Texas Woman鈥檚 University regents could approve a boost to the Doswell Center for Aeronautical Sciences鈥� flight training budget.
TWU officials heard a recommendation Thursday to increase the flight training contract to $11.9 million to house flight trainees in the Air Force.
The Board of Regents heard the recommendation to increase the contract with U.S. Aviation Academy, a busy flight training school that operates at Enterprise Airport in Denton. Members of the university鈥檚 inaugural flight training class began their studies and cockpit time at the academy in the fall.
鈥淭he United States Air Force cannot train pilots fast enough with the fleet of aircraft that they have,鈥� said Clinton Grant, director of the Doswell Center.
Grant said the Air Force had reached out to roughly a dozen or so schools around the country to meet that demand through the Initial Pilot Training program.
The program will send Air Force officers who have been accepted into flight training into programs where they will train to fly a Cessna 172, a single-engine aircraft. Those trainees will earn their FAA private pilot certificate, instrument rating and a multi-engine rating.
鈥淎nd then they鈥檒l move on to the go-fast planes that the Air Force trains in, the T-6 Texans,鈥� Grant said.
This original contract with the U.S. Aviation Academy, adopted by regents in May, was a contract not to exceed $1.3 million. Jason Tomlinson, TWU鈥檚 vice president of finance and administration, said the increase 鈥渓ooks like a lot鈥� but accomplishes some important tasks.
U.S. Aviation will provide the direct instruction for those Air Force pilots. The Air Force will reimburse TWU for the housing and administrative fees associated with housing.
鈥淭he hope is that, one, it reduces the cost of initial training for the Air Force, and also 鈥� more importantly 鈥� it moves them through faster. Because once they hit those fast planes, things start to happen very quickly,鈥� Grant added.
Grant said the expanded budget would make off-campus housing available for Air Force officers getting their initial flight training at U.S. Aviation Academy. Grant said the Air Force will bring in cohorts of 30 to complete their training in 139 days.
鈥淭he advantage, that鈥檚 got to be the question for you. Why TWU?,鈥� Grant said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a huge advantage in about three years for our students. What鈥檚 going on in the flight industry is the craziness of COVID is over. Airlines are still hiring, but at a more normal pace. The first job 99 percent of our students will get is flight instructing, once they finish all their certificates and ratings we offer as part of our degree program. When they鈥檙e done with that, there have to be students to train, and this is a ready-made source. And these are not students competing with them for jobs at American or Envoy. They鈥檙e moving right into the Air Force. At some point, as soon as we start graduating CFIs, they will be training Air Force cadets. It鈥檚 new for the Air Force, and hopefully, it鈥檚 going to work.鈥�
Regent Bob Hyde asked Grant if the Navy, which also trains pilots, could be a potential partner in the future.
鈥淩ight now, the U.S. Navy is doing it the old-fashioned way,鈥� Grant said. 鈥淭hey do a little bit of training in a Cessna and then they move them down to Corpus to start T-6 training.鈥�
Grant said that three of the first 27 Air Force cadets starting flight training are women. The contract is a two-year agreement and will see three training cohorts move through the Air Force program.
Regents voted to move the item onto the consent agenda, which they will vote on during the regents鈥� meeting Friday.