High-Flying Expectations Set for OU Aviation Program

Nov. 9, 2022

Nov. 8—The University of Oklahoma is tripling the size of its aviation program to meet the state's workforce needs.

OU President Joe Harroz on Monday announced a plan to raise $30 million for scholarships, faculty growth, state-of-the-art facilities, and aircraft replacement and expansion.

The announcement, made at Max Westheimer Airport in Norman, comes as the university took in 150 flight students for the 2022-2023 school year — exactly three times as many as it accepted the previous year.

The initiative is part of OU's $2 billion "Lead On" fundraising campaign to improve the university, Harroz said.

"We're at an exciting moment," he told the gathering. "This announcement, to me, is about so many things. It's about the possibilities that exist when we work together, whenever we have a common strategic plan, and we each do our part to make our state and our world better."

Harroz estimated the country could be short approximately 80,000 pilots by 2032 if workforce trends continue.

Rick Nagel, a member of the OU Board of Regents, said aviation workers — many who quit during the pandemic — are down by about 100,000.

There are more than 14,500 open pilot positions in the United States right now, Harroz said.

Conversely, the Oklahoma Department of Commerce estimates 1,100 aerospace entities employ more than 120,000 people in the state and called aerospace and defense the state's second-largest and fastest-growing economic sector.

Aerospace and defense has a $44 million impact on the state annually, Gov. Kevin Stitt said during the announcement Monday.

About $15 million of the money raised for the program will be used to replace 19 existing aircraft, purchase nine new planes and upgrade facilities.

About $10 million will go toward scholarships and student support, while $5 million will go toward faculty growth, according to a Monday news release from the university.

The first nine new aircraft are expected to be delivered to OU on Nov. 7, 2023, Harroz said.

Even with the push for improvements, OU was still named the top flight school in the country in 2022 by FLIGHT magazine. Harroz said the ranking led, in part, to a doubling of applicants from about 250 in 2021-22 to around 500 this year, Harroz sai.

From that pool of applicants, the university was able to immediately triple its number of flight students. It was able to do it this school year because they won't fly until their junior and senior years, according to the president.

"Being number one, you're going to have tons of more kids coming here and wanting to be pilots," Stitt said

Harroz said the state's aviation efforts expand beyond what's happening at the university. At the announcement, he gave a nod to the aviation academy in Norman, which gives students college credit toward aviation degrees. It also currently allows students to get most of their airframe and/or powerframe mechanic certifications.

Stitt and the state Legislature recently approved $20 million to go toward the academy.

Harroz said the university is ultimately "a piece of" meeting the state's workforce goals, and said it had "better deliver."

"At every turn where we see workforce needs that are limiting our state's ability to move forward, limiting our students' ability to move forward, our goal is to meet that — to be worthy of our role as the University of Oklahoma, and to realize that we are a partner," he said.

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