Elizabeth City State University (ECSU), AeroX, and Piedmont Flight Training are partnering to expand aviation education, strengthen and diversify the aviation workforce, and build an autonomous urban aircraft infrastructure in North Carolina as reported on HBCUConnect.
“The advanced air mobility market is expected to be $1.5 trillion by 2040,” says the post “and this three-way collaboration will help build the tech-savvy labor force and infrastructure needed to keep North Carolina an aviation leader for decades to come.”
The post continues “ECSU offers the only four-year Aviation Science and Unmanned Aircraft Systems degrees in North Carolina, which it will expand to the Winston-Salem region through an online aviation degree program and flight training partnership with Piedmont Flight Training (PFT).
“Piedmont Flight Training will be ECSU’s affiliated flight school partner. It will train students at its Smith Reynolds Airport facility in Winston-Salem for the university’s new four-year online program in aviation science, which includes a pilot’s license.
“AeroX, a non-profit organization comprised of business, government and community partners, was recently awarded $5 million from the North Carolina General Assembly to build an unmanned aircraft systems (UAS, or drone) traffic management system in Winston-Salem. ECSU will provide student and faculty resources and expertise to help create this low-altitude air traffic control system. AeroX will offer two paid advanced air mobility (AAM) summer internships to provide experience in the aviation industry and support AeroX’s STEM-related activities.
“AeroX is creating an urban air mobility system that will attract companies and create technology jobs, while Piedmont Flight Training and ECSU are preparing students for aviation careers,” says David Mounts, Piedmont Flight Training owner and member of AeroX’s board of directors. “Our partnership with ECSU will help us prepare our local workforce and expand access to high-potential job opportunities right here in our communities.”
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(Image: ESCU)