The aviation program at Iowa Lakes Community College will be expanding into nearby air space. Tim Busch is chief flight instructor for the program, which operates at Estherville’s airport and will fly in and out of Spencer’s airport next year as well.
Enrollment in the aviation and airport management program at Iowa Lakes Community College has nearly tripled in the past four years. The Spencer airport had been a landing spot for Great Lakes Aviation, but the regional airline ended commercial service out of the Spencer airport 22 years ago.
Busch says Iowa Lakes classes at the Spencer airport will start next August. The community college program trains private and commercial pilots as well as flight instructors. Graduates with an associate degree earn an F-A-A license. Commercial airlines are short about 17-thousand pilots this year according to several estimates. There’s a shortage of flight instructors, too.
