Retired airline pilots want an aviation program at Fort Valley State University

Hank Taylor, a retired Eastern Airlines Pilot, started his flight training in the United States Air Force, where he eventually became an Air Force instructor pilot.

“A proposal was submitted recently to implement a four-year aviation curriculum to produce pilots at Fort Valley State University,” explains Taylor. “Unfortunately, that proposal was rejected by the Georgia Board of Regents. We think that rejection should be reconsidered and that the aviation program should be implemented immediately.”

While in the Air Force, Taylor trained Tony Holder, who later trained other pilots in the Air Force.

“There’s a large demand for pilots because of the growth of aviation in the last 10 years,” says Holder.

“We’re going to be short 533,000 pilots worldwide over the next 20 years,” adds Robert Hamilton.

Hamilton has worked in aviation for 43 years, including a stint with Flex Jet Airlines.

“What that means in the United States is, we’re going to be short 89,600 pilots, according to research,” continues Hamilton.

He admits the shortage of commercial pilots is alarming.

“It boils down right now, we have airlines on the ground because we don’t have pilots to fly them,” he tells 41NBC.

Hamilton, along with Hank Taylor, believes Fort Valley State University can be the solution to training future pilots.

The president of Peach Regional Chamber of Commerce is also pushing for this new curriculum. Tom Morrill says students would study aviation in the classroom, then their flight-portion of the training would be done at Perry-Houston Airport.

“The good thing about the pilot program at Fort Valley State University is that it uses private contractors to do the flight training and current staff members to do the ground training,” explains Morrill. “Over all it would generate millions over a period of years.”

John Bailey is a retired Delta Airlines pilot. He has been recently inducted into the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame. 

Bailey says U.S. pilots are in demand because of their high-level of training and experience.

“Fort Valley State offers the opportunity for young people to get the type of training required to get those jobs in the airlines,” says Bailey. “Now we’re not there yet.”

Because of the need, this group of pilots say they won’t stop fighting until a new aviation program is included at Fort Valley State University.

41NBC reached out to FVSU but school officials declined to comment on this topic.

We were told the Georgia Board of Regents turned down the FVSU aviation proposal because Middle Georgia State University already has a program.