DSU students' careers can now take off in a new way.
Delaware State University officially expanded its 25 year old aviation program Monday, announcing an agreement with Horizon Helicopters of Newark. Horizon’s helicopter training programs will now be part of the Professional Pilot concentration of DSU's Aviation Program. Horizon will provide in-flight training while Del State handles ground training. DSU currently offers fixed wing training on a fleet of ten aircraft owned and operated by the university.
The partnership plan was conceived approximately three years ago. Horizon officials contacted Delaware State about working together when they recognized its program and DSU's are Part 141 certified, allowing military veterans to use their Department of Defense benefits to enroll. Horizon Co-owner Harry Griffith says approval of the partnership was delayed because Veterans' Affairs and the Federal Aviation Administration had questions regarding the unique split between ground and in-flight training they wanted answered before signing off on the agreement.
“Convincing the VA and FAA that this would work and was safe was the key," said Griffith. "It was novel for the FAA to get involved as far as to understand how we made this partnership work so that they could do their checks that they regularly do.”
While students can chose fixed wing or helicopter aircraft as their primary focus, Director of DSU’s Aviation Program Stephen Speed says that the course syllabus for both aircraft programs will be nearly identical, making it easier for those who want certification in both.
"Helicopter training is about three times as expensive as fixed wings training which is already expensive," said Speed. "Some our students who are fixed wing may want to add on a helicopter rating, it’ll be a little bit less expensive for them to do that than to go straight through and get the helicopter ratings.”
The partnership makes DSU one of only six colleges or universities in the nation offering this type of training program, and the only one in the Northeast. DSU is also the only Historically Black College and University to own their own and operate their own fleet of fixed wing aircraft.
Horizon Helicopters was founded in 1985 and is Delaware’s only state approved helicopter training facility.