For aviation students who have concentrated on airplanes, flying a helicopter is a whole new experience.
“I have 110 hours (of experience) in a regular plane, so I know how to fly,” said Liberty University junior Tom Vonolszewski. “Then I got this thing, and I didn’t know what to do. It’s a whole new thing.”
Liberty’s School of Aeronautics, in collaboration with Falwell Aviation, expanded its offerings this year with the addition of a $300,000 2006 Schweizer helicopter, and a program to match.
In January, the school plans to also offer aircraft mechanics.
Liberty now is one of only a few universities in the nation to offer helicopter training, said aviation department chair Ernie Rogers.
“There’s a need and a shortage of training schools for helicopters, so we’re trying to fill that void,” he said.
Kyle Falwell, manager of the Falwell Airport and flight school, said he had been interested in offering helicopter training for “quite a while.”
He leases the two-seat helicopter, and rents it out to the school as needed.
The program started several weeks ago, and four students already are learning to fly — two Liberty students, and two others through Falwell Aviation.
Until the program fills up, Rogers said, it will accept people who can take the same classes through Falwell Aviation without enrolling at Liberty.
It costs $320 per flight hour to train in a helicopter with an instructor, on top of tuition for Liberty students.
That’s about 30 percent more than airplane training because helicopter maintenance and insurance is more expensive, Falwell said.
Obtaining a helicopter license requires 40 hours of flight training, although that will be cut to 35 hours once the program gets further Federal Aviation Administration certification, he said.
Rogers said the aviation program as a whole already has FAA certification, but he hopes to gain secondary certification in January.
Falwell Aviation also offers half-hour discovery flights for prospective students for $150.
Helicopters are good for missionary pilots flying to remote areas, Rogers said, since they don’t require an airstrip for landing, and they burn jet fuel, “which is much cheaper and easier to get overseas.”
The aircraft mechanics program, which will be offered starting in January, also is an in-demand field that will benefit missions pilots, said Dave Young, dean of the school of aeronautics.
“To be a missionary pilot, you not only have to have the commercial flying certification, they also have to be an aircraft mechanic,” he said.
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