Where Oklahoma State University is going next, it won’t need roads.
Saturday, in a tent on the south end of the runway at Stillwater Regional Airport, OSU broke ground on a new flight center to help accommodate the booming numbers of aviation students.
It will be named the Ray and Linda Booker OSU Flight Center.
In the packed tent, OSU president Burns Hargis said it was time for the program to get a new flight center, with the new one – an 11,00-square-foot-facility – expected to be completed by fall 2021.
“We have trained thousands of pilots and earned a reputation as a school of choice for aviation education,” Hargis said. “We are very excited to make this announcement today. It is going to have a wide-ranging effect on us. We have doubled in enrollment just over the last few years.”
Last year, the aviation program was selected as a Top Hawk program and added five new Cesna aircraft, helping get students in the air quicker as previously, they would have to wait until their second semester because of the lack of equipment.
Now that their equipment it upgraded, it was time for a new facility.
Dean Stephan Wilson, who has been the interim dean of the OSU College of Education, Health and Aviation for the past 15 months, said it is an exciting time as the flight school shows the university’s commitment to the aviation program.
“This truly is an outstanding academic program, including our students, faculty and staff,” Wilson said. “As you know, we are already a premier destination for aviation education. This new facility will elevate our presence and impact in the state, throughout the country and indeed across the globe.”
There were a number of dignitaries present, including OSU A&M Regent Calvin Anthony, Stillwater Mayor Will Joyce and Sen. Tom Dugger. On behalf of Gov. Kevin Stitt, OSU alumni Brent Kisling spoke to the crowd.
Kisling, who used to be a member of the OSU Flying Aggies, is the executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. With the aviation business booming in Oklahoma, especially with the success of Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City, Kisling said it was important to invest in aviation.
“It truly is the era of the airplane in Oklahoma,” Kisling said. “In the last 10 years, the aviation and aerospace industry has grown to our second largest employment sector behind energy and is continue g to grow and grow exponentially.”
Kisling mentioned the fact that Stitt – one of two governors who is a pilot – and Sen. Jim Inhofe have put a lot of their time into expanding the aviation industry in the state.
“The aviation and aerospace industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and the reason why is because we as human beings want to make sure we have speed to market,” Kisling said. “We want to make sure we can get from here in Stillwater to Houston as fast as possible, from Stillwater to Atlanta, from Stillwater to Dubai and we want to make sure the products that we make get to those places as quickly as possible. But in order for that to happen, we have to have pilots. You can repair all the planes you want to and make tens of thousands of airplanes, but if you don’t have people here to fly them, then the industry is going to fail.”
Kisling mentioned a stat he saw from Boeing that in the next two decades, 212,000 pilots would be trained in North America, so getting a flight center built now will only help.
One of those future pilots is Del City native Nate Anders, a senior aerospace administration and operations major. Anders said as a student and hopeful future instructor, the facility will do nothing but help.
“This day marks a new chapter in Oklahoma State aviation as we begin the transition from a building that was meant as a small terminal into a purpose built state of the art building to train the next generation of aviators,” Anders said.
The facility will include air conditioned hallways, debriefing rooms and a student lounge for students to hang out with their peers.
“The flight center quickly becomes a second home for us aviation students,” Anders said. “Typically we are either in class, at home or at the flight center. On a nice day, planes arrive and depart like clockwork. That starts at sunrise until well after sunset.”
Hargis said he was thankful for the Bookers’ support and brought Linda on the stage to show his gratitude. Ray Booker passed away last year.
“I always say facilities don’t transform things, people do, but they have to have the platform to reach their full potential,” Hargis said. “This will enable us to not only grow our program, but enhance our technology. These projects require generous donors, that is the fact of it. It doesn’t happen without great donor support. Oklahoma has cut higher education percentage wise more than any state in the union.”
Hargis mentioned how Ray Booker used to look up and watch the planes overhead, knowing that in the air was the way of the future. Now, OSU is on track to getting there, Anders said.
“With our new state of the art aircraft fleet, influx of aviation students and our new flight center, we have the potential to be one of the best aviation programs in the nation,” Anders said. “… This new building will be important for all the students who enter it. As a current student and future instructor, I couldn’t be more excited for our flight center and the future of OSU aviation.”
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