the program.

Among the students working on safety wiring Aug. 18 was Braylon Lewzader, a Terre Haute South Vigo High School senior. This is the second year he's been in the program.

"I think it helps me prepare for my future. I want to be a commercial pilot," he said. He plans to pursue his post-high school education at Indiana State University.

This is also Kreed Phelps' second year in the program; he is a senior at Terre Haute North Vigo. "Aviation has been a large part of what I wanted to do for a long time. When I found out there was a program dedicated to aviation ... I couldn't wait to go," he said.

Phelps said he's learned a lot in his classes, and he'd like to be an air traffic controller.

© 2026 The Tribune-Star (Terre Haute, Ind.). Visit tribstar.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.