Unity teen leads way as Greater Latrobe Senior High grows aviation course offerings, partnerships

Brayden Johnson soon will be taking off into the world of post-secondary studies, as he hopes to land a job as a commercial airline pilot.

The senior at Greater Latrobe Senior High has a head start because he did initial flight training at the nearby Laurel Highlands Aeronautical Academy at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. At the same time, he’s been taking virtual aviation classes part time through the Community College of Beaver County.

“I’m really enjoying the program,” said Johnson, who lives in Unity. “It’s a great way to get into flying. I’ve been interested in flying since I was a kid. It’s always been a dream of mine.”

Johnson’s career choice will take him into a field where there is a great demand for new entrants.

In January, Statista, a global data and business intelligence platform, projected a potential worldwide shortage of up to 50,000 pilots by 2025.

Domestically, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics foresees annual job openings for an average of 16,800 airline and commercial pilots through 2032 — driven in large part by pilots leaving the field, for other occupations or retirement.

Johnson is the first Greater Latrobe student to complete college-level coursework through CCBC in a cooperative High School Aviation Academy program that began this school year.

He participates in virtual aviation studies on mornings, followed by regular high school subjects in the afternoon and training at the Laurel Highlands flight school on his own time. It’s given him a leg up on earning a two-year professional pilot associate degree through CCBC.

“He’s one busy kid,” Greater Latrobe school counselor Susan Kuhn said. “He’s like a half-time college student plus he spends additional hours at the airport. You have to be committed to aviation.”

“I’m building hours toward my private license,” Johnson said. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to get my private license this summer. That will allow me to fly in good weather.”

In April, he’d completed 20 hours at the controls of a small plane and was working toward an initial goal of up to 60 flight hours. That will surpass the minimum 40 hours required by the Federal Aviation Administration.

“I try to fly two to three times a week,” he said. “With the weather, it all depends.

“Getting the opportunity to fly has been by far the coolest thing. It’s another world up there. It’s such a great experience.”

Previous coursework in engineering at Greater Latrobe — along with ground school instruction and discovery flight and open house events at the Arnold Palmer airport — primed Johnson for serious pursuit of a sky-high career.

The discovery program introduced Johnson to the cockpit of a Cessna 172 single-engine training plane. “We went up and the instructor handed over the controls for a basic maneuver,” he said. “That was my first time flying a plane. It was so much fun being up in the air.”

At the open house, working pilots discussed their background and experiences.

“That kind of helped lead me down the path toward becoming a commercial pilot,” Johnson said.

After completing an associate pilot degree at CCBC, he intends to study for an aviation business degree through Southern Illinois University.

“They send a professor to the Beaver County college,” he said, “so I can commute from home and take the classes there.”

The CCBC program is open to juniors and seniors at Greater Latrobe. It can lead to other associate degree options, in air traffic control or aerospace management.

Other pathways to aviation careers are just around the corner for high school and college students in the Latrobe area.

An initial cohort of students in Saint Vincent College’s new aviation management degree program is expected to launch into studies in August. That program includes cooperative training at Laurel Highlands Aeronautical Academy.

In the 2024-25 school year, Greater Latrobe is set to introduce its own in-house “Aerium” aviation courses, based on curriculum developed by the nonprofit Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Jon Mains, assistant to the superintendent for secondary education, explained ninth graders will be exposed initially to aviation concepts as part of an Introduction to Engineering course. They’ll learn about technological developments in the aviation and aerospace industries and some of the career options in those fields.

A course for 10th graders will include more involved information, such as aircraft design, manufacturing and maneuvering, and the forces of flight.

Mains said he expects to see about 20 students sign up for the 10th-grade class.

Looking ahead, Mains said, Greater Latrobe is planning to add more advanced aviation courses for high school juniors and seniors. During the second semester of their junior year, students will choose whether they want to focus on human pilot flight planning or operating drones.

“It’s our goal, with the airport in our backyard, to grow our program,” Mains said.

Greater Latrobe teacher Jamie Campbell is working to get her pilot’s license with the help of a scholarship offered by AOPA.

“I’ve been through ground school already,” she said. “It gives me the foundation to instruct students in the AOPA course.

“I’m really excited to integrate this curriculum and dive in. It was developed with the input of educators and aviation professionals. The students are being prepared to enter the aviation field in whatever capacity they would desire.”

“They’re going to get the students interested,” Jim Arnold, administrator at the Laurel Highlands flight school, said of the new Greater Latrobe AOPA courses. “Once the students get a little more advanced, they can come over here and start flying with us.”

“We’re doing this for the love of aviation,” Arnold said of the Laurel Highlands staff. He said about 25% of those who enroll in the local flight school are planning to fly for a commercial airline while others want to learn to fly for business or pleasure.

Every one of those potential airline pilots will be needed, he said, since many established pilots are nearing retirement and will have to be replaced.

“Right now there is an enormous demand for pilots,” Arnold said.

Students who complete the pilot’s associate degree at CCBC and pass required testing can be in line to fly for an airline once they turn 21 and have racked up at least 1,250 flight hours, Arnold said.

“I’m hoping that it will help with the pilot shortage,” he said.