NSCC student Andrew Cole shows how close avionics students can get to the new test equipment. Photo: Eric Leclerc

NSCC avionics program flies high

Nancy MacDonald picked up the phone not long ago and made a quarter of a million dollars.

The industrial relations liaison at the Nova Scotia Community College makes no secret of the fact that she is a well-connected woman when it comes to landing big donations from even bigger companies.

The company is Seattle-based Boeing, the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world in revenues, orders and deliveries according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It's giving money to the college as part of regional industry benefits agreement.

The college now has enough money to buy testing equipment for its new avionics program, a concentration that allows the college to offer all three aircraft maintenance engineering certifications recognized by Transport Canada.

Peter Bing, director of the NSCC Aviation Institute, says the money was crucial to building the program.

"Without the money we couldn't buy the test equipment and, without the test equipment, we couldn't offer the course. We are now the only Maritime school to offer all streams of aircraft maintenance."

Learning how to fix things that fly can be done in three ways. Students enrolled in the aircraft maintenance engineering program used to be able to choose only between the mechanical option (fixing the inside of the aircraft) or the structures option (fixing the outside of the aircraft).

The avionics diploma now allows students to test and fix all instruments inside the cockpit of airplanes and helicopters.

When MacDonald called her contacts at Industry Canada she was fairly certain that she could get something from Boeing.

Boeing's deal with Industry Canada for aircraft deliveries allows the firm to fulfill its investment requirements on a regional basis. It does this by making subsidiary contracts with local businesses and schools.

For instance, once Boeing met its delivery requirements to IMP Aerospace in Halifax it could dole out the remainder of its required investment funding to educational institutions like the college.

"Boeing is committed to creating partnerships that will result in long-term, high-value jobs for Canadians," says Gwen Kopsie of Boeing's Integrated Defence Systems. "And we believe this opportunity provides an excellent complement to that endeavor."

While this is the first time the college has received money from Boeing, MacDonald said that it is not the first aerospace industry investment.

"Our relationship with the private sector is quite large and growing. We are always looking to increase our funding for applied research or academics ... . It's my job to broker those relationships."

Industry Canada says the aerospace sector pumps about $600 million a year into Nova Scotia's economy. The college, as the only aviation institute in Eastern Canada, is likely to see more money from the private sector.

Comments on this story are now closed