WESTFIELD – Westfield Technical Academy’s Aviation Advisory Board met on Wednesday to hear updates on the Aviation Maintenance Technology (AMT) program and plans for their booth at the upcoming International Air Show at Barnes Municipal Airport on August 12 and 13.
Assistant instructor Krysten Renihan and program coordinator Robert “R.J.” Horacek facilitated the meeting in the absence of committee chair Ken Dromgold and AMT instructor Galen Wilson.
Sean Peterson, general manager of Embraer at Bradley Airport, R.J. Horacek and Krysten Renihan. (Photo by Amy Porter)
Before the meeting, Renihan who is a commercial pilot said that she will be joining Rhode Island Air National Guard to fly C130’s. She said she would remain with the AMT program for the time being, until she is called up. Horacek, who recently retired after twenty years with Barnes ANG, said he has applied for the second instructor position for the AMT program, now entering its third year. He also works for Boeing full-time as a civilian contractor for the Department of Defense.
Renihan started the meeting by thanking Mayor Brian P. Sullivan for including $62,000 in his budget for design and engineering work at Hangar Two at Barnes, which houses the program’s aircraft. The design work is necessary to go forward with plans to use the Hangar as a learning facility. Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski and grant writer Shannon Barry are applying for a SKILLS Capital Grant of $500,000 and a Wells Fargo grant for that purpose. Needed are sprinklers, ADA handicap accessible, heater and bathrooms.
Horacek said they are currently cleaning up Hangar Two in preparation for the air show in two weeks. He said he hopes to have an event the Friday before the show for the students and their families. Plans are to bus them in from the school for a private tour and a barbeque. He said weather permitting the Thunderbirds may be practicing that afternoon. He plans to invite all of the 25 students in the program, along with their parents and siblings, and anticipates about 50 or 60 will be coming.
Horacek said the AMT booth has to be set up by that Friday. At the air show, students will all be in uniform, and Instructors and advisory board members will wear AMT program shirts. He said they have been cleared to solicit donations, and also plan to raffle off a SIM ride at the booth.
He said he is looking to have students shadow “performers” before or after their performance. He’s hoping to assign two students to each performer. A scout group that focuses on science, technology and aircraft will also be shadowing the AMT students. Horacek said the air show is expecting 200,000 people over the weekend.
Currently, AMT is working on getting a Dassault Falcon 20 moved to the Hangar for the upcoming school year. The Falcon is on loan from the Coast Guard to the New England Aviation Museum. The curator of the museum has asked for a mutual agreement to have student interns from the AMT program work at the museum.
R. J. Horacek, Steven Rawding, Aviation planner for MassDOT and Krysten Renihan. (Photo by Amy Porter)
Moving the Falcon will cost an estimated $2,500 to $5,000 for permits and state police escorts for the 56 foot fuselage that has a wing span of 54 feet, and would have to be moved in parts. Advisory Committee chair Ken Dromgold had been looking to get it to the Hangar by the end of the year. At the meeting, Sean Peterson, general manager of Embraer at Bradley Airport offered to help pay for all the permits.
One of the uncertainties is whether once the aircraft is in Westfield, the Coast Guard, which still owns the plane, will be “okay” with the school’s plans for the aircraft. “We don’t want it to be a “static display,” Horacek said.
The Falcon would replace the Lear jet currently at the hangar, which he said is essentially a static display, and may be removed if the Falcon comes. Both planes have hydraulic control surfaces, but the Lear was not complete enough in parts to put back together. If the Falcon can do everything but “engine run,” meaning run both the hydraulics and pneumatics, he said that would be a home run for the school.
The Westfield Technical AMT program is looking to fill fourteen slots in the next freshman class. Steven L. Rawding, Aviation planner with MassDOT said he recently toured the new AMT program at Cape Cod Community College, which is in its first year with ten students enrolled.
Rawding added that a recent Boeing report is optimistic on future jobs in the field, with 609,000 openings projected internationally between now and 2024, and a US estimate of 113,000 jobs.
