Dedicated to preserving history through storytelling, the Collings Foundation hopes that the "Wings of Freedom Tour" will attract WWII Veterans who will share their experiences with new generations of Americans. A sort of 'traveling museum', the Tour travels across the country with their three WWII originals, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Nine-O-Nine, Consolidated B-24J Liberator Witchcraft, and North American P-51 Mustang Betty Jane. This week, the "Wings of Freedom Tour" has flown right into our very own Allegheny County Airport. The Tour gave PIA students and staff a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to climb aboard and check out three of the country's WWII heroes. The Collings Foundation has been devoting time and money to the restoration of these aircraft, as well as the dream of keeping them in the air, for over 20 years!

Students also had the opportunity to talk with some of the pilots and mechanics who have built their career around this fleet of traveling history. After talking with a mechanic, one may realize that Witchcraft and Betty Jane operate on radial engines, and the only way to learn these engines is to get hands-on experience in the classroom and in the field. Having the Tour "right in our backyard" has certainly been a great experience for our students!

While there are certainly great stories about the histories of both Nine-O-Nine and Betty Jane, the restoration efforts of Witchcraft have a special meaning to the Foundation, as well as countless WWII Veterans. With hard work, dedication, and the help of determined WWII Veteran James Althoff, the dream of getting the B-24 Liberator back in the air was achieved. Inspired by Althoff's dream of seeing Witchcraft in the air, many other veterans and the Collings Foundation contributed more than five years, and over 97,000 hours of volunteer work, to restore this B-24 to her original, war-time, condition. The time and hard work that was put into the restoration of this aircraft is a true illustration of the commitment to the preservation of history which is upheld by the Collings Foundation.

Article by Kylee Bennett/ Photograph by Mikki Monaghan

PIA was named one GI JOBS Magazine's 2011 Military Friendly Schools!

GI JOBS  determines which of the 7000 college, universities and trade schools nationwide offer you the best education, value, and welcome. The result is a list of approximately 1000 schools which represent the 15% that are the most Military Friendly.

www.militaryfriendlyschools.com

PIA has been chosen for this honor 2 years in a row and we look forward  to helping our Veterans in 2011!

If you are interested in attending PIA and using your Veterans Benefits, Please contact our Admissions Department today! 1-800-444-1440

American Truck Association held its Truck Driving Championships on Aug. 3-7 in Columbus, Ohio. The contestants were the state champions from all 50 states. Collectively, they have driven 581,001,783 accident-free miles. 415 professional drivers from all across the United States competed in the Championships.

Jump Start Dean of Students, Randy Davis and Senior Lead Instructor, Anthony Wright were asked by the ATA to be floor judges again this year.  Randy states "It is a great honor to be asked to judge such an event.  The ATA puts on an excellent show and I am proud to be a part of such a safety conscious event".

"We meet a lot of good people, and it is nice to be a part of so many people from around the United States that have the same goal in mind, safety "states Anthony Wright.

This is Randy and Anthony's second trip to the Nationals and they both hope they will be asked again next year.  The National Truck Driving Championships are held each year in different parts of the country.

One final note:  Carl Krites, a Con-way Freight professional truck driver based in Wapakoneta, Ohio was named the 2010 National Truck Driving Grand Champion.  WAY TO GO CARL.

PIA held it's 2010 Open House and Car Cruise last weekend and it was a blast!  PIA's Admissions Department was there giving tours of the campus and accepting applications for the upcoming class starts. Prospective students were able to talk to our Financial Aid Director, Mr.Vukmanic, one-on-one on how to apply for finanical assistance. Our Placement Director, Mr. Null, informed everyone of the most up to date job opportunities in aviation and non-aviation fields.

We had a huge variety of Classic Cars and Chevy even brought out the new 2010 Camaro for test drives! Tyler Gennari won a raffle from History of Flight that was also at the airport that day. He gets to choose from a  flight on the B25 Mitchell Bomber  or the T6 Texan! If you were not able to make it for all the excitement, call us and we would be happy to give you a personal tour!

Check out all the photos on PIA's Facebook page!!

