TC aims for 300 aviation grads annually

With 50 recent graduates of its aviation mechanics program, Texarkana College is reaching for new heights.

A principal goal is to turn out 300 graduates annually from its 12-month, Federal Aviation Administration-approved course that launched in January 2025, according to TC aviation director Brandon Sanders. To hit the mark, the college is enlarging its pipeline to attract students in three ways: through traditional enrollment, Tango Flight and most recently the federal Skillbridge program.

Skillbridge allows military service members to use the last 180 days of their enlisted service to focus full time on training for civilian employment. Over the summer, seven service members participated in a pilot program at Texarkana College to obtain the FAA’S Airframe and Powerplant certification.

Dr. Jason Smith, TC president, said the training is a bridge between the skills the seven students gained in the military and the accreditation they need to work on airframes and plane engines in the civilian world.

Texarkana College now plans to offer five, eight-week Skillbridge classes a year with up to 20 students in each class, according to Smith. The college is partnering with recruiting agency Aerotek to attract students by reaching out to military personnel near the end of their enlistment.

The endeavor is the college’s way of filling a workforce need.

“There’s such a shortage nationally, worldwide,” Smith said about certified aviation mechanics.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 5% growth in aircraft and avionics equipment mechanics and technicians jobs between 2024 and 2034, with a median salary of $79,140 a year.

“About 13,100 openings for aircraft and avionics equipment mechanics and technicians are projected each year, on average, over the decade,” the bureau reports on its website.

Smith said a recent graduate of the college’s A&P training landed a job in St. Louis with an annual salary of $85,000.

Tango Flight is a dual credit program that introduces high schoolers to aviation mechanics. A highlight of the program is the student-led construction of an Faa-certified, two-seat airplane.

Texarkana College has Tango Flight classes with Texarkana Independent School District and newcomer Texarkana Arkansas School District at the college’s Aviation Technology building at Texarkana Regional Airport. The college also has a Tango Flight cohort for western Bowie County students at TC @ Texamericas Center.

Sanders described the college as the only place in the nation with three Tango Flight programs.

Tango Flight students have an educational advantage in the form of 15 to 18 hours of completed A&P courses. After high school, they can obtain an A&P certification in only two semesters instead of the standard three (spring, summer, fall), Smith said. So far, three Tango students from TISD have enrolled at Texarkana College for the fall.

The college is inviting schools across Texas to

come under its Tango Flight umbrella. Smith said he is in talks with roughly 10 school districts, some as far away as San Angelo, to draft memorandums of understanding for the college to facilitate the dual credit program in an

online format on their campuses.

“We would certify their instructors,” said Smith, adding the instructors would become adjunct professors at TC.

The certification would

carry weight, since TC has Part 147 accreditation from the FAA. The designation means the college’s A&P graduates are federally recognized aviation mechanics.

Approved instructors would have to meet instructional standards set by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, which is Texarkana College’s accreditation organization.

Expanding Tango Flight could give another 50 to 100 dual credit students a direct line to the college, Smith said.

A selling point of Texarkana College’s A&P program, according to Smith, is its price tag. The all-inclusive cost is approximately $16,000, which Smith said is about $11,000 less than similar programs.

The U.S. Aviation Academy estimates the cost of A&P training at a community college to be between $8,000 and $25,000 for an 18- to 24-month course.

Texarkana College’s A&P training is considered a vital piece of the region’s effort to grow its economy by producing a locally trained workforce, such as for the maintenance, repair and overhaul facility destined for the airport. Sanders said it sends a positive signal to potential businesses, who say in effect, ‘It’s great you have cheap dirt to build on, but we need people.’