Delta Paying for People to go to Flight School?
07-07-2008, 04:59 AM
#31
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2007
Posts: 234
Originally Posted by Doug Ward
It's true. Here are two news reports of the agreement between Delta and Western Michigan University for scholarships funded by Delta. OBTW, it was back in 2001!
Delta partnership impacts future U.S. flight crews
Jan. 18, 2001
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. -- Increasing numbers of women and minorities will be piloting the nation's commercial aircraft, thanks to a new agreement between Delta Air Lines and WMU announced Jan. 9 at the College of Aviation campus in Battle Creek.
The announcement drew some 40 top Delta executives and WMU alumni who work for Delta as well as national representatives of the Organization of Black Airline Pilots. They arrived on a chartered Delta 727 from Atlanta moments before the announcement of Delta's support for pilot education.
With $1.65 million in support from Delta over a four-year period, WMU will begin training a minimum of 24 and as many as 40 women and minority pilots who, once training is completed, will be given priority employment consideration by Delta Connection carriers Comair and Atlantic Southeast Airlines . The students will include highly qualified graduate students as well as specially recruited undergraduates who will be trained using WMU's "ab initio," or "from the beginning," flight training curriculum.
Their successful integration into the ranks of commercial pilots will help address an industry-wide lack of female and minority representation in the cockpit. Minorities now account for just 1 percent of pilots and flight engineers. Slightly more than 5 percent are women.
"This investment in quality pilot education will ensure that we are able to continue to build a superior Delta team and will establish Delta as a leader in the hiring of women and minority pilots for many years to come," said Malcolm B. "Mac" Armstrong, Delta's executive vice president of operations of the venture. "We're excited and pleased to launch this relationship with WMU."
"We have a long-term commitment to expanding educational opportunities for women and minorities so they can take full advantage of employment opportunities in the aviation industry," said President Elson S. Floyd. "This partnership reflects Delta's support, not only for that work, but also for the contributions our College of Aviation has made in developing ab initio pilot education."
Traditionally, most commercial airline pilots received their training while completing military service. As the pool of military pilots shrinks, airlines are looking for innovative ways to bring highly-trained individuals into the commercial pilot ranks.
WMU's ab initio curriculum is a European-style flight training regimen that takes students with no previous flight experience through a complete program and prepares them for employment as first officers at commercial airlines. WMU began incorporating ab initio training into its undergraduate program in 1994 when it redesigned its curriculum to meet what representatives of the U.S. aviation industry said were the industry's most pressing needs. The University is the only training program in the world approved by the Federal Aviation Administration to provide such ab initio training in accordance with FAA regulations.
During the announcement of Delta's funding of the new program, Capt. Dave Bushy, Delta senior vice president for flight operations, said his firm is looking forward to having new WMU graduates as candidates for future flight crews. He called Delta's decision to partner with WMU "yet another endorsement of the strength of one of the greatest aviation programs in the country."
The first eight graduate students recruited for the Delta program will begin their training at WMU this May and will spend 14 months on campus preparing for their flight careers. In addition, four undergraduates will be recruited to begin WMU's four-year bachelor's degree program in the fall. Delta and WMU will work together to recruit and screen candidates for both levels of training.
WMU's College of Aviation has worked since the mid-1990s to substantially boost the number of women and minorities in the aviation industry. A 1995 grant and subsequent funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation was used to launch an intense effort aimed at recruiting students early in their high school careers, giving them early flight experience and providing scholarship resources for them to attend WMU. WMU's enrollment of women and minority students has more than tripled since 1997.
WMU personnel have worked with schools throughout Michigan and in urban areas including Detroit and Philadelphia to introduce information about aviation careers. They have also worked with the Organization of Black Airline Pilots to recruit students to summer aviation camps and for enrollment in WMU's aviation programs. Delta and OBAP jointly sponsored Dreamflight 2000, a summer program that sent 150 aspiring aviators to Washington, D.C., aboard a chartered Delta flight. Those young students took time from their summer activities at Atlanta Public Schools, Aviation Career Enrichment Weekend Flight Academy, Civil Air Patrol and the Atlanta Aviation Career Education (ACE) Camp for the one-day field trip to the nation's Capital.
