MADISON, Wis. – Responding to the persistent, worldwide pilot-shortage crisis that has been temporarily interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Madison College has partnered with Wisconsin Aviation to offer a fast-track program for aspiring airline pilots and professional aviators.
The Professional Aeronautics Certificate (PAC) is a two year accelerated program designed for students seeking a direct pathway to a flying career. The PAC program includes ground courses and flight training for private pilot certification, instrument flight rating, commercial pilot certification, certified flight instructor certificate, and instrument instructor rating. Students enrolled in the program will spend approximately 20 hours per week for ground school, flight training, and home study during two academic years, completing the program in approximately 21 months and making them eligible to be hired as instructor pilots. After graduation, alumnus will typically spend another 18-24 months instructing and building the necessary flight hours to apply for jobs with airlines and other commercial flight operations.
Considering how COVID-19 has likely changed education forever, the program was specifically designed to get ahead of the returning pilot-shortage crisis and be future-proof and competitive. “Our market research began in 2015,revealing an underserved market in Wisconsin and indicating that flexibility, competitive pricing and a minimal time commitment are key differentiators,” says Dr. Chris Johnson, the chief architect of the program who began proving the training model, learning and confirming the principles while building courses at the University of Wisconsin Madison (UW) after completing his PhD in engineering there.
“We meet market demand by designing ground-school courses that can be taught in-person, in a mixed format or completely virtual, leveraging proprietary eLearning that my team built at UW. We also chose the Cirrus SR20 aircraft. It’s one of the most advanced trainers on the market,” says Johnson. He went on to explain that the Professional Aeronautics Certificate was designed with flexibility to accommodate a range of students, from high school graduates seeking an accelerated pathway to a professional pilot career, to returning adult students seeking a career change. The program allows students to simultaneously pursue a degree of their choice and/or work part time during training, and they will be able to begin their career a full two years before graduates of many other competing programs. “In fact, students can spend far less money on their training and roughly one fourth of the amount of time in school before getting hired, which is attractive to most students,” says Johnson, an Air Force Veteran, commercial pilot and certified flight instructor.
According to current market trends, right now is an ideal time to start flight training, with most industry experts forecasting the pilot-shortage crisis that the industry faced in 2017 thru 2019 to return by the latter part of 2022 or first part of 2023. The PAC program is a 21-month program, meaning students beginning the program in August 2020 will complete training by mid-2022, then go on to be instructor pilots for another 18-24 months. Once they have gained the necessary flight hours (1,500 hours minimum), they can qualify to apply for an Airline Transport (ATP)rating, which is needed for employment with scheduled air carriers or corporate flight departments, and be ready by 2024 when airlines are likely to begin actively recruiting again to meet their demand for qualified pilots.
For more information on the PAC, please see: www.wisconsinaviation.com/professional-aeronautics-certificate.
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Resulting media coverage:
- InBusiness Podcast (July 31, 2020): “WisBusiness: The Podcast features Chris Johnson, Wisconsin Aviation”
- WKOW (Aug. 3, 2020): “New program in Madison offers Professional Aeronautics Certificate”
- InBusiness (Aug. 11, 2020): “Looking for a career with upward mobility?”