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Should You Earn Your Aviation Degree During Flight School?

While not all employers require an aviation degree, it does open the door to many exciting pilot career opportunities. It also shows a level of commitment and education greater than those without an aviation degree. 

The COCC Aviation Degree program provides a practical, supportive environment to start your career as a professional airplane pilot. You’ll have the opportunity to earn a commercial pilot certificate and a flight instructor certificate while also earning an Associate of Applied Science degree in Aviation Science. The COCC degree program also gives students access to low-rate federal financial aid, Pell grants, and other funding options not available to those attending LEFA directly.

COCC’s program allows most students to earn their AAS along with all their flight ratings in two years. Students wishing to obtain a bachelor’s degree can transfer to either Oregon Institute of Technology or Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University upon completing the COCC program. 

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aviation degree program student standing in front of an airplane

Aviation Professional Pilot Airplane Associate of Applied Science (AAS)

The Professional Pilot Airplane Associate of Applied Science trains professional pilots for the air transportation industry. 

Students in the airplane track will be eligible to earn the following FAA ratings/certificates: 

  • Private Pilot – Airplane Single Engine Land
  • Instrument – Airplane
  • Commercial Pilot – Airplane Single and Multi Engine Land
  • Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) – Airplane Single and Multi Engine Land
  • Certified Flight Instructor – Instrument Airplane (CFII)

You can learn more about the airplane pilot program’s entrance requirements, program requirements, and learning outcomes by reading the airplane aviation degree course description in COCC’s course catalog.

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FEATURED STUDENT

JACOB EDGERLY

COCC Leading Edge Graduate

When Jacob first started his flight training with Leading Edge Flight Academy, he wasn’t sure where that training would take him. Four years later, he was to begin an exciting new career with Horizon Airlines. Jacob’s journey from working line and fueling airplanes to flying commercial jets began with the support he received from our program’s expert team. Working with his COCC advisor and flight provider, Jacob was able to lay out a plan that supported his goals and helped him to get to where he wanted to go: commercial airlines.

 

“When I started flying, the college and the flight provider laid out a plan for me—where I was gonna start and where I wanted to end up… 3.5 years later, I’m going to the airlines, which is exactly where I wanted to be when I started.” — Jacob

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COCC and Leading Edge helped get me to where I am today. The instructors, working with management, always wanted the best. It’s the group of people you work with that makes a company great, and at Leading Edge the camaraderie within the organization was awesome. That is what I saw as a student and an instructor. I really liked my time there and enjoyed the fact that everyone was tracking the same goal. I would recommend anyone to go fly there because there is a distinct difference in the knowledge and ambition coming out of this school that I haven’t seen from other pilots from different schools.

Andrew Camara

Andrew Camara
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Leading Edge was where I started my aviation career. They gave me to tools necessary to instruct, fly in rural Alaska, and finally become an Airline pilot. Training was always fun and exciting, but at the same time challenging. As a veteran, it is unbelievable that in two years, I got a degree as well as all my fixed wing ratings at no out-of-pocket expense. I always think to myself, “Why doesn’t everyone do this?

Clint Sheppard

Clint Sheppard