By Fox23.com News Staff
TULSA, Okla. — The inaugural Oklahoma High School State Aviation Championship is underway at Tulsa Community College.
The Oklahoma Department of Aerospace and Aeronautics is hosting the event in partnership with FlightSafety International.
During the two-day event, 12 finalist teams from across the state are converging at TCC to compete for the historic first state title.
Our news partners at FOX23 spoke with Richard Lofton, Vice President of FlightSafety International, about the new competition.
“Today we are going to do the very first-of-kind state championship in aviation. We don’t know that it’s occurring anywhere else in the world, so this is the very first time and Oklahoma is the first state to do this,” said Lofton.
Schools participating include Ada, Cache, Collinsville, Haworth, Marietta, Newcastle, Oklahoma Aviation Academy (Norman), Pryor, Stillwater, Tulsa Union, Westmoore and Wyandotte.
“Students are competing on a device called an AATD, which is a flight simulator. That flight simulator is developed by FlightSafety’s Frasca International company. They are used by professional aviators to train and students are getting the opportunity to compete on that device,” said Lofton.
The Oklahoma Department of Aerospace and Aeronautics said aerospace is Oklahoma’s second-largest and fastest-growing industry. The championship highlight’s the state’s commitment to workforce development, proving that in Oklahoma, the sky is not the limit, it’s just the beginning.
“The purpose of this competition is to bring more prestige to aviation training in Oklahoma and to give recognition to those programs and what they’re accomplishing,” said Lofton.
The championship will end with an awards presentation at noon on Saturday.
