Aviation students at Spokane Community College may be headed for a national competition in Dallas with all expenses paid by Horizon Airlines. The competition was scheduled for April 28-30 but has now been rescheduled for the week of Aug. 30 because of the coronavirus.
Horizon is paying for the flights, hotel and the $500 registration fee for the competition because the students won first place at a regional aviation show in Puyallup in February.
“Our students did a great job at the regional competition and we are ready for the national competition should it be held,” said Andy Dodson, department chair for the aviation program and advisor to the student teams.
Six SCC students and Dodson plan to attend the Aerospace Maintenance Competition. The SCC group will have to pay for food and any ground transportation.
At the Northwest show, teams of four students from Washington, Idaho and Oregon competed in 10 events: aircraft brake replacement; flight control surface balancing; fight control cable rigging; safety wire bolts and turnbuckles; electrical circuit troubleshooting; aircraft wire hardness maintenance; precision measurement of engine components; mask aircraft ID-number for painting; document aircraft logbooks and forms; aircraft regulations knowledge exam.
SCC took two teams of four students to the Northwest competition and one of them placed first. Students on that team were Stephen Heintz, Raymond Veeser, John Hayes and Matthew Church.
Photo caption: SCC students on the winning aviation team were, front row, left to right, Stephen Heintz, Raymond Veeser; back row, left to right, John Hayes, Matthew Church.
SCC offers an associate’s degree in aviation maintenance technology and certificates in six programs: aerospace apprenticeship, aerospace composite technician, airframe maintenance, aviation maintenance technology avionics, general aircraft maintenance and powerplant maintenance.