Hearing set for aviation institute
URBANA – Proponents and opponents of the University of Illinois Institute of Aviation will get a public hearing next month.
Senate Executive Committee member Abbas Aminmansour told that group Monday that the hearing for the threatened aviation school will be from 3:30 to 5 p.m. March 8 in 100 Noyes Laboratory.
Administrators and faculty will speak for about five minutes each at the hearing, followed by about three minutes each for audience members.
March 10 is the deadline for written comments.
The campus' restructuring project, Stewarding Excellence, has a website available for comments at https:// illinois.edu/sb/sec/7836525.
Aminmansour said a committee will begin deliberating on the institute's fate on March 14, two weeks before the Urbana senate is likely to vote on the issue.
He said the university statutes also require input from the former faculty members of the institute, who have been moved to other departments.
Last week, interim Chancellor Robert Easter and interim Provost Richard Wheeler wrote a letter supporting the closure of the institute, which is partly subsidized by the university, saying that pilot training is not a good fit with the core mission of the Urbana campus.
As a commercial pilot for more than 30 years, I've seen this scenario play out countless times around the country when traffic falls off at the local airport. Here's what likely will happen, should the university close the aviation school:
1) the traffic count at Willard Airport will decline dramatically (as nearly all traffic is from student flights)
2) commensurate federal funding reductions will occur
3) the control tower will close, due to lack of funding (and necessity)
4) the airlines will stop serving Champaign-Urbana, citing easy availability of flights from Springfield, Bloomington, Peoria, and other Illinois cities (they won't fly where there is no control tower)
5) the airport terminal building will be shuttered
6) CMI will return to its roots as a quiet, little, rural airport (an appropriate for such a facility)
The local press must do its homework. Contact the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (AOPA). They will provide plenty of examples. I'll make it easy for you: https://www.aopa.org/forms/inforequest.cfm?email=aopahq@aopa.org
Also, quiz the university concerning what will happen to the fat endowments reserved for the aviation school. Will these funds be returned to donors, as they should be, or will the university seize these funds to spend elsewhere? You'll learn they're already salivating at prospect of grabbing this treasure.
If the citizens of Champaign-Urbana want to keep commercial air service available at CMI, it is essential that the university keep the aviation school open. I would discourage anyone from paying much attention to what the airport management has to say on this issue. As the university owns the airport, management must speak the "party line." Be skeptical. Do your homework. What I've illustrated for you is typical. Don't let it happen. Keep the school open or be prepared to drive a long way to another airport when you need to catch a commercial flight somewhere.
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