DOWLING COLLEGE
BY KEVIN FREIHEIT
hen prospective college students think about continuing school and choosing a major, it isn’t always an obvious decision. Many students end up switching majors or have a hard time determining what it is they want to become. But at the Dowling College School of Aviation, students come in with one passion in mind: flying—having dreamed of it and been fascinated by airplanes since a young age. With approximately 250 students at any given time, the college offers many unique programs, such as aviation management and air traffic control.
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OF AVIATION
“The school of aviation has a very unique enthusiasm,” said Tom Daly, the associate dean of aviation. “Flying is something that people have a passion for. I share that enthusiasm and it has actually never gone away from the time I started here.” Daly has been involved with the college for years, and was around when the school opened in 1968.
“I was a member of the first official Dowling graduating class in 1971,” Daly said. “I came back to Dowling every year for 25 years and helped picked their competition flight team as a volunteer, and helped coach the team.” In 2008, when his son announced he was going to go to Dowling to begin the flight program, Daly returned as an adjunct and has been a professor ever since. But now, he has the ability to use Dowling’s state-of-the-art facilities.
The school of aviation features an air traffic control lab, flight simulators and an airport operations system for students to learn. These simulators allow students to gain an strong understanding of everything they need to know. By providing students with the latest equipment, Dowling is able to better prepare them for real life situations. Just like any other college, Dowling has more than just students and classes—it has a competitive flight team. The current squad, has become the winningest team in school history.
“We do competitions where we go to different states and schools and it’s a lot of fun,” sophomore Jessica Fried said. The team travels and competes in multiple events, including accuracy landing, arial navigation, flight simulation and aircraft recognition.
Daly described the flight team as his version of an NCAA team. Senior Nick Chieco, captain of the flight team, said he chose Dowling specifically for the air traffic control program, which has opened the doors to many opportunities.
“Because of Dowling, I already have a full-time job for the summer and I haven’t even graduated yet,” Chieco said. “I have so many options, but my goal is to be an airline pilot.” But he isn’t the only one that wants to fly planes, as a majority of the students in these programs hope to one day do the same.
Daly’s younger son, Cliff, is a freshmen in the aviation
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