Are you looking to become a professional pilot in Central Oklahoma? If so, you need to understand the requirements and restrictions that come with the job. Southeastern Oklahoma State University's professional pilot degree program provides students with the flying skills and classroom knowledge they need to succeed in the aviation industry. The goal is for each student to fly at least three times a week, and their schedule will be determined each semester based on their academic schedule. Whenever they are not in class or working, they must be available to fly. It is up to the student to check the schedule regularly and arrive on time and prepared for every flight.
The program is open to students of Professional Pilot or Aviation Management: Flight Concentrations with a Private Pilot Certificate and offers recruitment, selection, training and placement strategies to cadets, as well as mentoring with current pilots and assistance with enrollment as they obtain their qualifications and eventually become certified flight instructors for their airline at OU. Students are exposed to a wide variety of weather conditions and will gain competence in making climate-related decisions when flying and controlling. The goal of the professional pilot degree program is to prepare students for employment in the commercial airline industry. If, after starting their flight training at Southeastern, they earn an FAA certificate or qualification at an accredited four-year college or university, they can transfer college credit to Southeastern and use it to meet the requirements of their professional pilot degree. The following spring, when other students enroll in AVIA 3284 Instrument Ground and AVIA 3321 Instrument Flying, they will enroll in AVIA 3362 Flight Instructor Ground and AVIA 3401 Flight Instructor Flying. If they already have an FAA private pilot certificate, they will begin their commercial flight training at Southeastern in the spring semester when their commercial flight training class 1 begins.
If they already have a commercial certificate with an instrument qualification, they will begin their flight training at Southeastern in the fall semester with AVIA 3152 Fundamentals of Flight Instruction, AVIA 3202 Flight Instructor Ground School and AVIA 3241 Flight Instructor Flying. Lance Lamkin, head of airport operations at OU's Max Westheimer Airport, states that CareerTech training gives students interested in an aviation career an advantage when seeking training opportunities beyond CareerTech. In addition, the Professional Pilot degree requires that at least the last two flight courses, including the corresponding ground courses, be taken in residence. Even if they have already enrolled in a class, if a higher priority student tries to enroll, lower priority students may be removed from class to make room. According to this standard, the first officers and captains must have an air transport pilot (ATP) certificate, which requires 1,500 hours in total as a pilot, 250 hours as pilot-in-command, and an aircraft type classification that involves specific training for the aircraft they will fly. One-third of all professional pilot specialization or specialization courses must be taken in person at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.
