Aviation and Drone Technology Program Takes Off at TCTC

CHAMPION, Ohio – Josh Bentley enrolled in Trumbull Career & Technical Center’s aviation and drone technology program because he wants to be able to both fly and repair his own plane one day.

The Brookfield High School junior’s plans after graduation start with enlistment.

“I’m going to go to the [U.S.] Army and be a paratrooper,” Josh said. 

While he’s always been interested in planes, flying wasn’t part of his plans until he flew with the TCTC ROTC program his freshman year.

“It was a fun experience, and I’m like, I want to do this,” Josh said.

The Program

Josh is one of the students in the inaugural aviation and drone technology class at TCTC, which is a collaboration between TCTC and Trumbull County Educational Service Center.

“We are always looking for things in the northeast Ohio region, industries in demand of students exiting high school who are interested and ready to work in those fields, to fill those jobs,” said Rachel Gensburg, TCTC career technical supervisor. 

Students are interested in drones, and it’s a technology that crosses into various subject areas, from engineering to coding.

“So it’s not that we’ve never had it, but looking at the way the world is changing, looking at the way the state is changing and industry is changing, we decided it was time for us to make this a priority,” Gensburg said.

The program provides students with a more in-depth overview of the subject.

Instructor Robert Cellars said the students are learning about, building and flying drones. 

“The students all build their own drones,” he said. “They have to program it. They get to fly it, and then they can utilize them in our skills competition.”

But they’re also learning about aviation as a whole.

Some Background

The Trumbull County Educational Service Center received a $650,000 federal grant last year that was secured through U.S. Rep. David Joyce, R-14th, and former U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan.

Part of that grant was allotted to remodel an ROTC space at TCTC into the aviation and drone technology lab. The renovation added flight simulators, a drone field, sound panels and new lighting.

“This is a general introduction to all things aviation,” Cellars said. 

Cellars joined TCTC after working in aviation maintenance for 17 years. He graduated from TCTC where he studied carpentry, and then moved into aviation.

So far, the response from students, parents and the community to the program has been positive. Eleven 11th graders enrolled in the program this year and will continue in it as seniors. Students who will be juniors next year will be signing up soon.

TCTC brought in representatives from Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics and pilots from the Western Reserve Port Authority to speak to parents when the program was announced. And industry was involved in developing the curriculum.

“They’re excited to see what’s coming for next year,” Gensburg said.

What They Learn

In the first year, students are learning about the weather and its effects on all aspects of aviation. 

“It’s one of the biggest hazards in aviation. Whether you’re a mechanic or a pilot, manned or unmanned air traffic control, it doesn’t matter,” Cellars explained. “Everybody in aviation has to deal with weather.”

They’ll also review map reading and nomenclature as well as airport signage and other topics before focusing on unmanned operations. That will give them the knowledge they need to take their commercial Federal Aviation Administration 107 drone license test.

“And they’ll do that their junior year,” Cellars said.

Earning that license will enable students to fly drones and to use their drone skills to earn money such as by taking real estate photos, the instructor said.

But drones have applications across many industries, Cellars explained. A friend who works for a concrete business uses one to inspect work when it’s finished, for example.

Students’ Career Plans

Elijah Haynes from Warren G. Harding High School plans a career in aviation but knows higher education and training can be expensive. He’s hoping the classes at TCTC give him a head start and save some money.

Drones interest him too.

“I’ve learned a lot,” Elijah said. “I’ve learned the parts of the drones, where you can fly it. I learned how we can legally fly our drones without licenses.”

But he wants to fly more than drones. He wants to be a commercial pilot. He started watching a YouTube channel, 74 Gear, that focuses on aviation. But he got interested in flying as a career when he flew for the first time to visit family in Louisiana. 

“I just like the ability to travel,” Elijah said. “I like looking out the window and seeing the sky. … Do you know how big a feat it is for humans to have left the Earth and go into the atmosphere?”

It gives him a feeling of freedom.

Another student, Travis Laneve from McDonald High School, plans to fly in the U.S. Air Force.

“It’s given me a head start on all that, like getting introduced to your flying physics, the rules about flying at our airports and, especially, weather,” Travis said.

He got interested in flying through the civil air patrol. Before that, he was afraid of flying.

“And then finally, that day, I finally was like, alright, I’ll give it a try,” Travis recalled. “And once we got off the ground and I was in the air and I actually had the controls, I was like, oh yeah, this is what I want to do. I mean, the amount of freedom that I felt with it, and how comfortable I felt. I was like, oh yeah … this is my true calling here.’”

He wants to fly bombers in the Air Force and hopefully, one day, a B-52.

Jason Adams from Chalker High School in Southington  also plans to join the Air Force and then become a commercial pilot.

“I’ve always been interested in aviation,” he said. “My grandpa was a pilot in Vietnam.”

Matt Kasnick from Girard High School said he comes from a less fortunate background, but the idea of flying makes him realize that no one is better than him or anyone else.

He’s leaning toward the maintenance side of the industry.

“And having a less fortunate family and [the industry] paying well, that’s going to help me be able to say that I was able to succeed in my goal and be able to provide for my future family,” Matt said.

Cellars said the program provides a foundation for any aviation career.

“So this would be a very good starting point for anybody who wants to be an aircraft mechanic or a manned pilot,” he said. “You can roll that into air traffic control. You could do the operation side of things where you’re managing fleets of aircraft. If there’s a job, this will be a great starting point – anything and everything aviation.”

Pictured at top: Travis Laneve and Elijah Haynes sit at a flight simulator in the aviation and drone technology lab at Trumbull Career & Technical Center.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.