A recent hiring boom in the aviation industry and a mandatory retirement age of 65 starting to take effect have resulted in increased enrollment in flight schools and flight programs, such as the one at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, the program’s director said.
Matching this increasing demand, HSU has 187 aviation majors in its program, an increase from 155 majors the year before.
“Our department has always been good and solid but is continuing to grow,” said Troy Hogue, director of aviation at Henderson. “Our students come from all over the state. Our presence is known beyond the Southwest region. We have students from every county in Arkansas.
“Our reach also goes nationwide — we have students from California and several from Texas and the East Coast and West Coast.”
The continued growth of the department has allowed it to recently purchase a new flight simulator. The Arkansas Department of Aeronautics awarded a $99,500 grant to Henderson for the purchase of a Redbird full-motion flight simulator.
“We are a flight-training program, so obviously, we are going to fly airplanes, but there are a lot of things that are better learned in a flight simulator,” Hogue said. “It is mostly a scenario-based training, and scenarios that you just don’t want to do in an aircraft — they may be emergency scenarios, or you might also be doing the same things or want to compress time by not having to fly from Point A to Point B before starting the scenario.”
Hogue said the simulator can also be used for learning how to fly in bad weather or avoiding it altogether.
“Perhaps you are not in that point in your training yet, where you can go in the bad weather,” he said. “These simulator bays are basically open around the clock with card access, so we have students flying at night as well.
“We can also use [the simulator] to showcase our department, allowing someone to experience a quick simulator ride to see what it is like — a discovery flight, if you will.”
This is the second simulator for the department, with both purchased through the Arkansas Department of Aeronautics with a 90-10 match grant. Henderson has to provide only 10 percent of the simulators’ cost. Hogue said he is appreciative for those grants, which are determined by the size of the school and how it is growing.
“Our bottom line is safety and quality of training, and we never wanted more students than we could handle,” Hogue said. “The nice thing about this industry is that our graduates can also fly for business aviation or corporate aviation.
“We have graduates who are flying for Tyson, Wal-Mart, Stephens and other corporations.”
Henderson is the only four-year university in the state that offers the degree program. Hogue said students from Ozarka College in Melbourne students transfer to the Henderson to complete their four-year degrees. He said the program also has FAA approval for only 1,000 hours of experience, as opposed to the 1,500 usually required, and that using the simulator counts toward those hours.
“We fly out of the Arkadelphia Municipal Airport,” Hogue said. “Our students get out of class, and 10 minutes later, they are at the airport. We actually start flying their first semester.”
Hogue said that after the first year, students will be issued their FAA private-pilot certificate and, afterward, will work toward other goals, such as earning commercial and multiengine certificates.
“The nice thing about our flight operations is we fly, basically, every day of the year, even when campus is out of session for things like Christmas break or summer break or spring break,” Hogue said. “We will do more than 20,000 flight operations this year alone.”
Hogue said the program has never had a total loss of an aircraft or a serious injury.
“But you would be hard-pressed to find any school, with a program the size of ours, that hasn’t had any scrapes or bruises along the way,” he said. “With the way our safety culture is developed, safety is paramount. There are checks and balances before we even get in the airplane.”
Jordan Dennis graduated from HSU in 2018 and works as an assistant chief instructor. He said the program has 15 flight instructors, and they are all “chomping at the bit to start flying the new simulator.”
“All the instructors like it,” he said. “I don’t think we have been able to keep them away. I would say [the new simulator] is more realistic than the old one.”
Currently, of the 187 students enrolled, 160 are flying, which is roughly a little more than a 10-to-1 student-to-flying-instructor ratio, Hogue said.
Hogue is originally from Piggott, having graduated from high school in 1986. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro in 1991, and shortly after he graduated, he said, he started flying and decided to “do it for real.”
He came to Henderson and got a second degree in aviation in 1996, then earned a master’s degree in commercial aviation from Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi.
“I am a product of this program,” Hogue said. “I did fire detection for the forestry service before moving to Continental Express airlines. I was flying with them until just shortly after 9/11.
“At that time, a lot of airlines were furloughing pilots, and I got furloughed, so I came back to Henderson to do some flight instruction until I got called back,” Hogue said. “And I kept deferring, electing to stay here, because it was really rewarding to see our students soloing for the first time.
“I love to fly. I’ve never lost that, but I also enjoy this side of the industry. You see the students and the smiles on their faces, and their sense of accomplishment — that is rewarding.”
Hogue said student success is his No. 1 goal.
“I think a teacher, no matter the department, is going to enjoy a freshman gaining the knowledge and expertise of the subject matter,” he said. “Along with these skills these students learn, imagine them learning how to fly by themselves for the first time and seeing their smiles.
“It is pretty rewarding.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.