Flight School Waiting in the Wings at Wheeling-Ohio County Airport
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WHEELING - The Wheeling-Ohio County Airport will soon get a development manager, and this could lead to a flight school landing there with West Liberty University at the helm.
The Ohio County Development Authority this week entered into a memorandum of understanding with Regional Economic Development Authority (RED) to hire a development manager to bring tenants to the airport.
Following this should come a separate agreement with WLU to establish a flight school at the airport, perhaps with the partnership of Marshall University, which already has a flight school, explained Ohio County Commissioner Don Nickerson.
"We feel this would be a good first step to make something happen at the airport," he said.
Nickerson noted there are ongoing talks between the OCDA and RED, and some movement on getting the director in place should happen within a month.
"If it works out the way we think it will, West Liberty will be partnering with Marshall University - who has already done this," he added. "That's the plan, if everything works out as it is supposed to.
"Flight schools across the country are popular and crowded. And I've heard there is a shortage of pilots. This is a good thing all around."
Commissioner Randy Wharton, also president of the OCDA, termed the Wheeling-Ohio County Airport "an asset to the county."
"When we get the opportunity to develop it into something better, we should do it," he continued.
And RED's efforts to bring in institutions of higher learning who are interested in bringing in a flight school to the airport does show the airport is positioned for further growth, according to Wharton.
"If we are going to make anything out of the airport, our best opportunity is in the next 30 days," he said. "It's now or never."
Commissioner Zach Abraham has pushed for further use of and development at the airport. He said many of the plans for the WLU flight school at the airport remain preliminary, but once a development manager is in place that person can begin the work to see that the idea takes off and becomes reality.
While the development manager should be hired soon, the start-up of the flight school will take a while. WLU will have to secure a number of approvals to start the program, most notably from the Higher Education Policy Commission, according to Abraham.
RED invested money that they received for counties last year to do an assessment of the Ohio County Airport, and the OCDA did the review of that, Abraham said.
"They gave us some suggestions on how to develop the airport, and that started our conversations on how we can help," he continued.
He expects the county will pay RED $10,000 to $12,000 a month for its assistance in development at the airport, and this will include the hiring of the development manager
"They (RED) have talked to a couple of people for the manager's job, and I think they have narrowed it down to somebody," Abraham said.
The development manager would not be involved with day-to-day operations there, as these would continue to be administered by airport manager Russell Escue, he continued.
The development manager, instead, would be charged with connecting with the aviation community on potential development at the airport, attracting aviation-related businesses, and looking for ways to develop charter services.
"This seemed to be the right fit at the right time," Abraham said. "Happy that we're moving forward. Hopefully, we will see movement in the next year or two."
In January, WLU Interim President Kathy Monteroso announced during her state of the university address that the university was wanting to establish a flight school at the Wheeling-Ohio County Airport.
"There is such a high need for pilots, and we are so closely located to the Ohio County Airport. That's where we're looking to develop it," she said in January.
Monteroso on Friday said nothing has changed since that time, and she had no additional comment.
WLU has intentions of establishing an aviation program that would be based at the airport, she said.