A new program in aviation and design is ready for takeoff in the Greater Victoria school district.
The program, one of several career-exploration options in the district, will begin in February at Mount Douglas Secondary School.
“There’s been a huge interest,” said Anna Lisa Bond, a district career co-ordinator.
Bond said while there are similar aviation programs elsewhere in B.C., she’s not aware of any others on the Island.
The program will be full-time and, like other career-exploration options, is open to all students in the district.
“We have a construction-focused one already,” Bond said. “We have an auto service technician-focused one, we have a tourism and adventure leadership model. Those are all running and have been very successful.”
The programs are intended to give students an intensive, hands-on experience, she said
Some students who can’t change their timetables for this school year have already said they will sign up for the aviation program next time around, Bond added.
Students taking part who aren’t from Mount Douglas will have to leave their schools for a semester.
The program will take up all of a student’s time for a complete semester, “because they take the courses and then they’re out on work experience within the field for four weeks, for 120 hours,” Bond said.
The maximum size of the inaugural class will be 18.
Leading the new program will be Mount Douglas teacher John Sumner, who spent 25 years in the air wing of Britain’s Royal Navy, first as a mechanic and then as an engineer.
He currently teaches wood shop and drafting.
“Two years ago, my wife said to me: ‘What would be your ideal job?’ I said: ‘Teaching aviation in high school.’ And here it is,” Sumner said.
Sumner said the curriculum could include a look at air-crash investigation, which was among his duties in the navy.
A store room off the wood shop will become a “hangar” for aircraft parts and equipment.
Bond said three courses will be taught at Mount Douglas and an engineering-oriented course will be taught at Camosun College, “so the students are getting that transitional experience to post-secondary education, as well as post-secondary credits.”
The ground-school component — which includes the theory of flight, risk assessment and meteorology — will be taught by a certified Transport Canada instructor at Victoria Flying Club, one of several businesses and organizations getting behind the program, Bond said.
“They’ll all write their ground-school certification and they’ll have three flights included, so they will be flying.”
The time in the air can be used as credit toward a private pilot’s licence, which students can pursue on their own.
Viking Air, 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron and Pacific Sky Aviation are all on board with the new initiative, Bond said.
“People are really supportive and they’re bending over backwards to help find work-experience placements, to promote the program.”
Course work covers a range of areas related to aviation, from metal fabrication to design and flight, Bond said.
“The goal isn’t that all these kids want to become a pilot, but that they’re going to be exposed to engineering, to the technical side, to the promotion and sales side, to the manufacturing side.”
