The first 10 students from the commercial aviation department at Delta State University (DSU) to graduate with an Agricultural Aviation Operations Career Pathway Certification were recognized during a ceremony June 2 in the DSU airport hangar at the Cleveland (Mississippi) Municipal Airport.
Col. Brad MacNealy (pictured above), the department’s director of flight operations, said, “We’ve got what we feel is the premier aerial applicator course not only in the country but in the world. We are sitting in the middle of the best farmland in the world. We have a university with an aviation program. We have all the agricultural expertise right in our backyard. It’s the perfect partnership.”
The new program resulted from DSU’s collaboration with area ag pilots, the Cleveland Airport Board and many others. DSU credited NAAA member Ike Brunetti of Brunetti Flying Service in Shelby, Mississippi, for his integral role in organizing the program. Brunetti guided the new pilots and their instructors as the program developed. He spoke to the pilots and the friends, family and supporters assembled in the hangar, saying, “Dreams have to have goals; without goals, they are only dreams.”
In a video message to the graduating certificate holders, U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) said, “Today, we celebrate your graduation and certification in an area of great importance to Mississippi and our nation—agricultural aviation. As former ag commissioner, this industry is very close to my heart. The ag pilot shortage is not just a statistic, but it’s a call to action, and you all have answered that call to serve Mississippi and American agriculture in a big way.”
The Agricultural Aviation Operations Career Pathway Certification attests to a student successfully completing hazmat training, FAA instrument flight certification, FAA commercial certification, tailwheel endorsement, and a minimum of 100 hours, including 25 hours of lightbar training in a Citabria, 25 hours of lightbar aerial application in a Cessna 188 Ag Wagon and 10-hour type-rating and aerial application in an Air Tractor 802.
