HEBRON, Ky. — Surrounded by jet engines big and small, class at CVG is in session.
Epic Flight Academy opened its $8 million facility at the Northern Kentucky airport this week. It comes just one month after FEAM Aero opened its second maintenance hangar on the airport’s campus.
Anthony Wurster and 18 other students are in the inaugural class.
“I’ve done pretty much every job you can as far as an auto mechanic and figured that aviation is kind of the next step,” Wurster said.
Throughout the 18-month program, they will go from having no aviation mechanic experience to obtaining their FAA certification.
The program costs roughly $45,000. Wurster received a $25,000 scholarship from FEAM Aero in exchange for signing a three-year contract upon graduation.
Educating students about CVG jobs available throughout the airport’s campus is a critical component to the airport’s continued growth, airport CEO Candace McGraw said at Epic’s opening on Monday.
“The only thing that would ever hold CVG back from realizing its fullest potential is lack of trained workforce,” she said.
The airport’s “one-stop shop” business strategy for maintenance, passenger and cargo operations is taking off. A recent economic impact study showed $9.3 billion in 2022, up from $3.5 billion a decade earlier.
That increase in flight volume brings more types of aircraft to the campus, which is a bonus for students, said Epic Flight Academy interim director Jon Clark.
“We can take them now and they can see how things are actually done in the industry,” he said. “The more the students see that the better prepared they'll be.”
The facility has a retired airliner that they will use as a classroom, learning how to properly conduct inspections and installations.
At the end of the day, more planes at CVG means more people benefit.
“What it means is really jobs and continued economic growth for this region,” McGraw said.
For people like Wurster, they'll have a job and “that stable life for my family and be able to create that environment for my kids."
For CVG, the sky is not even a limit.