During the announcement, Capt. Robert Brown, president of the Organization of Black Airline Pilots, praised the University for having the foresight to address the problem of minority and female underrepresentation in the cockpit. And he praised Delta for committing to the effort.
"I want to applaud Delta for taking a bold step, which is basically unheard of in American aviation," he said.
Delta Air Lines, headquartered in Atlanta, serves passengers with 5,196 flights each day to 353 cities in 59 countries on Delta, Delta Express, Delta Shuttle, the Delta Connection carriers and Delta's Worldwide Partners.
Media contact: Cheryl Roland, 616 387-8400, [email protected]
Office of University Relations
Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA
616 387-8400
[email protected]
Delta and WMU announce scholarship recipients
June 6, 2001
ATLANTA -- One is a senior account executive for a regional phone company. Another is a music teacher in a small Midwest city and yet another is a biostatistician from Alaska. What these eight young adults all have in common is a unique aptitude for flight training and a scholarship from Delta Air Lines that could land them in the co-pilot's seat of a commercial aircraft some 18 months from now.
Eight prospective pilots from around the nation were named today as the first recipients of scholarships designed to put increasing numbers of women and minorities in the cockpits of the nation's commercial aircraft. They will be the first to enjoy flight training through an agreement announced earlier this year between Delta Air Lines and Western Michigan University.
The first scholarship class will begin training on WMU's College of Aviation campus in Battle Creek, Mich., later this month. Six of the eight members of the group were in Atlanta today as guests of Delta to attend an awards ceremony, meet with airline executives and tour Delta's Operations Center and flight simulator facilities. WMU officials and representatives of Battle Creek's Kellogg Co. and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and a city of Battle Creek economic development official were also in attendance. All three groups are major partners in WMU's aviation initiatives. In addition, representatives of the Organization of Black Airline Pilots, a group instrumental in developing the new program, were present.
With $1.65 million in support from Delta over a four-year period, WMU's College of Aviation will train a minimum of 24 women and minority pilots who, once training is completed, will be given priority employment consideration by Delta Connection carriers.
The students who will begin training this month are highly qualified graduate students. The Delta/WMU partnership also will include specially selected undergraduates pursuing bachelor's degrees at WMU. All will be trained using WMU's "ab initio," or "from the beginning," flight training curriculum.
Members of the June group of trainees are:
Rachel Bemis, a music teacher from Kalamazoo;
Heather Burke, a Delta flight simulator engineer based in Atlanta;
Mareca Fischer, a Delta customer service agent from Midwest City, Okla.;
Deborah Goates of Jackson, Mich., a corporate controller for Pilot Industries Inc.;
Cecil Hannibal, a senior account executive with SouthWestern Bell/SBC Telecom in Atlanta;
Charles Rowe, a senior analyst with Continental Airlines in Houston;
Kristen Schultz, a biostatistician and senior programmer with AETNA Pharmacy Management from Eagle River, Alaska; and
Stanley Spalding of Columbia, Md., a regional auditor for Comcast Cable Communications Inc.
The students were recruited from among more than 100 individuals who expressed an interest in the program. After screening, 25 traveled to WMU for a rigorous battery of aptitude tests and interviews, including assessments of stress tolerance, decision-making skills, hand-eye coordination and response times.
"We were delighted with the caliber of the candidates we recommended to Delta," says Dr. Richard Wright, dean of WMU's College of Aviation. "We were looking for individuals who had the unique qualities needed to be a commercial pilot, who could handle the intensity of our 60-week course and who could work well on a team. We're confident that these candidates meet those requirements and will be extremely successful in their training."
Once trained, the students' successful integration into the ranks of commercial pilots will help address an industry-wide lack of female and minority representation in the cockpit. Minorities now account for just one percent of pilots and flight engineers. Slightly more than five percent are women.
"This investment in quality pilot education will ensure that we are able to continue to build a superior Delta team and will establish Delta as a leader in the hiring of women and minority pilots for many years to come," says Malcolm B. "Mac" Armstrong, Delta's executive vice president of operations. "We're excited and pleased to launch this initiative with such an outstanding group of young people."
