Delta State University
Delta State University
Commercial Aviation Department
The Delta State University Commercial Aviation Program offers course work required for students seeking either a Bachelor of Commercial Aviation degree or a Master of Commercial Aviation degree. The Master of Commercial Aviation degree program has a focus of aviation management, while the Bachelor of Commercial Aviation degree offers a choice of programs of study in Airway Science, Flight Operations, and Aviation Management.
In January of 1981, the Commercial Aviation Program was established by the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, by approving courses in general aviation, aviation management, and airway science. The following year instruction began with two faculty members and an enrollment of twenty students. Today, there are more than one hundred commercial aviation majors, with more than seventy enrolled as flight operations majors. The staff has grown to six full-time faculty members and a sixteen-member flight instruction staff. The aircraft fleet has increased from two single engine, two-seat trainers and one multi engine trainer, to fifteen single engine trainers and two multi engine aircraft including a Beechcraft King Air C-90.
In February of 1995, the IHL Board of Trustees recognized the quality of the Commercial Aviation Department’s undergraduate programs and approved the Master of Commercial Aviation Degree program. In the fall of 1995, classes in Fixed Base Operations, Advanced Human Factors, and Advanced Aviation Safety were opened to the first group of Delta State University aviation graduate students.
The facilities used by the Commercial Aviation Department include a new 15,625 square foot hangar I flight training complex located a short distance from the campus. A 12,000 square foot academic building is home to faculty offices, classrooms, and four state-of-the-art multi engine flight training devices (FTD). FTDs are generally referred to as flight simulators. The largest FTD used in the program is a Beech 1900C, which replicates one of the aircraft most widely used in the commuter airline industry. Each FTD is capable of cross-county navigation and is equipped with computer generated color graphics.
Delta State University has received national acclaim for its Airway Science degree program including recognition by the Federal Aviation Administration. Additionally, DSU has been selected by the National Intercollegiate Flying Association’s governing council as the location of NIFA’s national headquarters. This selection attests to DSU’s history of support and commitment to intercollegiate flight competitions and the interaction between students and representatives of the aerospace industry.
Delta State University’s Commercial Aviation Program is a recognized leader in the field of aerospace education. Its commitment to excellence and safety is unrivaled, as any of the program’s four hundred graduates will confirm.
