Expert: David A. NewMyer - 7/27/2009

Question
Hi Mr. Newmyer,

    Thanks in advance for taking the time to answer my question.  I suppose I have several interrelated questions.  The first of which relates to Graduate Assistantships at aviation universities.  Within the next year or so, I will be making a career move back into the aviation realm.  I'm not sure if you've worked as a faculty adviser to teaching/research assistantships but I was hoping you might provide a rundown of the specific requirements you would be looking for in a potential applicant.  
A brief background about myself:  B.S. Business Administration with about 1.5 years of study completed in Aeronautical Science at ERAU.  I have a private pilots license and about 120 hours total time. I also volunteer at a local FBO in New Hampshire. Currently, I am a business systems analyst for a large insurance company.
I have rediscovered my passion for aviation more recently and I'd love to start pursuing it again.  I believe I am well suited to excel in an aviation related Graduate program and consequent career.    

The ultimate goal would be to continue my flight training up through to qualify for regionals/corporate flying.  I understand the process of that fairly well.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on how best to incorporate a more thorough academic background.  Aviation science, airport management and development, human factors and aviation related to non-profit work are all of interest to me.

Outside of the advanced studies in graduate school, what are some aviation related careers/jobs that I might try to pursue with what I suppose is limited specific industry experience?  I am very willing to travel and relocate for the right opportunity.

Knowing that it will take several years to fund the additional flight training I will need for a flying career, I really want to be involved any way I can.  I am open to learning anything aviation related.  Working for an airline, airport operations, planning, accident investigation, etc..


Answer
Hi, Paul:

Nice to hear from you.  I am happy to answer your question.

First of all, it sounds to me like you need to select a graduate program that is aviation-related that will prepare you for one or more of the areas that you are interested in (aviation science, airport management and development, human factors and aviation-related to non-profit work).  From what I know about the subject, there are many more non-engineering aviation-related graduate degree options available today than there used to be 10 to 20 years ago.  Among those universities offering such degrees are:

1. Daniel Webster University, Nashua, New Hampshire: MBA in Aviation (on-line as well as on-campus)
2. Dowling College, New York (not sure of exact degree title)
3. Embry Riddle Aeronautical University--Daytona Beach campus (several degree options at the graduate level including an MBA in Aviation and now a new Ph.D. program that I believe is just starting up right about now)
4. Embry Riddle Aeronautical University--Prescott Campus (I believe that they offer a Masters in Aviation Safety
5. Florida Institute of Technology--Master's degree in Airport Management and Planning
6. Middle Tennessee State University--Master's degree in Airport Management and Planning
7. Parks College of St. Louis University, Masters in Aviation Safety (I heard a rumor that this degree might be in hiatus in terms of accepting new students, but, I am not sure about that)
8. Southern Illinois University Carbondale--Master of Public Administration in Aviation Administration
9. University of Nebraska at Omaha--Master of Public Administration in Aviation Administration
10. University of North Dakota--Not sure of degree title but they offer at least one major or option at the graduate level

There might be more out there, but, I believe that I have captured the majority of the graduate programs that are available in aviation.

I would contact each university via their website and obtain more information about the degree programs that might be of interest to you. When you make those contacts, ask them specifically about how you go about obtaining a graduate assistantship at each school.  At Southern Illinois University Carbondale, for example, the department of Political Science (which oversees admissions to the MPA program) has a specific process for applying for GA spots in addition to applying for admission to the program itself.

At SIUC, there are three sources for Graduate Assistantships:

1.  The MPA program itself (some are aviation-related and some are not);
2.  The Aviation Management program, which currently has a grant that funds up to four Graduate Assistants to work on airport inspections at non-airline served airports (the so-called 5010 program)--we expect that program to run three more years.  The students selected for these GA positions are from the MPA in Aviation Administration program; and,
3.  The university as a whole has assistantships in locations like the Student Center, etc., but, not normally aviation related.

Once in a while we might also hire a graduate assistant to do work related to the Aviation Flight program...but, that is irregular.  There is also some need in our Aviation Technologies program (A and P program) for graduate assistants, but, they normally look for AVT graduates or for engineering grads for those.

The other nine universities that I have listed are all different in terms of how they use graduate assistants in aviation and how they hire them.  Again, as noted above, you will have to ask each school what their process is and what the GA's are used for.

As far as going to work in aviation from where you are now, that is a tough call given the state the the aviation industry is currently in.  This is actually a good time to be in graduate school, getting ready for the next "uptick" in hiring in aviation (which will occur in two to four years, depending on how you read the tea leaves....bounce back from the 1980-83 recession had started by 1984 and bounce back from the recession that occured right when 9/11 happened had begun about 3 years later, depending on the company.

If you wish to work in the airport management field, I have two inter-connected ideas for you:

1.  Join the American Association of Airport Executives (www.aaae.org ), if possible, as an academic member (once you are in school again).  It is far cheaper as an academic member ($40 a year compared to at least five times as much otherwise).....anyway, no matter how you join, AAAE then gives you access to their publication AIRPORT REPORT which is issued twice a month and has job listings in each issue; and,

2.  Once in AAAE, you can gain access to their list of airport internships--these are largely offered in the summer, but, at some airports are year-around.  Some are paid and some are unpaid.  The work experience varies in terms of what you do (airport operations support, airport security support, airport communications, etc) but all of it would be applicable to a career workign in management at an airport (and, it gets your "foot in the door").

There are also some airport consulting firms that do internships, but, they largely (not always, but, largely) deal with masters degree students for those internships, depending on the particular skills that they are looking for in the student.  In this case, your business analysis background may well help you with airport consulting jobs and internships.  I believe that there is a listing of airport consulting firms available at the website of the Airport Consultants Council or ACC.....you can see if there are any near where you live and then contact them about possible jobs or internships.

I would say that jumping into the airline industry is going to be particularly hard to do in this economy.....many of them are talking about layoffs at the end of the busy summer season.  So, the availability of anything at an airline will be limited.

As far as your long-term plans to fly for a corporate flight department, keep in mind that corporate and business aviation have suffered an extra blow due to the reaction to the GM-Ford-Chrysler executives flying corporate jets to the TARP hearings last November.  That plus President Obama's negative words about business aviation in his speech to Congress early this year will be a lot for them to recover from....so, do some careful research on this segment before making solid plans for your career.  Business aviation WILL rebound from this, but, this segment suffered a "double whammy" that was both political and economic.....

I hope that these ideas give you something to work with.  I wish you the very best.  If you have any additional questions, do not hesitate to send a follow-up question via AllExperts.

Sincerely,

Dave NewMyer, Ph.D., Professor and Chair
Aviation Management and Flight
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
http://www.aviation.siu.edu