Development of Aviation Management Coursework

Abstract

Students graduating from aviation programs frequently move into careers that have a significant management component. As a result aviation management courses have evolved in aviation curricula to prepare graduates for these positions. However, many of these courses fall far short of their potential because relatively few aviation faculty are prepared to teach in this area, there is little interaction between these faculty, and the size of the market does not warrant publication of textbooks with adequate depth. The objective of aviation management courses should be to provide enough depth in the unique aspects of a particular field of aviation to enable the student to engage in critical analysis and problem solving in that field. In addition, the courses should be structured in a manner that allows students to integrate material and apply management skills. What is needed is a broad based organized effort to identify appropriate content for aviation management courses, and to develop activities which will meet the objectives of these courses. This paper presents a potential program to meet the first need, and two examples which illustrate the type of activities that can be used to meet the second need.