THE SKY’S the limit for future pilots, and Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) and the Shelbyville Municipal Airport will play a vital role in the takeoff of their careers.
Statista.com predicts demand for 130,000 commercial pilots in North America between 2021 and 2040. Pilot retirement, both naturally occurring and early, during the pandemic, is one of the contributing factors. An increase in travel demands is another.
MTSU teamed up with Murfreesboro Airport for 70 years to train student pilots, however, Murfreesboro’s airport cited the program’s current need for expansion would negatively impact other customers’ use of their facilities. It was time to look for a new home for the flight training program that began shortly after World War II.
MTSU’s website explains the need for expansion. “Our Aerospace B.S. program currently enrolls over 1,200 students, most of whom (nearly 900) are in the Professional Pilot concentration. Our fleet logs more than 5,000 flight hours in peak months during the semester. The student demand for flight time puts a strain on our current fleet of 34 aircraft, and we have placed an order for 10 additional aircraft to provide the instructional resources our students need. With student demand for the program at an all-time high and a continuing nationwide shortage of new pilots and aerospace professionals, MTSU must relocate the aerospace department and its flight training program in order to expand.”
The appeal of Shelbyville as the new site for the program is multi-faceted. The size of the airport’s property, at more than 600 acres, is nearly three times larger than the Murfreesboro Airport. Zoning of the largely open area surrounding Shelbyville’s airport provides for industrial and agricultural use, another plus.
With the site confirmed, MTSU moved forward with plans to fund the expansion. A budget request for $57.2 million for the construction of a new MTSU Aerospace at the Shelbyville Municipal Airport was approved by the Tennessee General Assembly on April 21, 2022. MTSU will need to raise an additional $5 million in matching funds to supplement the $62.2 million project.
MTSU’s website offers the following timeline for the project, “It is hoped that by the end of the 2022 calendar year, the 10 new training aircraft will all be operating out of Shelbyville. However, it will take much longer to complete the move. Design of the new aerospace campus, which will include hangars, classrooms, offices, and runway space, is expected to last about one year, and ground-breaking may occur in late summer or fall of 2023. It is anticipated that the new facilities may be complete in late 2025. Until that eventual completion date, we expect that most of our flight training and all of our other educational programs will continue to be based in Murfreesboro.”
The academy may likely attract additional growth to the area, according to MTSU President Sidney McPhee in a recent News Channel 5 story. “There are a lot of related companies in the aviation world that probably will begin looking at Tennessee because we are producing the professionals in that industry to help them grow as we grow,” McPhee said.
It’s a partnership uniting education and economics to fuel growth and meet nationwide needs – what a deal! GN