Traditionally, most commercial airline pilots received their training while completing military service. As the pool of military pilots shrinks, airlines are looking for innovative ways to bring highly trained individuals into the commercial pilot ranks. WMU's ab initio curriculum is a European-style flight-training regimen that takes students with no previous flight experience through a complete program and prepares them for employment as first officers at commercial airlines. WMU began incorporating ab initio training into its undergraduate program in 1994, when it redesigned its curriculum to meet what representatives of the U.S. aviation industry said were the industry's most pressing needs. The University is the only training program in the world approved by the Federal Aviation Administration to provide such ab initio training in accordance with FAA regulations.
WMU's College of Aviation has a total enrollment of 770. The college is located at W.K. Kellogg Airport in Battle Creek, Mich., about 25 miles east of WMU's central campus in Kalamazoo. The college offers bachelor's degree programs in aviation flight science, aviation maintenance technology and aviation science and administration. The college is also home to 70 cadets sponsored by international air carriers through its International Pilot Training Centre.
Delta's goal is to become the No. 1 airline in the eyes of its customers, flying passengers and cargo from anywhere to everywhere. People choose to fly Delta more often than any other airline in the world on 5,234 flights each day to 367 cities in 64 countries on Delta, Delta Express, Delta Shuttle, Delta Connection carriers and Delta's Worldwide Partners. Delta is a founding member of SkyTeam, a global airline alliance that gives customers extensive worldwide destinations, flights and services. For more information, go to <www.delta.com>.
Media contact: WMU's Cheryl Roland, 616 387-8400, [email protected] or Delta Air Lines Corporate Communications, 404 715-2554.
Office of University Relations
Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA
616 387-8400
[email protected]
Delta partnership impacts future U.S. flight crews
Jan. 18, 2001
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. -- Increasing numbers of women and minorities will be piloting the nation's commercial aircraft, thanks to a new agreement between Delta Air Lines and WMU announced Jan. 9 at the College of Aviation campus in Battle Creek.
The announcement drew some 40 top Delta executives and WMU alumni who work for Delta as well as national representatives of the Organization of Black Airline Pilots. They arrived on a chartered Delta 727 from Atlanta moments before the announcement of Delta's support for pilot education.
With $1.65 million in support from Delta over a four-year period, WMU will begin training a minimum of 24 and as many as 40 women and minority pilots who, once training is completed, will be given priority employment consideration by Delta Connection carriers Comair and Atlantic Southeast Airlines . The students will include highly qualified graduate students as well as specially recruited undergraduates who will be trained using WMU's "ab initio," or "from the beginning," flight training curriculum.
Their successful integration into the ranks of commercial pilots will help address an industry-wide lack of female and minority representation in the cockpit. Minorities now account for just 1 percent of pilots and flight engineers. Slightly more than 5 percent are women.
"This investment in quality pilot education will ensure that we are able to continue to build a superior Delta team and will establish Delta as a leader in the hiring of women and minority pilots for many years to come," said Malcolm B. "Mac" Armstrong, Delta's executive vice president of operations of the venture. "We're excited and pleased to launch this relationship with WMU."
"We have a long-term commitment to expanding educational opportunities for women and minorities so they can take full advantage of employment opportunities in the aviation industry," said President Elson S. Floyd. "This partnership reflects Delta's support, not only for that work, but also for the contributions our College of Aviation has made in developing ab initio pilot education."
Traditionally, most commercial airline pilots received their training while completing military service. As the pool of military pilots shrinks, airlines are looking for innovative ways to bring highly-trained individuals into the commercial pilot ranks.
WMU's ab initio curriculum is a European-style flight training regimen that takes students with no previous flight experience through a complete program and prepares them for employment as first officers at commercial airlines. WMU began incorporating ab initio training into its undergraduate program in 1994 when it redesigned its curriculum to meet what representatives of the U.S. aviation industry said were the industry's most pressing needs. The University is the only training program in the world approved by the Federal Aviation Administration to provide such ab initio training in accordance with FAA regulations.
During the announcement of Delta's funding of the new program, Capt. Dave Bushy, Delta senior vice president for flight operations, said his firm is looking forward to having new WMU graduates as candidates for future flight crews. He called Delta's decision to partner with WMU "yet another endorsement of the strength of one of the greatest aviation programs in the country."
