TWU considers $11.9 million boost to flight training contract to serve Air Force pilots
Texas Woman's University regents could approve a boost to the Doswell Center for Aeronautical Sciences' flight training budget.
TWU officials heard a recommendation Thursday to increase the flight training contract to $11.9 million to house flight trainees in the Air Force.
The Board of Regents heard the recommendation to increase the contract with U.S. Aviation Academy, a busy flight training school that operates at Enterprise Airport in Denton. Members of the university's inaugural flight training class began their studies and cockpit time at the academy in the fall.
"The United States Air Force cannot train pilots fast enough with the fleet of aircraft that they have," said Clinton Grant, director of the Doswell Center.
Grant said the Air Force had reached out to roughly a dozen or so schools around the country to meet that demand through the Initial Pilot Training program.
The program will send Air Force officers who have been accepted into flight training into programs where they will train to fly a Cessna 172, a single-engine aircraft. Those trainees will earn their FAA private pilot certificate, instrument rating and a multi-engine rating.
"And then they'll move on to the go-fast planes that the Air Force trains in, the T-6 Texans," Grant said.
This original contract with the U.S. Aviation Academy, adopted by regents in May, was a contract not to exceed $1.3 million. Jason Tomlinson, TWU's vice president of finance and administration, said the increase "looks like a lot" but accomplishes some important tasks.
U.S. Aviation will provide the direct instruction for those Air Force pilots. The Air Force will reimburse TWU for the housing and administrative fees associated with housing.
"The hope is that, one, it reduces the cost of initial training for the Air Force, and also — more importantly — it moves them through faster. Because once they hit those fast planes, things start to happen very quickly," Grant added.
Grant said the expanded budget would make off-campus housing available for Air Force officers getting their initial flight training at U.S. Aviation Academy. Grant said the Air Force will bring in cohorts of 30 to complete their training in 139 days.
"The advantage, that's got to be the question for you. Why TWU?," Grant said. "It's going to be a huge advantage in about three years for our students. What's going on in the flight industry is the craziness of COVID is over. Airlines are still hiring, but at a more normal pace. The first job 99 percent of our students will get is flight instructing, once they finish all their certificates and ratings we offer as part of our degree program. When they're done with that, there have to be students to train, and this is a ready-made source. And these are not students competing with them for jobs at American or Envoy. They're moving right into the Air Force. At some point, as soon as we start graduating CFIs, they will be training Air Force cadets. It's new for the Air Force, and hopefully, it's going to work."
Regent Bob Hyde asked Grant if the Navy, which also trains pilots, could be a potential partner in the future.
"Right now, the U.S. Navy is doing it the old-fashioned way," Grant said. "They do a little bit of training in a Cessna and then they move them down to Corpus to start T-6 training."
Grant said that three of the first 27 Air Force cadets starting flight training are women. The contract is a two-year agreement and will see three training cohorts move through the Air Force program.
