ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Those in the area looking to learn more about different careers in aviation will soon have just that chance.
Mid-America Air Museum (MAAM) and the Liberal Municipal Airport, along with KDOT's Aviation Division, will be hosting Cockpit & Beyond Career Possibilities Day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 1 in order to showcase the wide variety of aviation-related careers to students of all ages. This is a free event for any schools or homeschool students who wish to attend.
Plans for such an event were started a few months ago, according to MAAM Director Bob Immell.
“Late this past fall, we were approached by the KDOT Aviation Division about an event. The idea is to bring in as many kids from ages K through 12 to expose them to the world of careers out there that involve aviation, particularly since there are so many children in this area who have never been around an airplane of any kind other than maybe they've seen them flying over or on TV,” Immell said. “There are many of those children who probably never thought 'Hey, I might want to work in something related to that.' This is the first event of its kind in Western Kansas – to my knowledge, they have had some similar events in the in the eastern part of the state, but this is going to be a first for Western Kansas and first time KDOT has tried, or at least their Aviation Division, has tried to partner with anyone to do this. We have invited nearly 200 schools not just from Western Kansas, but also schools from Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado, basically all the types of schools In the area that we do school tours for. Another thing that excited KDOT was how with this being a big rural area, there aren't as many opportunities to see things like this.”
And aviation includes all kinds of work, Immell said.
“Aviation is not just pilots or mechanics. It's people who run airports, people who maintain airports. It's government jobs like the FAA air traffic control, law enforcement that uses aviation, medical services that use aviation, and then you've also got manufacturing and all the electronics and everything else,” Immell said. “The idea is bring in as many companies to showcase as many ideas, as many career paths, as we can that day. The schools can come and go as they please, it's not like a guided tour or a specific speaker, there will be booths and information from all these different companies and governmental entities and they can visit with whoever they want. We have confirmations from several companies and several schools, with more still in the works. Right now, we know Textron will be here, as will Kansas State University's Aviation Division out of Salina, Hesston College and their aviation. We do have aircraft pilots and drone pilots who will be here as well as air traffic control people and safety experts from the FAA. That's just a fraction of what we're expecting so far, and there are still people and companies we're waiting to hear from.”
With this being the first such event in the region, Immell said there is a lot to be excited about.
“I'm very excited to have that many kids here at one time and that many companies in one spot to showcase all these different careers. We try to teach them a little bit when they come through and do family tours or school tours, but there's a whole universe of jobs we just can't fit in with a typical tour. So that will be good, and I'm hoping it will boost aviation in Kansas in general,” Immell said. “There are a lot of manufacturing jobs related to aviation and there's a huge demand for pilots all over the country, perhaps an even bigger demand for airplane mechanics, and that whole system needs a lot of people. With an event like this, however, I will admit I also have a few fears, with my biggest one being whether or not we'll have high winds that day because if we have 50 mph winds, the school buses won't be able to run in those cross winds, and any aircraft that would also be visiting that day probably would not want to fly in. Admission will be free to the museum all day long. Also, one of the pilots who will be here that day to speak to students, she's a college student who obtained her license about a year and a half ago, and she would be more than happy to explain to younger people what she had to go through to get her license and what to expect, which I think will be a big plus for everyone.”
And should this year’s event go well, Immell said never say never in when it comes to the future.
“If this goes well, I would totally be open to doing more events like this. I don't know if we would do it every single year, particularly if we're going to have something like the AirFair, we'd have to rotate things,” Immell said. “But if it goes over well, if these companies are happy coming and willing to come back, and if the schools are happy and want to come back, or if we have enough people interested, we would do it again. This is the first time for us, and first time in this half of the state that it's something like this has been organized in this manner, so we're a little bit in uncharted territory, but we're really looking forward to seeing how this turns out for us.”
Overall, Immell said, he hopes the attendees learn a lot that day.
“I will be very happy if every kid that came through here, regardless of their age, realizes there's a big, wide world of aviation and potentially be interested in finding out more about what kind of jobs they could have,” Immell said. “You don't have to be a pilot, you don't have to be a mechanic – you might be more to the technology side of the field since there are a lot of computers in airplanes today. I just hope that they walk away realizing there's a whole universe of careers, and I'm also hoping they will get excited about aircraft and want to learn more. I hope this will encourage people to come see our museum. There are a lot of people from Liberal who have never been in the museum, or they haven't walked through for several years. They won't be able to get a guided tour that day, but I would like for them to see what an amazing facility we have, and then maybe they'll want to come back and tour it, so they'll certainly get to see a lot when they're here. And if anyone has any other questions about the job fair or anything else about the museum, they are more than welcome to call (620) 624-5263.”
