Write:Ebru Moçoş

License to fly: Diploma in Civil Aviation

The first person ever known to have flown in this part of the world is Hezarfen Çelebi, who had flown from Europe to Asia. Nowadays the teams that man the planes on Turkey’s horizons are flying in from Anatolian universities.

Binali Yıldırım, the Minister of Transport, had stated “Each Turkish citizen will come on board a plane at least once in a lifetime” setting a goal in 2003. Since then, projects were developed and implemented for the growth of civil aviation. Many private airlines started to operate and some expanded their services. Fares were reduced and airline traveling became more popular and preferred. While the civil aviation sector grew by approximately50% in Turkey, it grew by 5% in the rest of the world.

CIVIL AVIATION TRAINING
Each year, thousands of young people work day and night to get into university, and thousands do get accepted and eventually graduate. There is an important question that they all bear in mind:. “After graduation, will I be able to find a job?” College means better job opportunities. However in recent years, with the increasing number of student contingencies within the universities, almost
one in every province, the number of graduates has started to increase, as well. Consequently, it is no longer sufficient to be a graduate; one also needs to be a graduate of a department which is advantageous to the sector in which the graduate is applying. I think you have already understood what I am trying to get at. In recent years, the development of civil aviation caused this faculty to take its place among the faculties with advantageous job opportunities. Civil aviation education is quite costly and requires considerable technical facilities and only four universities in Turkey possess civil aviation technical training centers. These are the Universities of Erciyes, Anadolu, Kocaeli and Mustafa Kemal.

ERCIYES UNIVERSITY
The technical training center (TTC) commands the Plane Body-Motor, Piloting and Civil Aviation Transportation Management departments. Students will be accepted to the aviation department after the required technical infrastructure and hardware are completed. In all departments, after one year of compulsory English education, there are four years of education in a technical program. There are also two years civil aviation programs. Except for the piloting department, which has not yet started educating students, students are accepted through standardized testing system. The annual contingency for all departments is 17. The TTC owns one four-passenger, one two-passenger and one eight-passenger training planes, as well as two five-passenger helicopters. The TTC also has subsonic, mechatronics, composites, coating, welding and NDI laboratories.

ANADOLU UNIVERSITY
The Anadolu University Civil Aviation Academy, which takes pride in being the first civil aviation TTC in Turkey, has departments in Aviation Electrical/Electronics, Air Traffic Control, Piloting, Civil Aviation Administration, and Plane Body Motor Maintenance.  The TTC aiming to train pilot air traffic controller, airport and airline administrator and air vessel approval maintenance personnel in international standards, manages to give this training to its students through experienced and qualified lectures, theoretical lectures, labs consisting of the latest technology, applied studies in workshops and stimulators and their own airport, as well as comprehensive training airplane fleets. High School graduates are accepted to the air traffic control and piloting departments by pre-registration, after a series of medical, written and oral examinations. In addition, Anadolu University is the one and only university in Turkey that gives academic piloting training. From that point of view, it is the only choice for those who wish to become airline pilots. The Aviation Electrical Department accepts 20 students each year while Air Traffic Control accepts 15, Piloting, 10; Civil Aviation Transportation Management, 35 and the Airplane Body Motor Maintenance Department accepts 40, respectively. Within the Civil Aviation TTC, there is an airport open for international airline transportation, a JAR-145 approved maintenance institution, 25 air vessels,
28 laboratories, flight, air field control and radar stimulators. The TTC also provides full maintenance for air vessels weighing 5,700 kg and under, at its own maintenance facility.

KOCAELI UNIVERSITY
Established in 2005, this TTC has Plane Electrical Electronics, Plane Body Motor and Civil Aviation Administration Departments. 5 years of training is given, the first year of which is administered in English.
Each year, 20 students are accepted to the university, through university entrance exams. Moreover, Kocaeli University TTC students are provided with meal grants and technical education aid along with some other private grants.

MUSTAFA KEMAL UNIVERSITY
Although it was established in1994, this TTC, which only began accepting students in 2008, has one division - the Civil Aviation Transportation Administration Department. The TTC administers training to a student body of 40 on its campus in Karaağaç, Hatay.