WCCS hosts press conference for first rural aviation program

A new rural aviation consortium is starting an initiative with $2 million in state community college funding to grow aviation education in the Black Belt.

Led by Wallace Community College Selma, the aviation initiative will be a “pipeline to high-income careers” in the Black Belt region, said state Sen. Robert Stewart during an announcement about the program at the Craig Field terminal building on Tuesday. Stewart secured the funding from the Alabama Community College System.

The aviation initiative is “the biggest thing so far” for Wallace, WCCS President Dr. James M. Mitchell said. 

Mitchell said Wallace will provide classes that will prepare students to be pilots, air traffic controllers and airplane mechanics. Students can even become certified in operating drones, Mitchell said.  

“As the aviation industry grows, we want to grow with it,” Mitchell said. “This opens more doors of opportunity for students of West Alabama.” 

Mitchell credited Stewart for getting the program off the ground. “(Stewart) talked to me about how we could form something similar to the Tuskegee Airmen,” Mitchell said. “State Sen. Stewart took it from a vision to a reality. He provided the money to fund the start of this program.”  

Stewart said after the January 2023 tornado tore through the middle of Selma, he was thinking about a way to “transform” the community. He said he realized using the infrastructure at Craig Field and Industrial Authority, a former Air Force base that closed in 1977, could be used to create a “pipeline to high-income careers.”  

“This rural aviation consortium will transform the community. It will increase the pipeline,” Stewart said. “Two hundred jobs are coming to Selma for Resicum. That’s huge for Selma. We need to make sure the workforce is prepared.”  

WCCS Dean of Instruction Dr. Tammie Briggs said launching the aviation program is a “significant milestone, a cutting-edge, career-focused educational opportunity for students in the Black Belt.” 

“We’re exposing our students to job training opportunities not only to prepare them for jobs in their backyard, but for opportunities in the state, nation and the broader global arena,” Briggs said.  

Jim Corrigan, executive director of Craig Airport Industrial Authority, said the rural aviation initiative will create “a more diverse aviation profession that will change the trajectory of youths’ lives.”  

Local youth have shown interest in aviation and the program could include dual enrollment with area schools. More than 700 students participated in recent Aviation Day activities sponsored by WCCS, Mitchell said.