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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Nearly 70 more new student enrollments are coming in to learn to fly planes this fall at Marshall University’s Bill Noe Flight School.
An orientation was held at the flight school Monday morning, which is situated on the grounds of West Virginia International Yeager Airport in Charleston. A total of 65 new students came in for a visit along with their families.
Marshall’s flight school also welcomed in their new G7 Cirrus SR20 plane Monday morning in conjunction with the orientation that included a fly over and water cannon salute that the new student arrivals got to witness.
Chief Aviation Officer and founder of Marshall’s flight school Bill Noe himself was on hand at the event Monday. He said he was thrilled to be welcoming in the largest number of enrollments the school has seen since it opened in 2021.
Noe said two years ago, they projected they would have about 25 enrollments, but to see that number more than double seems to be a reflection of the demand and success for oncoming aviation recruits.
“The program has amassed an immense amount of interest and is wildly successful, into an industry that is so wide open for opportunity you just can’t miss, I mean it is wide open for immediate employment, immediate returns on investments, and not to mention offering total fulfillment, ” said Noe.
A couple of students already in the flight school that MetroNews talked to Monday say it was a path that was a little unexpected for them.
Seth Marra is soon to become a Certified Flight Instructor after just passing his commercial checkride test.
He said he had been attending WVU and was enrolled in economics when he first got the word that Marshall was opening a new flight school a few years back. Then, Marra said a feeling came over him– he didn’t want to sit at a desk all day.
While he had never flown a plane before or been on a big commercial airline, he said flying planes is now a passion of his that Marshall gave him the opportunity to pursue.
“Next thing I know, after three flights in I was all about it, I don’t see myself doing really anything else at all,” Marra said.
Kristen Sayre has just received her CFI license. She said her journey was kind of the same.
Sayre said after graduating St. Albans High School in 2021, her original aim was to study pre-med and eventually become a doctor.
While she said she had always been interested in becoming a pilot, she never thought she would do it on a professional level but only to fly planes for fun. However, when she too heard the news that Marshall was starting this program, she said she didn’t want to let the opportunity pass her by.
“I took a tour, I decided I wanted to enroll and its been history from there, you know I decided this is really perfect for me,” Sayre said. “It hasn’t been easy, but it has definitely been I think the most fulfilling thing I could have chosen to do after high school.”
Marra said it’s unbelievable to see the amount of growth the school has had since he’s been there.
“It’s kind of crazy because whenever I started I had just about nine kids in my whole entire class, and now to look at it a year and a half later there’s now 65 new people, a lot of new faces,” said Marra.
Sayre added that she’s ready to help lead and inspire the new oncoming students into the program.
“I’m excited for everyone that’s coming to school here and for them to embark on their own journeys, and hopefully I’ll be a flight instructor for some of them,” said Sayre.
Noe said with the growth in student population they are also anticipating to grow the flight school in other ways as well.
He said this fall they expect to break ground on a new hanger that’s about three times the size of their current one.
In addition, Noe said they will also continue to grow their aircraft fleet with plans to eventually boast over 30 single-engine fixed wing planes, 7 to 10 multi-engine, and 4 rotor-wing helicopters.
He said it’s incredible to see interest in aviation grow.
“The interest level and the reputation that the school, the team is building is tremendous and drawing a lot of interest, and we see that today,” said Noe.
He said they are also conducting drone training, dispatch training and eventually air traffic control.