United States Representative Rudy Yakym visits Plymouth Municipal Airport

On Thursday, United States Representative Rudy Yakym visited the Plymouth Municipal Airport. He took a tour and learned about the airport's AlphaFlight program for area students.

Bill Sheley, the manager of Plymouth Municipal Airport, shared the background of the AlphaFlight program at the airport.

At the start of bringing education to the airport, Sheley met with Culver Military Academy and Ancilla College. CMA wanted to bring its summer program to the airport, and Ancilla wanted to start a program.

Sheley brought Dan Marohn and his business partner, Ken Norris, to this meeting. Shortly after, CMA brought its summer program, and the high school AlphaFlight program soon followed.

Sheley explained that the high school class is part of the Career and Technical Education program through Plymouth.

Since this class began at the airport, almost 200 students have taken it. This year, there are 32 in the course.

“AlphaFlight has been turning out pilots, private pilots, commercial pilots and instrument rated pilots every month,” Sheley said.

A helicopter school has also been at the airport for a long time. About two to four private or commercial helicopter pilots graduate from these classes every month.

“We’re kind of unique in small general aviation in Indiana in that we’ve grown so much. The rest of the state has not seen that much of that,” Sheley said about the airport and the schools.

He added that they cannot grow fast enough for the schools. AlphaFlight wants to start a 147 program. This is a school for mechanics, but right now, they do not have the room.

Sheley explained that AlphaFlight classes are dual-credit Ivy Tech courses that give students 12 free credit hours that will transfer to any state school. This is in addition to the four hours students get from taking the first-year AlphaFlight class.

“We are fortunate to have AlphaFlight because with that, kids get flying time and we have a full motion simulator as well. They get time in both of those as part of the program,” Sheley said.

At the end of the course, students will do work around the airport, such as repainting markings and other airfield projects. This will help them remember these things years later.

Yakym talked about the country's need for pilots, as many retired during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What you guys do here, right out of Plymouth, is provide such a great service to our country and fill that need for additional commercial pilots. Which ultimately serves our airlines and brings down cost of airfares,” Yakym said.

Photo: Dan Marohn, Rudy Yakym, Robert Listenberger, and Bill Sheley

Photo and article provided by our news partners at The Pilot News.