MSU aviation program takes flight

Robb Murray

MANKATO — If you’re looking for an aviation program with junky planes and declining enrollment, Minnesota State University is not the place for you.

The program that used to hemorrhage students is adding them quickly. The aircraft fleet is among the newest anywhere. There are new, enthusiastic faculty members. Program morale is high. The president of the university is bully on the aviation program.

A shining example of how things have changed for the program showed up on the MSU campus mall Thursday. A $220,000 two-seat aircraft, a Diamond DA20 Eclipse to be precise, was perched near the Wigley Administration Building.

Gleaming in the sun, the sleek, streamlined craft with the 35-foot wingspan attracted a lot of attention. Five years ago, the program’s fleet of aircraft was aging and, according to one instructor, a little embarrassing. But now, any student who begins the program flies the Diamond, or similarly flashy Piper planes.

“We don’t have anything old,” said aviation faculty member Craig Ruedy. “It is freaky-advanced compared to what we had five years ago.”

Ahhh ... Five years ago. Anyone who has followed MSU aviation during the past decade knows about the implosion of a program that, until then, was gaining momentum and building respect.

It all began when MSU renegotiated a contract in 2001 that dictated how flight training would be run at the Mankato Regional Airport. The new deal meant North Star Aviation, which had handled flight instruction for years, was out. A new company, Mankato Aviation, was in.

At the same time, the university’s relations with John Roberts, the head faculty member at the time in the aviation program, were souring. The university frowned on Roberts’ practice of getting fees from the administering of Federal Aviation Administration flight-check tests to students.

Roberts ultimately was fired in connection with the flight tests. He filed suit against the university for wrongful termination and lost. He appealed, and lost again.

Along the way, the aviation program’s reputation — and enrollment — took a nose dive. Before the controversies began, there were about 250 students in the program.

Today, though, after an infusion of energy from new students, new planes and new faculty, the program’s future looks much better. There are about 130 students in the program now, and they expect that number to jump next year.

“I am very hopeful that this will turn things around,” MSU President Richard Davenport said.

Mark Grout was a student during the days when the program nearly died. He said he was among the students who, instead of taking sides, tried to hunker down and finish the demanding program.

“I was here to fly,” he said. “I just kept going.”

Upon graduating, he went right to work for Mankato Aviation, the company that took over for North Star Aviation during the Roberts-era debacle.

Today, he works for North Star as an instructor. He says he’s noticed a definite change during the last six to eight months.

“In a very short time,” he said, “there’s been a major shift in morale and the classes have gotten better ... When students come through here now, I don’t have to teach them as much.”

Jeff Beaudry, another former student and current flight instructor, said the program’s troubles during the past few years have taken a toll.

“I talked to one student today who didn’t even know we had an aviation program,” Beaudry said. “Our main purpose out here (on the mall) is to show off the new airplane. We’re trying to get rid of the bad taste people may have about the aviation program.”

Ruedy said that the rough years resulted in many students who came to MSU for aviation enrolling in other majors. Now, he said, they’re starting to come back. And while no one in the program was ready to give numbers, they’re hoping next fall’s beginning aviation class will be double the size of last year’s incoming 30 students.

One of those students who bypassed aviation is Ben Deitner. He’s a senior now who has majored in law enforcement, engineering and other disciplines, but his first choice had always been aviation.

“All the instructors are there for you,” he said.

And the new planes ain’t bad either.

“The Diamond is the only plane I’ve ever flown,” said Deitner, who is close to getting his private pilot’s license.