P.I.A. just returned from the EAA's AirVenture, 2010, in Oshkosh Wisconsin. There were seven instructors and forty three students in attendance. Due to rains occurring during the opening weekend, many planes and campers were diverted to other locations because of wet ground. Still the aircraft count was impressive. DC 3's were one of the main attractions this year, as well as a salute to our veterans in the War Bird section. The students were amazed by the number of aircraft and vendors. Many of the students got the chance to talk directly to the engineers and technicians from companies like Continental, Teledyne, Rolls Royce, G.E., and G.E. Honda. Some students laid the foundations for their employment after graduation talking to companies like Ericson Crane for their outlook on future.  The air show, which is held daily, was fantastic as usual. Check out the pictures!

Author: Bernard Adams- PIA Instructor

The National Truck Driving Championships is a competition of professional truck drivers hosted each year by American Trucking Associations.  This competition has a long history - dating back to 1937 when it was known as the National Truck Roadeo.

The NTDC competitors are made up of the winners in eight classes of competition from 50 State Trucking Associations' Truck Driving Championships, as well as the winners of the auto transporters class at the regional TDCs. The NTDC and affiliated state TDCs are considered the one of the industry's largest and most effective safety programs.  Known to many as the "Super Bowl of Safety," these annual competitions inspire tens of thousands of drivers to operate accident-free for the right to compete.

Our PIA Jump Start Instructor, Anthony Wright will be the score keeper/timer for course 1 and our Dean of the Jump Start program, Randy Davis will judge for Problem #6 on course 2.  Mr. Wright will be responsible for keeping very accurate times on each participant along with their individual scores and turning them in to the Head Timekeeper.  Mr. Davis will be one of two people who will score the individual as he or she approaches the scoring box and he will be responsible for keeping accurate scoring for each participant.

If you would like more information on The National Truck Driving Championships visit: http://www.truckline.com/Pages/Home.aspx

Recruiters in the above photo: Joe Chapella ,Director of Technical Services, and a 1989 PIA Grad

with Urban Fleming ,Maintenance Manager.

Eagle Aviation flew in for a day at  PIA  to interview our students that will be graduating this Month.  Eagle Aviation is a full service Fixed Base Operator centrally located on the eastern seaboard, providing convenient, quality service to the general aviation industry. Our one-stop location is ideal for all of your business and personal aviation needs. Occupying more than 36 acres at the Columbia Metro Airport (CAE – Columbia, SC), Eagle Aviation has built an international reputation for excellence as a full service facility. Our 81,000 sq. ft. operation offers a variety of services that we invite you to explore on this site:

http://www.eagle-aviation.com/

Several of our PIA students were offered positions to work for Eagle Aviation!

Over the past weekend, EAA, Experimental Aircraft Association, held workshops at PIA, Pittsburgh institute of Aeronautics, main campus in West Mifflin, PA. The electrical course was instructed by Kas Osterbuhr and covered basic Ohm's law, series and parallel circuits, and how instruments, lighting and electrical engine components should be addressed. The students hands on training performing different electrical projects such as: splicing wires by soldering and also crimping, building a intercom wiring harness and testing it on an active intercom,  and wiring a simulated instrument light panel, including circuit protection(a fuse), control(a switch), two light in parallel, one with a potentiometer for control as a dimmer. The students needed to read, interpret, and build the entire project, gaining valuable experience for wiring their experimental planes.

Bernard Adams
Electronics/Electricity Instructor
Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
412-346-2152

 Photo: Instructors Butch Adams and Leroy Nicolson taking the electrical course from the  EAA workshop.

CNN Money.com writes about the great demand that everyone has for truck drivers!  Call PIA's Jumpstart program and get started on the road to your new career. 1-800-444-1440

http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/09/news/economy/truck_driver_shortage/index.htm

PIA is a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association and we are proud to host an EAA seminar weekend at our Pittsburgh campus on June 5^th and 6^th. Our instructors are looking forward to participating with other EAA members in workshops such as "Fabric Covering," "Composite Construction," "Sheet Metal basics," "Electrical Systems," "Gas Welding," and "Kit Building."  This is a great educational opportunity for all EAA members. One PIA student will receive a $500 scholarship donated by the EAA to assist with their education expenses. 

Check out some of these links to find out more on the EAA SportAir workshops:

"3 Days In Three Minutes": http://tinyurl.com/ygs727a

Images of selected EAA SportAir Workshops: www.flickr.com/sportair

EAA SportAir Website: www.sportair.com