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Scheduled for Airline Industry's Takeoff: New Aeronautical Science Degree at Embry-Riddle

Daytona Beach, Fla., March 4, 2004 -- The nation's leading aviation university will introduce for its Fall 2004 semester a new bachelor of science degree program in Aeronautical Science that is specially designed to train pilots the way airlines do. The program will be offered by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at its campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz.

The new degree program's launch is well timed, according to Knight Kiplinger, editor-in-chief of The Kiplinger Letter.

"After three years of severe financial distress in the commercial aviation industry, a strong recovery is now under way. Airlines, both domestic and international, are enjoying higher passenger volume, orders for new aircraft are picking up, and profitability is returning to many carriers," Kiplinger said following a Feb. 3 visit to the university's Daytona Beach campus.

"This augurs well for pilot employment prospects, especially with many older pilots planning their retirements in the coming few years," Kiplinger said. "Looking further out, the demand for pilots should remain very strong, as robust global economic growth stimulates air traffic for both passengers and cargo. Embry-Riddle is wise to be anticipating this growing demand with its new pilot education program."

Embry-Riddle's new curriculum takes advantage of an array of sophisticated flight-training devices that simulate the jet aircraft used by regional airlines, as well as the smaller planes used in introductory flight training. The devices allow students to become better pilots faster and at a lower cost than before.

"We've been watching the airlines for years," said Tim Brady, dean of the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle's Daytona Beach campus. "We've shaped our Aeronautical Science degree program into one that trains students the same way the airlines train their pilots."

The Embry-Riddle curriculum employs flight-training devices for the Cessna 172 Skyhawk, the Piper PA44 Seminole, and the Canadair Regional Jet.

"Few universities with flight programs have the 172s," Brady said, "and none have 172s, PA44s, and CRJs." The FAA has given its top approval rating, Level 6, to the university's simulators, making them the only flight-training devices in the nation qualified at such a high level in a university program.

In the revamped Aeronautical Science program, Embry-Riddle students will still take to the air in the university's Cessna 172s and twin-propeller, multi-engine Piper PA44 Seminoles, although 118 fewer flight hours will be required on average to complete the flight curriculum.

Students will, however, spend about 60 hours learning flight procedures in the university's new flight simulators. There are several reasons for this, Brady said.

Quality and safety. Simulators enable students to learn more about aircraft performance and aerodynamics earlier and to perfect difficult flight maneuvers without risk.

With performance data from a real plane embedded in their software and 220-degree, wrap-around visual panels, the simulators replicate the experience of flying an actual aircraft. Students can perform maneuvers they couldn't do as safely in an airplane, such as stalling and going into a spin, and flight instructors can adjust different factors that affect flying, such as hazardous weather conditions and a crowded airspace.

Time on task. In a typical one-hour flight lesson in an airplane, students may spend only 30 minutes training in the air. But in simulators, students can spend the full hour performing vital flight-training tasks.

Availability. The training devices are available for more hours than an airplane. An airplane can be used about eight hours a day, whereas simulators are available 23 hours, rain or shine, with one hour for maintenance.

Cost. Even though each training device acquired by Embry-Riddle costs more than a new Cessna 172, it is five times more useful than the airplane for flight training and costs one-third to half as much per hour to operate. These savings are passed along to students. Brady estimates that Embry-Riddle's new Aeronautical Science program will be 30 percent less costly to students than the old one.

An added benefit of the new curriculum is that Aeronautical Science students will receive flight training - in a Canadair Regional Jet simulator in Daytona Beach and an Airbus 320 simulator in Prescott - for the planes they will actually fly when they go to work for an airline.

Embry-Riddle, the world's largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, meets the needs of students and industry through its educational, training, research, and consulting activities. Embry-Riddle educates more than 28,000 students annually through the master's level at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., at more than 130 centers in the United States and Europe, and through distance learning.