UNK aviation program reaching new heights with launch of flight school

The University of Nebraska at Kearney aviation program will reach new heights this fall with the launch of the Loper Flight Academy.

Previously, students in the aviation program would take classes through Kearney and get flight training from a flight school based in Colorado that contracted with UNK. That school would provide the instructors and aircrafts for students to learn from at the Kearney airport.

Daniel Smith, director of the aviation program at UNK, said the university will now be able to offer students their needed flight hours through the university, ultimately saving students money. They plan to start student lessons in September.

“If we really want to grow this program and we want it to be one of the premier programs in the country, then we need to own and operate the flight school,” Smith said. “We need to do it ourselves. We need our own aircraft. We need to be able to control the costs. We need to be able to control the student outcomes.”

According to Smith, students will save about $15 per flight hour, which could amount to a total of $3,180 for students receiving the three different certifications — private pilot certificate, instrument rating and commercial pilot certificate.

“Flight training is expensive,” Smith said. “A lot of people drop out of flight training because of the cost, so we're better able to control the cost and drive the cost down for the student.”

The university is leasing seven, brand new Tecnam P-Mentor aircrafts, which are two-seated low-wing planes, for the school. Smith said students were initially hesitant about the aircrafts because they were training on a different kind. After addressing their concerns, Smith said students are now excited.

“It's a very good aircraft, technically-advanced aircraft,” Smith said. “We'll be able to do everything that we wanted to do. Now, they're excited. We're at the point where as soon as students heard that we received two aircrafts last week, we started getting phone calls asking if we were ready to start training in them.”

Smith added that most of the flight instructors are graduates of Kearney’s program.

The aviation program partnered with the Nebraska Safety Center, which is based at UNK, to launch the flight school. Brooke Envick, dean of the College of Business and Technology at UNK, said she connected the two programs to learn from each other, and she was excited to see them form the flight school.

“A lot of times when you lead organizations with really good people, one of the best things you can do is get out of their way and just let them do their thing,” Envick said.

The launch of the Loper Flight Academy helps both the aviation program and the safety center, according to the dean.

“I think with the union of aviation and the Nebraska Safety Center, it allows for the safety center to expand into the aviation safety environment, and they will now be eligible to apply for federal grants,” Envick said.

Smith said in his five years with the UNK aviation program, it’s grown from 10 students to about 80 students.

“Five years ago, if somebody had told me we would be doing this, I wouldn't have believed it,” Smith said. “It's amazing to see what we've done in such a short period of time, and we don't intend to stop here. We've got a really big vision for what's going to happen in Kearney. We really want to see Kearney, Nebraska, become a regional hub for aviation.”

The ribbon cutting for the Loper Flight Academy is set for Aug. 20.