The first eight graduate students recruited for the Delta program will begin their training at WMU this May and will spend 14 months on campus preparing for their flight careers. In addition, four undergraduates will be recruited to begin WMU's four-year bachelor's degree program in the fall. Delta and WMU will work together to recruit and screen candidates for both levels of training.
WMU's College of Aviation has worked since the mid-1990s to substantially boost the number of women and minorities in the aviation industry. A 1995 grant and subsequent funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation was used to launch an intense effort aimed at recruiting students early in their high school careers, giving them early flight experience and providing scholarship resources for them to attend WMU. WMU's enrollment of women and minority students has more than tripled since 1997.
WMU personnel have worked with schools throughout Michigan and in urban areas including Detroit and Philadelphia to introduce information about aviation careers. They have also worked with the Organization of Black Airline Pilots to recruit students to summer aviation camps and for enrollment in WMU's aviation programs. Delta and OBAP jointly sponsored Dreamflight 2000, a summer program that sent 150 aspiring aviators to Washington, D.C., aboard a chartered Delta flight. Those young students took time from their summer activities at Atlanta Public Schools, Aviation Career Enrichment Weekend Flight Academy, Civil Air Patrol and the Atlanta Aviation Career Education (ACE) Camp for the one-day field trip to the nation's Capital.
During the announcement, Capt. Robert Brown, president of the Organization of Black Airline Pilots, praised the University for having the foresight to address the problem of minority and female underrepresentation in the cockpit. And he praised Delta for committing to the effort.
"I want to applaud Delta for taking a bold step, which is basically unheard of in American aviation," he said.
Delta Air Lines, headquartered in Atlanta, serves passengers with 5,196 flights each day to 353 cities in 59 countries on Delta, Delta Express, Delta Shuttle, the Delta Connection carriers and Delta's Worldwide Partners.
Media contact: Cheryl Roland, 616 387-8400, [email protected]
Office of University Relations
Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA
616 387-8400
[email protected]
Delta and WMU announce scholarship recipients
June 6, 2001
ATLANTA -- One is a senior account executive for a regional phone company. Another is a music teacher in a small Midwest city and yet another is a biostatistician from Alaska. What these eight young adults all have in common is a unique aptitude for flight training and a scholarship from Delta Air Lines that could land them in the co-pilot's seat of a commercial aircraft some 18 months from now.
Eight prospective pilots from around the nation were named today as the first recipients of scholarships designed to put increasing numbers of women and minorities in the cockpits of the nation's commercial aircraft. They will be the first to enjoy flight training through an agreement announced earlier this year between Delta Air Lines and Western Michigan University.
The first scholarship class will begin training on WMU's College of Aviation campus in Battle Creek, Mich., later this month. Six of the eight members of the group were in Atlanta today as guests of Delta to attend an awards ceremony, meet with airline executives and tour Delta's Operations Center and flight simulator facilities. WMU officials and representatives of Battle Creek's Kellogg Co. and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and a city of Battle Creek economic development official were also in attendance. All three groups are major partners in WMU's aviation initiatives. In addition, representatives of the Organization of Black Airline Pilots, a group instrumental in developing the new program, were present.
With $1.65 million in support from Delta over a four-year period, WMU's College of Aviation will train a minimum of 24 women and minority pilots who, once training is completed, will be given priority employment consideration by Delta Connection carriers.
The students who will begin training this month are highly qualified graduate students. The Delta/WMU partnership also will include specially selected undergraduates pursuing bachelor's degrees at WMU. All will be trained using WMU's "ab initio," or "from the beginning," flight training curriculum.
Members of the June group of trainees are:
Rachel Bemis, a music teacher from Kalamazoo;
Heather Burke, a Delta flight simulator engineer based in Atlanta;
Mareca Fischer, a Delta customer service agent from Midwest City, Okla.;
Deborah Goates of Jackson, Mich., a corporate controller for Pilot Industries Inc.;
Cecil Hannibal, a senior account executive with SouthWestern Bell/SBC Telecom in Atlanta;
Charles Rowe, a senior analyst with Continental Airlines in Houston;
Kristen Schultz, a biostatistician and senior programmer with AETNA Pharmacy Management from Eagle River, Alaska; and
Stanley Spalding of Columbia, Md., a regional auditor for Comcast Cable Communications Inc.
