By Abigail Gan | Staff Writer
Baylor’s Institute for Air Science trains leaders in the aviation industry who go on to become the next pilots. Tim Compton, assistant director for the institute, said the program prioritizes training students to lead and make good decisions.
“We do more than train pilots,” Compton said. “Our program objective is to train career-oriented leaders so that the ability to safely fly an airplane from point A to point B — passengers or cargo where it needs to be safely and on time — kind of becomes secondary.”
Compton said Baylor’s program is small and operates on aircraft-to-instructor-to-student ratios, allowing students to complete a minimum of four flight line events per week.
“Brand new students who show up to Baylor with zero flight hours become flight instructors prior to their senior year, and they’re going to get to cut their teeth as new flight instructors during their senior year,” Compton said. “When they walk across the stage, they’re going to be very close to being fully qualified to go fly for the airlines.”
Compton said the program fosters social communication, skills and teamwork.
“Each step of the way, the incoming freshman group … move through the program as this kind of herd of students if you will,” Compton said. “Aviation requires a ton of communication among its members — so really, those interpersonal skills, the ability to communicate with folks not electronically, but … face-to-face … and team building.”
Lecturer Russell Sloane’s journey to teach at the Baylor Institute of Air Science brought him back to familiar grounds. Sloane completed his MBA at Baylor and formed his own environmental consulting business before returning to Baylor when the lecturing opportunity caught his attention.
“When I was working in aerospace, one of the aspects they really encourage you to do is go back and get your master’s, which I did through Baylor,” Sloane said. “Baylor’s very unapologetic focus on their faith fit in great with my mind on my walk and my family’s walk. So Baylor was such an easy decision back in 2015, when I started the program, that when this position came up, it was still an easy decision.”
Sloane said being back on campus is surreal.
“I can remember when I was here in my MBA; I was quite a bit older than the average person walking around — but you’re still a student,” Sloane said. “To come back now and to be back in the aviation role, now I get to blend my knowledge and my passion.”
The “two worlds” of aviation and business encompass much more than most people would envision, Sloane said.
“People don’t realize we have over 23 aircrafts sitting painted like Baylor colors not too far from campus,” Sloane said. “People can visualize a chemistry lab. We have a lab — ours are just at the airport with planes. We have an incredibly robust program.”
Dr. Trey Cade, director of the institute, said the program began in 1991. When he joined as director in 2011, there were around 40 students enrolled. Now, there are around 140 students in the program.
Cade said this growth has led to the establishment of an aviation administration major that partners with the business major, as well as the opening of Baylor’s own flight school in 2019.
