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Davis Aerospace Technical High School returning to Detroit Airport after five year absence

Published  September 3, 2019 7:26pm EDT
News
FOX 2 Detroit

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Pilots are paid the most - and they also get the girls.

That's what Lt. Col. Lawrence Millben, the president of the Davis Aerospace Advisory Board said on Tuesday. It was the first week of class at the flight academy, where students kick off a future in aeronautics - an apparently cool and lucrative field.

But they don't only teach piloting at the academy.

"We could make a pilot in roughly 100 hours, but it takes about 1,500 hours to make them a mechanic," said Millben.

The academy trains prospective students to become mechanics for planes, and pilots to fly them. This year, 27 students will attend classes at the Detroit City Airport from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you're lucky, you'll even get to fly one before high school is over.

"This gives inner-city children the ability to get an education and get a very high-paying job when they graduate," Millben said. "Somewhere between $60,000 and $80,000 a year. You can make it and we have people that do."

The school, which started in 1943 on the grounds of the Detroit City Airport was renamed to honor Benjamin O. Davis, the commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen and the first African American Air Force General.

But in 2012, the school was moved away from the airport. Now, five years since it's move the school is returning to the airport.

"You don't have to get a college degree to come out here," said Alfonzo King Davis, who works on the advisory board. "All you have to get is your FAA certificate and start working then they can move up from there."

Members of the school say you don't have to be particularly smart to join the program, as it's a very teachable field. But that doesn't mean there aren't some unofficial pre-requisites the school is after.

"We're looking for a committed student. A parent who also has buy-ins," said Beverly Kindle-Wacker, executive director of the Friends of the Detroit City Airport. "Parents need to help our young people to find out where they want to go eventually."