SchellhammerIBY

It was announced today to students and faculty that Daniel Webster College will no longer be offering their degree in Aviation Flight Operations. The decescion came after individuals from ITT Educational Services determined that the return on investetment for graduating students was not worth keeping the flight program around. Students currently enrolled will be allowed to finish their degrees but prospective students and incoming freshman for the 2010-2011 school year will not be allowed to major in flight ops. This brings one of the most respected collegiate flight programs in the country to a sad end.

Mach Tuck

You beat me to it! Here is a link to describe to those who need more background

Daniel Webster College Ends Flight Program - Education News Story - WMUR Manchester


My question is, is this a trend towards a major decrease in college level Part 141 training facilities, or is it simply a case of an organization (ITT) acquiring a flight program and not understanding the passion of its faculty/students? This is an issue within aviation and training the next generation of pilots and its a shame to see a small, but distinguished flight program such as the one present at Daniel Webster College, to disappear. I am very interested in to what the current instructors of the flight program are feeling with a 3 year expiration on their jobs...... Is this the beginning to the strain caused by H.R. 3371 or just a single, unrelated occurrence?....

Mach Tuck

Pilot training program grounded at Daniel Webster College


This is a little better.....

BoilerUP

University of Illinois is next up to face the guillotine...

usmc-sgt

They are lucky the industry is in the shape it is currently in. They have a great deal going for their CFI staff and it is a career job for most. With that being said, and this news if there were anywhere else to go the majority of the staff would be bailing on that place instead of sinking with the ship.

I imagine most will still bail first attempt they get and after that who would apply to teach at at school that you know if shutting down?

Mach Tuck

At least all those students can just head to SIU carbondale... DWC is the only accredited flight program in New England or at least until ERAU puts in a campus in Maine.

snippercr

U of I's program will be phased out similarly. They have told us that any student currently enrolled will be allowed to finish so they don't have to go to SIUC. So it will be around for at least 5 more years but constantly smaller and smaller. What a tragedy to aviation to see these great schools fall off the map. It seems the pilot mills will soon be the main way to get your training.

2StgTurbine

They are cutting the flight program to make room for new nursing and education courses. 10 years from now all the students will wonder why their school is located next to an airport. The real shame is the impact on the airport. The maintenance companies on the field will lose a lot of business, the FBOs on the field will lose the spillover business (which represents 80% of their customers), and the airport will lose funding as the daily operations tank.

ITT handled it poorly. They told students that had no interest in ending the flight program when they bought the place, but it turns out they planned on doing this from the beginning. In the original plan for the ITT buy out, they agreed that they would not make any major alternations to the day to day activities on campus.

mjarosz

It's a damn shame of what ITT is doing to my school. They lied to everyone from day one of the process. I was told that DWC would operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of ITT and that the students would see no change. I was told that ITT resources would be used to improve the college in ways they would not be able do on their own. I was also told this would improve the value of my degree. None of that has happened. They reduced the fleet from 44 aircraft down to 17, completely eliminating the motorglider program in the process. Daniel Webster was once a premier aviation college (they started in 1965 as the New England Aeronautical Institute.) In 3 years there will be no more flying at DWC. Unfortunately, I had already graduated when this deal went down, so I was unable to personally oppose this plan. I am now ashamed that I have attended Daniel Webster College.

As a minor consolation, Robert Myers, the architect of this awful experiment, was promptly fired as president as soon as the deal was complete.

2StgTurbine

Just a few corrections. The motorglider program ended before ITT got involved. They were too old and the wind limitations on them caused bottle necking in training. DWC was in the process of creating an new flight program when ITT took over. The new plan was big and part of the requirement was to get a fleet for known icing.

Also, Myers was great. When he took over, the school was in serious finical trouble. He turned it around and really knew what he was doing. The problem was, he was not able to get rid of the debt from the previous president fast enough. The school was months away from losing finical scholarships and the ATC program because of the debt. He struck a deal with ITT with the condition that day to day life for students would be unchanged.

Then after the deal, ITT fired a lot of administrative workers. Myers disagreed with ITTs actions and because he questioned them, ITT fired him. They did that to anyone who stood in their way including the dean of aviation.