Return to the Hangar: NDSCS Sets August 2025 Launch for its Aviation Maintenance Technology Program
Posted by Mitch Lutze-Morris on Aug. 5, 2025 / Subscribe 0
When the first group of twenty students walks into North Dakota State College of Science’s (NDSCS) Fargo hangar on August 25, 2025, they will be starting more than an Airframe and Powerplant certificate. They will be reviving a North Dakota aviation legacy that took off nearly a century ago and helping to solve one of the industry’s most pressing workforce shortages.
Pictured: (Left to Right): Darren Hall, VP Business Development (Fargo Jet Center); Gary Kwasniewski, Aviation Safety Inspector (FAA); Nathan Cowan, Program Coordinator (NDSCS); Terry Marohl, Dean of Transportation (NDSCS); Joshua Rychener, Aviation Safety Inspector (FAA); Todd Roth, Frontline Operations Manager (FAA)
A program cleared for take-off
On June 25, 2025, the Federal Aviation Administration presented NDSCS with its coveted Part 147 Air Agency Certificate, officially authorizing the college to train and test future Airframe & Powerplant (A&P) technicians. “We are honored to receive this certification, and we’re excited to begin preparing students for high-demand careers in aviation maintenance,” said Terry Marohl, NDSCS Dean of Transportation, during the hangar-side ceremony that capped a year-long application and inspection process. Program coordinator Nathan Cowan called the moment “a direct, affordable pathway into one of the fastest-growing careers in aviation.”
With the certificate in hand, NDSCS now offers the only FAA-certified Aviation Maintenance Technology (AMT) program in North Dakota. The program’s inaugural cohort is limited to 25 students, a deliberately small number that allows every learner to rotate seamlessly between lecture space at the college’s 19th Avenue North center and the purpose-built teaching hangar at Hector International Airport.
Why the timing matters
Industry demand for certified technicians is reaching a critical pitch. Boeing’s 2023 Pilot & Technician Outlook predicted a need for 716,000 new maintenance technicians worldwide over the next two decades, which is more than 35,000 per year Darren Hall, Vice President at Fargo Jet Center, underscores the urgency closer to home, saying “A third of today’s national maintenance workforce is already over age 62, and retirements are outpacing new entrants,” he told local media.1
That supply-and-demand gap has pushed entry-level wages for A&P-certified technicians into the $65,000-$75,000 range, with seasoned AMTs routinely topping six figures, an attractive proposition for students weighing the cost of college against future earning power.
Built on nearly 100 years of know-how
Although the 2025 launch feels new, NDSCS’s aviation roots run deep. In 1928, the Wahpeton campus opened an “Aeronautic Ground Work” course that tasked ten pioneering students with restoring a wrecked biplane; their handiwork flew again the following February. By 1931, the college had earned designation as North Dakota’s first government-approved air-repair depot, and in 1935 students and faculty debuted “The Wildcat,” a 560-pound, 150-mph low-wing monoplane that became a statewide sensation.
The original program helped train 3,500 Navy personnel during World War II and (when it began in 1928) was one of only five such schools nationwide before budget pressures forced its closure in the 1950s. Re-establishing the AMT track after a 70-year hiatus, says Marohl, “honors our pioneering past while answering a 21st-century workforce call.”1
A public-private lift
Restarting an FAA program from scratch is neither quick nor inexpensive. NDSCS secured more than $1.1 million in combined federal, state and industry support, including grants from the FAA and the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission. Donated equipment is arriving from Fargo Jet Center, Weather Modification International, Lycoming, and Pratt & Whitney Canada, among others.
The Fargo Jet Center partnership is especially consequential; its technicians helped shape the curriculum, and its hangar provides students with live-aircraft access that many college programs can only simulate. “Having a business aviation facility next door means our students practice on the same turbine engines and composite structures they’ll see after graduation,” Cowan notes.
Learning by doing
The two-year Associate in Applied Science curriculum blends traditional classroom work with hands-on practical assignments. Coursework covers everything from aircraft electrical systems and hydraulics to sheet-metal repair, welding and nondestructive inspection. Students will tear down piston engines, balance turbine compressors, interpret aeronautical drawings and fabricate structural repairs to FAA standards before sitting for their three written, oral and practical exams.
Because the program is competency-based, students complete the FAA airframe and powerplant tests before graduation, eliminating the costly gap that often separates new grads from licensure. “Our goal is that each Wildcat walks across the stage with an A&P card already in hand,” Cowan says.
Looking beyond launch
College leaders are already sketching Phase II. Plans call for optional certificates in Avionics, Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) and Advanced Composites—specialties airlines now recruit globally. Pipeline initiatives with local high schools and veteran transition programs are also in development.
The broader vision extends to regional economic development. With Fargo positioned as a fast-growing aerospace hub—home to unmanned-aircraft innovators, a major FBO network and strong cargo traffic—having an on-site talent engine could help attract new maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operations to North Dakota.
Pictured: (Left to Right): Terry Marohl, Dean of Transportation (NDSCS) and Nathan Cowan, Program Coordinator (NDSCS)
For Marohl, the return of aviation maintenance to NDSCS is equal parts nostalgia and necessity. “Receiving our FAA Part 147 certification is not just a milestone—it’s a green light to start changing lives.”
Prospective students have already begun reserving seats in the August cohort, and administrators expect the 20-student cap to fill quickly. Program details are available at NDSCS.edu/Aviation
1 Wallevand, K. (2025, April 10). NDSCS bringing back Aviation Maintenance Tech program.
Inforum.com, Retrieved from https://www.inforum.com/news/north-dakota/ndscs-bringing-back-aviation-maintenance-tech-program
Be sure to stay up to date on the latest aviation news. Visit ND Aeronautics Commission's website for more articles and the North Dakota Aviation Association website for the online edition of the Fly-ND Quarterly.
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