An aviation maintenance technology facility at Winchester Municipal Airport is progressing with its building expected to be completed toward the end of August.
Winchester Airport Manager Zachary Colescott recently updated the City Council on the project and said that dirt work was nearly completed, and the physical structure and skin of the 22,000-square-foot building have gone up.
He said that concrete sidewalks have been poured, the interior has been framed and roughed-in, and various sub-contractors have been on-site moving toward finishing the building.
Colescott said the Tennessee College of Applied Technology has made further moves toward establishing an on-site aviation maintenance technology program.
He said the Tennessee Department of Transportation Aeronautics Division has also approved to allow the Airport Authority to make a 1,400-square-foot addition to the hangar section of the building to give more storage space.
He added that the addition is within the scope and budget of the current project, and construction will take place after the rest of the main building area is completed.
Colescott said that despite having multiple material and weather delays, the project is now moving toward its final state.
He said a storage container has been obtained to start getting training material.
Colescott said steps have been taken to begin putting together a training syllabus that will be submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration, and the search has begun for the first staff member for the school.
The project is an extension of Franklin County’s Tennessee College of Applied Technology, located on Dinah Shore Boulevard in Winchester. It is being funded by a $2 million Tennessee Economic and Community Development grant.
Laura Monks, president of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Shelbyville, which is the parent entity involved in the Franklin County project, said recently that it’s the first time in a decade that TCAT has added such a beneficial new technological program to its curriculum.
She said TCAT campuses in Memphis, Nashville and Morristown offer avionics maintenance technology courses, but there was nothing offered for potential students in Southern Middle Tennessee.
Monks said the program being offered in Winchester will fill a void and better serve aviation industries in a corridor that expands from Huntsville to the Arnold Engineering Development Complex to Oak Ridge.
She added that aviation industries are being developed in the immediate surrounding area, creating job opportunities for students who will graduate from the program.
“It’s great to be able to offer something that will greatly benefit students in the area,” Monks said, adding that, at present, any Franklin Country residents interested in careers in aviation technology have to make the trek to Nashville to study in the field.
Colescott had said local high school students are discovering they don’t have to pursue four-year college degrees to have careers that lead to higher-paying jobs.
He had said the aviation maintenance technology program will be a great benefit to the local students who venture into the high-tech field.
The aviation maintenance technology program offered through the TCAT system prepares students to inspect, repair, service, and overhaul airframe and power plant systems.
Students also receive training in the electrical and electronics area of the aviation industry.
The program offers specialized classroom instruction and practical hands-on experience in the field of aviation, airframe, and power plant maintenance.
Upon completion of the program, students will be eligible to take the Federal Aviation Administration Certification Exam to become licensed airframe and power plant mechanics who diagnose, adjust, repair and overhaul aircraft engines and assemblies, such as hydraulic and pneumatic systems.
The educational field includes helicopter and aircraft engine specialists.
Gloss