Universal Flight Concepts will operate the new flight school, which has 14 new Tecnam aircraft and two Tecnam-specific flight simulators. Cade said the school has three models, the P2008 two-seater aircraft, P2010 four-seater, and the P2006t twin-engine plane which is used for multi-engine training.

Gordon Jiroux, CEO of Universal Flight Concepts, started his career in helicopter training in the early 1980s, and by the 1990s, he oversaw one of the largest flight school providers in the world.

“Several years ago I realized the industry needed some help in the fixed-wing world, so I decided to impart all the knowledge I gained in the helicopter industry,” said to the crowd Monday.

Cade said the school is paid for through students’ flight fees and at no cost to Baylor. When registering, students pay a fee that covers the cost of using the planes during training. The Federal Aviation Administration sets a minimum number of flights, but students usually exceed that number before they can earn their license and the number of hours can vary.

“The student gets charged a fee to pay for that flight course,” Cade said. “Before, what we did was that flight fee was sent to TSTC to pay for the cost of flight training.”