Type | Private |
---|---|
Active | 1927–2022 |
Parent institution | Saint Louis University |
Affiliation | Roman Catholic – Jesuit |
Dean | Michelle B. Sabick |
Location | , , U.S. 38°38′11″N90°13′47″W / 38.63626°N 90.22968°W |
Campus | Urban |
Website | parks |
Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology was a college within Saint Louis University. It formed from the pre-existing Parks Air College, founded by Oliver Parks in 1927. Its successor is the Oliver L. Parks Department of Aviation Science within the SLU School of Science and Engineering at Saint Louis University.
Parks Air College was founded by Oliver Parks in the city of East Saint Louis, Illinois in 1927. Parks was America's first federally certified school of aviation, holding the FAA Air Agency Certificate no. 1. Oliver Parks started as the sole flight instructor with two instruction aircraft at Lambert Airfield. The venture nearly ended when Parks crashed a Laird Swallow training aircraft leaving only one remaining trainer and was unable to teach lessons while in the hospital. He bought 100 acres in East St. Louis in 1928 and built five buildings the same year. By 1929 Parks operated 35 Travel Air trainers with an enrollment of 600 students. [1]
Parks College was initially a publicly traded company. During the great depression, the Detroit Aircraft Corporation bought up eighty percent of the stock as part of a large merger of aviation entities. Oliver Parks sold most of his assets to buy back a controlling interest. [2] [3] The college students manufactured their own series of biplane aircraft, including the Parks P-2A, which became the "hero" of books by author Richard Bach. [4] [5] The college quickly got out of the manufacturing business, selling the P2A rights to Ryan leading to the Ryan Speedster, and later the Hammond 100.
In 1931 Parks offered an Executive Transport Pilot's course. [6] In the 1930s those enrolled as aeronautical engineers were required to design, construct and test fly their own aircraft. In 1935, Parks College started Parks College Airline, a student-run airline on a single route between the college and Chicago, Memphis, Indianapolis, and Kansas City. The airline operated into the 1950s flying Cessna T-50 Bamboo Bombers. [7]
By 1936 enrollment reached 200 students, with a training fleet that consisted of 49 aircraft including the Kinner Sportster and Lambert Twin Monocoach. [8] Student activities included fraternal participation. Park Air College hosted chapters of Kappa Delta Rho, Phi Alpha Chi, Alpha Phi Omega, Alpha Pi Sigma, Alpha Beta Gamma, Delta Beta Pi (local), Alpha Omicron Pi, and Kappa Theta Epsilon. [9]
In 1938 Oliver Parks, (representing Parks Air College,) Curtis-Wright Technical Institute, and Boeing School of Aeronautics were requested by Gen Arnold to establish, at their own risk, a Civilian Pilot Training Program including barracks and aircraft to provide basic training for thousands of pilots. [10] As enrollment swelled, Parks further expanded his facilities to include operations at Cape Girardeau and Sikeston, Missouri, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Jackson, Mississippi. Parks College trained thousands of aviators and aircraft mechanics during World War II. By the end of the war, more than 37,000 cadets (more than 10% of the Air Corps) had received their primary flight instruction at a Parks institution. A variety of training aircraft were used including PT-13, PT-17, PT-19, and the locally built PT-15 trainers. [11] [12]
In 1944 Parks started a training curriculum to train female pilots. The students flew in ERCO Ercoupes with two-control flight systems. [13]
Following the rapid decline in wartime training, Parks concluded that future aviation leaders would need a broader, more academic education. Parks donated the college valued at $3 million to Saint Louis University in 1946, remembering the Jesuit help he received after his 1928 air crash. [14]
Wernher von Braun donated a V-2 rocket engine from the White Sands Missile Range to the college after a visit in the 1950s.
By the late 1990s Parks campus expanded to eighteen buildings, including a Mach 4 windtunnel. The training fleet consisted of Cessna 152, Mooney 201 and Cessna 310 models. [15] Women in Aviation International founder, Dr. Peggy Baty, joined Parks College serving from 1990 to 1995. [16]
In 1996, Saint Louis University closed the historic Cahokia, Illinois campus and later sold it to the village. [17] Classes are now held in the new McDonnell-Douglas Hall building on the Frost Campus in mid-town St. Louis. Flight training remained at St. Louis Downtown Airport. The move to the Frost campus allowed the curriculum to be expanded and Masters programs to be added. The college also provides many science classes for the main campus.
Now known as Parks College of Engineering, Aviation, and Technology, it is a modern, growing, and active part of the university. In 2008, the FAA granted the college a $2.25 million grant to form the Center for Aviation Safety Research. The center is focused on safety management systems, safety culture, maintenance aviation safety programs, next-generation safety assessment, incident investigation, multi-risk analysis, and next-generation maintenance and engineering. [18]
In November 2013, Parks engineering students launched COPPER from the Wallops Flight Facility. The microsatellite will be controlled from the St. Louis campus for a year. [19]
In 2022, the former Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology became the Oliver L. Parks Department of Aviation Science, part of the SLU School of Science and Engineering at Saint Louis University. [20]
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) is a private university focused on aviation and aerospace programs. Founded at Lunken Field in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1926, its main campuses are located in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Prescott, Arizona. It is the largest accredited university system specializing in aviation and aerospace. It has numerous online programs and academic programs offered at satellite locations.
