San Juan College to offer helicopter flight training

A new helicopter aviation program at San Juan College is set to take flight this spring. On Tuesday, the college announced a new partnership with Albuquerque-based Enchantment Helicopters that will allow students to obtain an associate degree in technology helicopter from January. The degree covers four semesters, after which a student has logged 200 flight hours and have received both private and commercial licensing of helicopter flight, Enchantment Helicopters owner Doug Christian said. Even graduates will be certified as flight instructors. Enchantment Helicopters offers flight schools in Albuquerque and Phoenix. The company will also provide helicopters and flight instructors, while the College will provide the space and the class of degree. The number of helicopters and instructors based at the college will depend on the number of students enrolled in the program. Many of the introductory courses, such as school private land and the study of weather systems will be shared with students in the pilot program Mesa Air Group airline, aviation college coordinator Rae Lynn Shropshire said. "This simply adds another dimension to flight training. We're really excited about this," said Shropshire. The college hopes to begin offering classes that count for the degree of technology helicopter this spring. Shropshire anticipates approximately 7-10 students initially, with the expansion program in future semesters. Students will pay 's Advertisement Normal registration fee of $ 32 for each hour of credit in-state credit hours or $ 70 for out-of-state for the necessary classes. Must pay a cost more per flight hour flight completed, but the rate is not yet set, college spokeswoman Linda Baker said. The cost of the flight for the pilot program and 65,000 Mesa $, according to the program site. The need for helicopter pilots fly in the coming years due to about 60,000 veterans of the Vietnam War is expected to retire, said Christian. "There's a bit 'demand, especially here in the future," he said. Helicopter pilots are used in a variety of fields. Graduates can expect to fly for the services of a medical emergency, traffic news agencies, border patrol, construction firms and police forces, among other industries. Students will train with Robinson R22 and R44 model helicopters. They are the safest piston-engine helicopters in the world and about 75 percent of the jobs to use the airplane pilot, Christian said. Transition to other helicopters after achieving mastery with models Robinson also takes only five hours of additional training.