Steve Boykin, left, supervisor of agriculture and technical education for the Mobile County school system, is shown with Kyle Cook, director of Gulf Coast operations at Alabama Aviation Center. Cook helped arrange for the Cessna's donation from Enterprise State Community College.
MOBILE, Alabama – Aviation students, your Cessna has landed.
Mobile County school system students who enroll in aviation courses at B.C. Rain High School’s Aviation and Aerospace Academy will be able to assemble and repair the parts of a Cessna 150, which was donated by Enterprise State Community College.
The small four-seater is almost completely disassembled, which will make it easier for students to learn about how the parts go together, said Kyle Cook, director of Gulf Coast operations at Alabama Aviation Center.
The tricycle gear plane, which was likely built from the late 1950’s to the late 1970’s, will be temporarily housed at Bryant Career Technical Center in Irvington while construction is completed on B.C. Rain’s new Aerospace Training Facility. It is scheduled to open this fall.
Enterprise State Community College has been a partner in establishing the academy and the academy will use Enterprise State’s curriculum, according to a media release from the school system.
Courses will include theory of flight, sheet metal repair, electrical currents and hydraulics.
Among other skills, students will learn to repair the Cessna’s rivets and will cut holes in the sheet metal, then patch them, said Steve Boykin, supervisor of agriculture and technical education for the Mobile County school system.
Students will also be able to connect the flight control cables to the yokes – the plane’s version of steering wheels – and to the rudder pedals, which turn the plane, Cook said.
The school system has contracted with Enterprise State and Bishop State Community College to set up a dual enrollment program at the Aerospace Training Facility, through which students may earn college credit and higher credentials while still in high school.
Bryant Career Tech’s program is probably one of the nation’s first to offer aviation courses to high school students, “and we’re very proud of that,” Boykin said.
He was also quick to give credit to Larry Mouton, executive director of career and technical education for the Mobile County school system. “He has really been aggressive at getting things going” with the aviation curriculum, Boykin said.
The plane came from Enterprise State Community College’s Ozark campus, Cook said, after one of the instructors discovered it was available and arranged for the donation.
The plane does not have an engine or an instrument panel. The school system is hopeful that someone will donate those and other airplane components to the aviation academy. If you have parts to donate, call Boykin at 251-610-2596.
The $1.6 million, 15,500-square foot Aerospace Training Facility at B.C. Rain will feature a main shop area, training rooms with Smartboards, a large mezzanine storage area and an overhead monorail crane.
There are still limited slots still available for enrollment in the aviation academy. Rising sophomores from anywhere in Mobile County who have at least a 2.0 grade point average are eligible.
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