ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. - 119 years ago, the Wright Brothers' first flight took off from Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina in the Outer Banks and humans have been in the skies ever since.
Just an hour's drive away from that historic location, the next generation of aviators is training at Elizabeth City State University, and in true HBCU fashion, this generation is diversifying an industry that — at least traditionally — has had mostly one look.
The classroom? Elizabeth City Regional Airport, which ECSU shares with the United States Coast Guard.
The university's Aviation Science program as the only four-year program of its kind in North Carolina. Right now, it's working to fill a major need.
From pilots to mechanics and air traffic controllers, the aviation industry badly needs people.
“Currently, if you look at the data, we need about 18,000 pilots annually for the next ten years to meet the demand," said Dr. Kuldeep Rawat, Dean of ECSU's School of Science, Aviation, Health & Technology.
It's an overwhelming task the university is facing head-on. As a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), ECSU is pulling from a population that's traditionally underrepresented in the industry.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2022, pilots and aircraft engineers were nearly 96 percent white, 2.6 percent Black and 1.6 percent Asian. Women made up just 9.2 percent of the group. Compare those numbers to the overall workforce — 77 percent white, 12.6 percent Black, 6.7 percent Asian and nearly 47 percent women — and you can see the disparities in both race and gender.
“Aviation is one of those fields where a lot of minorities don’t even consider because they’re not used to seeing that," said Reggie Thomas, an ECSU alumnus-turned flight instructor for the university.
Thomas is taking the opportunities afforded to him and passing them on, helping further diversify the aviation industry one student at a time.
Two of his students are Aviation Science majors McKenzye Smalls and Aleathia Hudson, or, as they refer to themselves, The BFPs. Black female pilots.
News 3 caught up with both while they were practicing with flight software in the university's simulation room.
“The SIMs we have, we’re able to configure for any airport, which is really cool," said Smalls.
But Smalls and Hudson have been flying actual airplanes for a couple of years now. ECSU is working to get students into the pilot seat as early as freshman year.
“We’re trying to get everyone in the airplane as quickly as you can," said Brandon Nguyen, a junior, who tells News 3 that he was inspired to become an airline pilot during his family's vacations growing up.
For Madelyn Knowles, flying is in her blood.
"[My dad is] an airline pilot for American Airlines," she said next to one of the university's dozen or so Cessna aircraft parked at the airport.
The opposite is true for Thomas, who grew up in a small town. He says the road to graduation and flight instructing was a long and difficult one.
“I get to help others not make the same mistakes that I’ve made," Thomas told News 3, adding that not only did he have speech challenges growing up, but his twin sister — his inspiration — has autism and is non-verbal. “If she’s unable to talk, then I don’t want to waste any portion of my life when she could’ve had that.”
Eventually, Thomas hopes to become an airline pilot and the flight hours from instructing will help him get there, as could the university's partnerships with companies like United and JetBlue.
And as he climbs that ladder, so will his salary.
“Typically, a captain with a larger airline makes anywhere from $350,000-400,000," said Dr. Rawat.
However, paying for flight school typically doesn't come cheap. ATP, the largest flight school in the country, says on its website that becoming a commercial pilot will cost anywhere from roughly $76,000 to $97,000.
At ECSU, the NC Promise tuition program caps tuition at $500 for in-state students and $2,500 for out-of-state; meaning students save tens of thousands of dollars in the typical costs to become a pilot. Aviation students working to become engineers, air traffic controllers and drone operators are also saving money compared to many other college programs.
The opportunity is helping attract more people to ECSU's aviation program and the university is purchasing more planes, drones and other equipment to accommodate. Rawat predicts his current 180 students will grow to 300 in the next five years.
Just like today, the next group will be different colors and genders, but share a love of flying.
