The University of Illinois is considering whether or not the Institute of Aviation is a good “fit” for the University. The Institute of Aviation is one of the top collegiate schools in the nation. The University of Illinois flying team placed first this past week in the National Intercollegiate Flying Association regional competition, qualifying them for the national competition held in May. In fact, the U of I flying team has won the majority of the regional competitions since 1980. They have also placed in the top ten colleges and universities the majority of the time since 1985; six times, they were in the top three schools. (Records prior to 1985 are not available.) The competition does not only take the “technical” flying skills into account; there are also knowledge-based events. I put the word technical in quotations because there is so much more to flying than just physical skill. I struggle to understand why the University of Illinois has such a difficult time realizing why the Institute of Aviation “fits” into a four year degree program when so many other universities have a baccalaureate degree program in the field of aviation.

One of the reasons the Institute of Aviation is under scrutiny is that we do not have faculty. Whose fault is this? The University allowed our faculty members to transfer to other departments. Why was this done? Is it on someone’s agenda to close the Institute of Aviation? It was under no fault of the Institute of Aviation that our faculty members are no longer with us. The University of Illinois should allow the Institute of Aviation to hire more faculty members so we can have a viable degree program. That would be the only fair alternative to closing the Institute of Aviation.

Kristina Hinebaugh,

assistant aviation education specialist