The students were recruited from among more than 100 individuals who expressed an interest in the program. After screening, 25 traveled to WMU for a rigorous battery of aptitude tests and interviews, including assessments of stress tolerance, decision-making skills, hand-eye coordination and response times.
"We were delighted with the caliber of the candidates we recommended to Delta," says Dr. Richard Wright, dean of WMU's College of Aviation. "We were looking for individuals who had the unique qualities needed to be a commercial pilot, who could handle the intensity of our 60-week course and who could work well on a team. We're confident that these candidates meet those requirements and will be extremely successful in their training."
Once trained, the students' successful integration into the ranks of commercial pilots will help address an industry-wide lack of female and minority representation in the cockpit. Minorities now account for just one percent of pilots and flight engineers. Slightly more than five percent are women.
"This investment in quality pilot education will ensure that we are able to continue to build a superior Delta team and will establish Delta as a leader in the hiring of women and minority pilots for many years to come," says Malcolm B. "Mac" Armstrong, Delta's executive vice president of operations. "We're excited and pleased to launch this initiative with such an outstanding group of young people."
Traditionally, most commercial airline pilots received their training while completing military service. As the pool of military pilots shrinks, airlines are looking for innovative ways to bring highly trained individuals into the commercial pilot ranks. WMU's ab initio curriculum is a European-style flight-training regimen that takes students with no previous flight experience through a complete program and prepares them for employment as first officers at commercial airlines. WMU began incorporating ab initio training into its undergraduate program in 1994, when it redesigned its curriculum to meet what representatives of the U.S. aviation industry said were the industry's most pressing needs. The University is the only training program in the world approved by the Federal Aviation Administration to provide such ab initio training in accordance with FAA regulations.
WMU's College of Aviation has a total enrollment of 770. The college is located at W.K. Kellogg Airport in Battle Creek, Mich., about 25 miles east of WMU's central campus in Kalamazoo. The college offers bachelor's degree programs in aviation flight science, aviation maintenance technology and aviation science and administration. The college is also home to 70 cadets sponsored by international air carriers through its International Pilot Training Centre.
Delta's goal is to become the No. 1 airline in the eyes of its customers, flying passengers and cargo from anywhere to everywhere. People choose to fly Delta more often than any other airline in the world on 5,234 flights each day to 367 cities in 64 countries on Delta, Delta Express, Delta Shuttle, Delta Connection carriers and Delta's Worldwide Partners. Delta is a founding member of SkyTeam, a global airline alliance that gives customers extensive worldwide destinations, flights and services. For more information, go to <www.delta.com>.
Media contact: WMU's Cheryl Roland, 616 387-8400, [email protected] or Delta Air Lines Corporate Communications, 404 715-2554.
Office of University Relations
Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA
616 387-8400
[email protected]
07-07-2008, 05:59 AM
#32
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2008
Position: FIRE ALPA
Posts: 3,082
Yes it's true. I was an instructor there back then. Mostly white girls, but a couple black guys as well. Most not the best students by any means. Very frustrating for the instructors that had been there for 3+ years unable to move on having to instruct them being given a golden pass. Did I mention that Delta wouldn't even interview any of the instructors for possible jobs.... I have no idea what the current status of this program is. Hopefully long since killed off.
07-07-2008, 06:48 AM
#33
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Dec 2006
Position: I was acquired, Not Hired
Posts: 1,784
The Captain I flew with said there are aliens that hover over the NOPAC routes. They tap into our datalinks to get baseball game scores.
FF
FF
07-07-2008, 09:26 AM
#34
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2008
Position: R U Serious?
Posts: 260
damn I have man boobs, does that qualify?
07-07-2008, 12:15 PM
#35
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2008
Position: 757/767 FO
Posts: 847
Originally Posted by FliFast
The Captain I flew with said there are aliens that hover over the NOPAC routes. They tap into our datalinks to get baseball game scores.
FF
FF
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