Backers say Institute of Aviation a valuable resource
SAVOY – The University of Illinois is considering closing the Institute of Aviation just as the nation desperately needs new pilots and air traffic controllers, supporters of the institute say.
The U.S. will need to replace 37,000 pilots over the next 10 years and 56,000 pilots over the next 14 years, said Nathan Butcher, a Delta Air Lines pilot who graduated from the UI in 2002.
Plus, two-thirds of the nation's air traffic controllers are approaching the maximum retirement age of 56 and will need to be replaced, said Kevin Gnagey, an air traffic controller at the Willard Airport tower.
Willard is the ideal place for controllers to get training because it has high volumes of flights in short periods of time, Gnagey said. About 85 percent of the flights are training flights associated with the Institute of Aviation, he said.
About 80 people, many of them flight instructors and students, turned out to support the institute during a press conference at the airport Thursday.
The UI Senate will hold a public hearing on the institute's future at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in Room 100 of Noyes Laboratory.
Interim Chancellor Robert Easter and interim Provost Richard Wheeler support closing the institute, saying pilot training doesn't fit well with the core mission of the campus.
So let me get this straight. LEARNING to fly a plane and possibly make a career out of it doesn't fit with the core mission of the University. But binge drinking, overpaid underqualified coaches and administrators, and overpriveledged and undereducated athletes do fit?
Man, our priorities just aren't that straight any more.
Comments
News-Gazette.com embraces discussion of both community and world issues. We welcome you to contribute your ideas, opinions and comments, but we ask that you avoid personal attacks, vulgarity and hate speech. We reserve the right to remove any comment at our discretion, and we will block repeat offenders' accounts. To post comments, you must first be a registered user, and your username will appear with any comment you post. Happy posting.