Flight students fulfill high-in-the-sky goals.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Ever since she was very young, Ellyn Castro has looked to the sky.

At 31 she's finally there - as a student in Lane Community College's flight technology program, where she's training to be a professional pilot. Even during her first career as a massage therapist she never forget what really inspired her.

"Ever since I was little and saw the Blue Angels, this is where I've wanted to be," she said. "It just took me awhile to get here."

The LCC pilot school is full of stories both like and unlike hers. Young people fulfilling a dream, retirees pursuing a long-deferred hobby and career changers of all ages find their way into the cockpits of the school's 13 planes.

Most come because it's convenient: LCC is one of only three Oregon community colleges that offer flight training, along with Portland and Central Oregon, but it's the only school in the state with a full-service program that grooms students from their first day to become professional pilots.

That's the goal of most students, although people who want only a private pilot's license enroll, too. But weekend flying isn't enough for people such as Andrew Hart, an LCC flight school graduate who works as an instructor so he can log enough hours to get a job at a small airline.

"I want a professional career in aviation," he said. "Flying is a blast to me. I can't think of a better career."

The lure of the wild blue finally led 37-year-old Jeff Dzubay, who has a doctorate in neurobiology, to walk out of the lab and into a plane. Now his dream job is to be a corporate pilot, steering Lear jets across the sky.

"I did academia, I did the corporate lab," he said. "It's just not what I really wanted to do, and flying is."

LCC has a growing reputation in the aviation industry and costs substantially less than other schools. A four-year program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University can run more than $150,000 for tuition, fees and flight instruction alone; similar costs at Central Washington University run about $80,000 for in-state students.

The cost of the LCC program varies depending on a student's career goals and whether he takes part in a direct transfer option that allows him to earn two bachelor's degrees at Oregon State University. Without the bachelor's, direct flight instruction costs run from $30,000 to $45,000, depending on the kind of ratings sought, plus up to $6,000 in lower-division tuition for an associate's degree.

The additional cost to earn dual bachelor's degrees from OSU in aviation leadership and education depends on the number of lower-division courses earned at Lane. Tuition and basic fees for 60 upper-division credits at OSU would cost about $10,000.

"No one competes with us in price," said Harvey Birdseye, director of the aviation academy.

The area's good flying weather and the chance to learn at a relatively uncrowded but tower-controlled airport are additional advantages for students seeking a professional pilot rating. But none of that ever seems to land at the top of the list of reasons people enter the LCC program and learn to fly.

"I tried to think of the coolest thing I could do, and this was it," said first-year student pilot Jamie Heern. "I'm loving it. I'm extremely excited to come out here every day."

- Greg Bolt

LEARNING TO FLY

Contact information for LCC's Lane Aviation Academy

Phone: [phone]

On the Web: www.lanecc.edu/flight