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The Brownsville Independent School District and Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport’s Flight Academy of South Texas are getting ready to launch a CTE aviation pathway for BISD students.
On Friday, the aviation academy, START for short, played host to BISD officials who this week will begin the launch process for a Career and Technical Education aviation pathway.
The developments came as BISD senior Camilla Olvera demonstrated the possibilities by flying START’s single-engine Tecnap P-Mentor trainer aircraft to South Padre Island and back.
Olvera is among 40 students in START’s inaugural class, said Jorge Whitley, flight school owner and chief executive officer.
For now, START is operating out of the airport’s historic Hunt Pan Am Aviation fixed-base operator hangar. Whitley said his company is building a 60,000-square-foot hangar on the the control tower’s south side, which eventually will house the flight school and an aviation mechanic’s school.
“I initially started this program for my daughter. I’m from Brownsville. This is for my community,” Whitley said as Friday’s event was getting underway.
Whitley’s family’s aviation roots run deep, as do Brownsville’s. The flight school’s offices at 495 Amelia Earhart Drive are where Whitley’s father had his offices in the 1970s, he said.
Now, his daughter, Francesca, is START’s chief operating officer. She said she was weeks away from graduating college in San Antonio when she realized she didn’t want to do what she was studying. Flying interested her and her father suggested taking a discovery flight, which led to starting the flight school in Brownsville.
“We start off with private pilot PPL, a minimum of 40 hours in the airplane, and there’s a written test and a practical test, an oral test, an FAA standard. From then, we get on to an instrument rating, flying in some weather, and we go all the way up to a commercial certificate. … That’s 150 hours, and that’s what takes some work in terms of being a pilot,” Whitley said of the instruction the flight school offers.
“This all suits BISD. These programs segue into the university programs that I want to attract to our city. The university programs would allow our students to pursue their commercial license and graduate with a four-year degree in aviation commercial business,” he said.
Alma Cardenas-Rubio, BISD assistant superintendent for secondary schools, said the CTE aviation pathway proposal would be presented to the district’s Curriculum and Instruction committee this week, where she anticipates approval.
The BISD Board of Trustees would consider the proposal at its October meeting. Superintendent Timothy Cuff has indicated he wants the program to be available to all students.
Initial plans are for an inaugural cohort of about 25-30 students, two from each early college high school.
Whitley said this year’s seniors, by flying twice a week, could have 60 hours of flying time under their belts by year’s end, more than the 40 hours required for an FAA pilot’s license. Juniors would only have to fly once a week to graduate with a pilot’s license.
During a reception in START offices on the PanAm building’s second floor, Whitley discussed his company’s plans, including for a hotel in conjunction with the flight school and aviation mechanic’s school.
He said officials had considered dorms but FAA regulations wouldn’t permit them. He said he has the support of bankers and plans could be scaled up.
He also attached significant importance to START’s flight simulator, which he said can greatly enhance the learning curve, especially for ninth- and 10th-grade for students.
Additionally, he said START has four of the Tecnap P-Mentor trainer aircraft on order. He said the planes are state-of-the-art and made by an Italian company that has been in the aviation business since World War II.
Carlos Olvera, BISD director of bilingual education and Camilla’s father, said to get to this point in her flying career Camilla has been attending flight school classes for about a month.
Her mother Myrta Castillo, said when Camilla realized there was a flight school at Brownsville-SPI she shared that she wanted to become a commercial airline pilot.
“I said OK, how are you going to get there? Tell me your plan.”
She said she wants to get her pilot’s license, complete a four-year college degree, then join the military and eventually work for a major airline like Delta, American, or Southwest Airlines.
“She’s very driven, determined. She studies a lot in her free time. When she’s not sleeping, she’s studying. She’s my angel, my sweetheart and I love her. I’m very proud of her,” her mother said.
To see more, view staff photographer Miguel Roberts’ full photo gallery here: