Texarkana College Expands Role in Aviation Workforce Development with New FAA-Accepted Training

Specialized light-sport aircraft maintenance training strengthens TC’s growing high-school-to-career aviation pipeline

Texarkana College is expanding its role in aviation workforce development with the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) acceptance of the college’s Light-Sport Repairman–Maintenance (LSRM) training course.

The specialized training places TC among a small number of institutions nationwide offering FAA-accepted LSRM maintenance training at a time when changes to the FAA’s light-sport aircraft regulations are expected to expand the category and create new opportunities for specialized aircraft maintenance.

For TC, the significance goes beyond a new training course. The LSRM program adds another piece to an aviation workforce pipeline that begins with high school students through Tango Flight, continues through TC’s FAA Part 147-approved Aviation Maintenance Technician program and leads to careers across the aviation industry.

“This is about much more than adding another aviation course,” said Tyler Poole, Coordinator of Aviation at Texarkana College. “We are building a workforce pipeline that starts before students ever graduate from high school and gives them a clear path into professional aviation careers. The addition of LSRM training gives Texarkana College another specialized capability at a time when the aviation industry is changing and the need for skilled maintenance professionals continues to grow.”

From Building an Airplane to Building a Career

Through its partnership with Tango Flight, a nonprofit aviation education program, TC introduces high school students to aviation maintenance through hands-on learning. Students work as a team to build an FAA-certified, two-seat light-sport aircraft, gaining experience with aircraft systems, tools and maintenance practices along the way.

Students who successfully complete the two-year Tango Flight program and meet program competency requirements may enter TC’s Aviation Maintenance Technician program with up to 18 hours of Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) coursework already completed, giving them a significant head start toward earning their FAA Airframe and Powerplant credentials.

As part of the partnership, approximately 50 Tango Flight instructors are expected to complete the LSRM training, strengthening the technical foundation of instruction across the program’s growing network.

“Our instructors are the foundation of everything we do at Tango Flight, and this training makes them even stronger,” said Brandon Sanders, Associate Executive Director of Tango Flight. “It strengthens the technical foundation of the program and gives students an even stronger connection between the hands-on work they do in high school and the professional aviation careers they can pursue after graduation.”

Building an Aviation Workforce for the Region

The new training follows implementation of the FAA’s Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC) rule, which expands the types of aircraft that can qualify as light-sport aircraft and creates new opportunities for flight training and recreational aviation.

The changes are expected to increase the number and variety of aircraft in the category, creating additional opportunities for technicians with specialized light-sport maintenance skills.

The growth of aviation education at TC is also part of a broader regional economic-development strategy. AR-TX REDI, the region’s nonprofit economic-development organization serving Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas, has worked with TC, local school districts and Tango Flight to help build the workforce infrastructure needed to support aviation growth.

“AR-TX REDI recognized an opportunity to build an aviation cluster in Texarkana that simply did not exist before,” said Rob Sitterley, President and CEO of AR-TX REDI. “Working with partners like Texarkana College, our school districts and Tango Flight, that vision has become a regional effort producing nationally recognized training, high-paying career pathways and the skilled workforce we need to recruit and grow aviation companies. What began as a REDI initiative is now a competitive advantage for our entire region.”

TC is working toward a goal of graduating 300 aviation students annually through traditional enrollment, the Tango Flight pipeline and military SkillBridge pathways.

The college currently hosts three Tango Flight cohorts: one with Texarkana Independent School District, one with Texarkana Arkansas School District and one serving western Bowie County students at TC @ TexAmericas Center. Together, the programs create a pathway from high school exposure to aviation, to college training, to professional aviation careers- strengthening Texarkana’s position as an emerging aviation workforce hub.