The Western Reserve Port Authority and Eastern Gateway Community College have partnered to create a flight school program to give local students and adults a runway to enter the in-demand field of aviation.

“I’ve heard so many cool stories about people that over the years learned to fly at Youngstown, or got their passion for aviation at Youngstown … that’s where they learned to fly and we haven’t had that for years,” Anthony Trevena, port authority executive director, said.

Classes will be at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, which in Vienna is operated by the port authority. The hope is, Trevena said, to have the school operating next year.

The program will offer a private pilot certificate course. Already, the program has a single-engine Cessna 172, a “really great aircraft,” Trevena said, for students to earn flight hours in, and a non-motion stationary simulator.

“Basically, it can take you all the way from the beginning, from you’re initial discovery flight all the way through getting your private pilot’s license and doing your solo flight,” Trevena said. “That is really exciting to get people in that direction.”

Eastern Gateway is working to tailor an articulation agreement with Kent State University to allow course credits to transfer, to make sure the “curriculums mesh.”

One path for enrollees would be to achieve their private license and earn a two-year associate degree at Eastern Gateway, and move on to KSU for a bachelor’s degree in aviation, Trevena said. Or they can attend simply for the private pilot certification.

“It’s a phenomenal opportunity for people in the Mahoning Valley,” he said.

Joe , a local attorney and pilot, will be chief pilot for the school, Trevena said. Mike Hillman, owner / president of JETS, a fixed-based operator that has a location at the Youngstown-Warren airport, and Maxin have been working to standup the program.

“This has been a passion for Anthony and for I to have a flight school on the field,” Hillman said. “We wanted it to be both an avenue for collegiate-based training as well as certificate-based training, and that’s why Eastern Gateway seemed like a good fit.”

Planned for the school are full-motion encapsulated simulators, one configured for a single-engine plane and the other for a multiple engine plane, Hillman said.

Trevena said the port authority is working with Eastgate Regional Council of Governments to secure a grant to acquire the pieces of equipment.

If awarded the more than $300,000 request, it wouldn’t be until next fall when the simulators are delivered, so in the meantime the non-motion tabletop simulator was acquired from the Ernie Hall Aviation Museum in Howland, Hillman said.

Other goals include adding more aircraft, including another single-engine plane and a twin-engine plane as well, he said.

“Our goal is to continue to grow the program,” Trevena said. “I would hope, I can’t guarantee it, but I would love to see the school in the next the year.”

Said Hillman, a private pilot rating alone isn’t employable, “but it’s the first step you have to take to be a commercial pilot, so everybody has to start there.” Also, it’s a requirement to becoming an air traffic controller and there are a number of military programs that require the certification or it provides other benefits.

“It really could take you in a number of different directions,” Hillman said.