Winston Elliott "Win" Scott is a retired United States Navy Captain and former NASA astronaut. He served as a mission specialist on STS-72 in 1996 and STS-87 in 1997 logged a total of 24 days, 14 hours and 34 minutes in space, including three spacewalks totaling 19 hours and 26 minutes. Often known by his nickname of "Win", he was also a Naval Aviator and initially flew helicopters and later transitioned to fighter aircraft.
Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology is a private college in East Elmhurst, New York, specialized in aviation and engineering education. It is adjacent to LaGuardia Airport but was founded in Newark, New Jersey in 1932 before moving to New York City in 1940. The college's most recent name change, to honor a founder, was on September 1, 2004.
Alpha Eta Rho (ΑΗΡ) is a coed international professional college aviation fraternity. Established in 1929 at the University of Southern California, it was the first professional aviation fraternity. It connects the aviation industry with educational institutions and mentors college students toward successful careers in aviation, aeronautical engineering, and aerospace sciences.
École nationale de l'aviation civile (ENAC) is one of 205 colleges accredited to award engineering degrees in France. ENAC is designated as a grande école by the Conférence des Grandes écoles (CGE), a non-profit organisation which certifies and monitors grandes écoles. ENAC was founded on 28 August 1949 to provide initial and continuing education in the field of civil aviation. The school is an établissement public à caractère scientifique, culturel et professionnel, and operates under the oversight of the Ministry of Ecological Transition. Affiliated with the University of Toulouse and Aerospace Valley, it is one of the five founders of France AEROTECH.
Patricia Consolatrix Hilliard Robertson was an American physician and a NASA astronaut. She died in a plane crash prior to being assigned to a crew to fly to the International Space Station.
The John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences is a multidisciplinary college within the University of North Dakota (UND) in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The school was formed in 1968. The majority of the school's fleet of over 120 aircraft is based at nearby Grand Forks International Airport and is the largest fleet of civilian flight training aircraft in North America. UND Aerospace also operates a flight training center at Phoenix–Mesa Gateway Airport in Mesa, Arizona. Today, the school has many aerospace-related programs including commercial aviation, Unmanned aircraft systems operations, air traffic control, airport management, Space Studies, Computer Science, Atmospheric Sciences, and Earth System Science & Policy. Currently, the school has over 500 faculty and 2,000 students making it the second largest of UND's degree-granting colleges. The present dean of the school is Robert Kraus.
The Moncton Flight College (MFC) is a pilot training school based at the Greater Moncton International Airport (CYQM) in Dieppe, New Brunswick, Canada. They have a second location at the Fredericton International Airport (YFC) in Lincoln, NB. In a year, MFC has the capacity to train 450 students between the Moncton and Fredericton Campus. Currently the Moncton Campus offers domestic and international programs with a 260-student capacity and a staff of 55. The Fredericton campus is primarily for Chinese student training with some modular based flight training and has a capacity of 190 students and employs 70 people. Both of the campuses have on-site kitchens and residences. MFC is the largest private flight school in Canada. It is also one of six, out of 150 schools in Canada, to be given integrated status. The college has trained over 20,000 pilots from approximately 70 countries since 1929. MFC has an approved FTU, ATO and AMO from Transport Canada and also has CAAC (China) approval.
St. Louis Downtown Airport is a public-use airport located in Greater St. Louis, one mile (2 km) east of the central business district of Cahokia Heights, in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. It is owned by the Bi-State Development Agency. The airport is located less than 3 miles from the Gateway Arch riverfront in St. Louis and is used by many business aircraft visiting the St. Louis region. Airport services include one full-service 24-hour fixed-base operator, an instrument landing system, an FAA air traffic control tower, and its own dedicated Index B aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) service. It is utilized mainly by Saint Louis University's Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology for training purposes, as well as the St. Louis Cardinals for charter flights to away games.
The National Test Pilot School (NTPS) is the only civilian test-pilot school in the United States, located in Mojave, California. It is organized as a not-for-profit educational institute under California state law and is governed by a board of trustees. NTPS is one of the seven test-pilot schools worldwide recognized by the international Society of Experimental Test Pilots, giving pilot graduates of NTPS instant initial acceptance into their society. In 2016, NTPS became the first test-pilot school in the world to be certified as a Flight Test Authorised Training Organisation by the European Aviation Safety Organization.
Oliver L. "Lafe" Parks was an early aviator most known for his pioneering work in the fields of pilot training and aviation, including playing a major role in US military pilot training in World War II. His aviation activities also included aircraft manufacturing and sales, airport ownership and operation and airline ownership and operation. In 1946–1950, Parks played a prominent role in the US airline industry. Through his airline, Parks Air Lines, he controlling a portfolio of route authorities viewed as potentially making his company one of the most significant carriers of its kind. But due to an unacceptable delay in starting operations, those rights were revoked by the same regulators that bestowed them. Parks managed to start operations on a single route shortly before losing the rights. Parks Air Lines was then sold to Ozark Air Lines in exchange for stock in Ozark. Since Ozark, at the time, had no airline operations, Parks Air Lines essentially became Ozark, just with a new name and management.
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Joseph John "Tym" Tymczyszyn was an American World War II pilot, and test pilot for the United States Army Air Corps and the Federal Aviation Administration.
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The Parks P-1 was an American three-seat sport biplane that was built in the late 1920s.
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