My City August 2022

For young people who’ve dreamed of ying through the air and looking down at the beauty of the Earth, Genesee County has a place where that dream can come true. Since 2018, the Genesee Career Institute (GCI), a part of the Genesee Interme diate School District (GISD) has been training young pilots from the area through their Aviation Academy, setting them up for a lucrative career in aviation. “It all started when a group of gentlemen from the Great er Flint Pilot’s Association (GFPA) alerted us to the declining numbers of pilots and aviation enthusiasts in Genesee County and they presented us with a unique program,” says Diana Allard, GISD Executive Director of Career Technical Education. “We did a need assess ment and found that there were enough high school students who wanted to be pilots to justify it.”

GCI partnered with Crosswinds Aviation, a full-ser vice ight school based in Livingston County with facilities in Howell, Pontiac, Ypsilanti and Flint. “We al ready had high school programs going in other locations when the GFPA introduced us to the Genesee Career Institute,” says Crosswinds Owner Matt Dahline. “It just made sense to expand our services to Flint.” Crosswinds Aviation was founded in 2001 and has been owned by Matt and his wife Andrea since 2011.”ey operate a eet of 28 aircraft and employ over 32 full-time ight instruc tors.”ey hold four planes at Flint Bishop Airport for Aviation Academy students, including a Cessna 172, two Diamond DA20 and a Diamond DA40. Enrollment in the GCI Aviation Academy has been steady since its inception. “We have anywhere between 20 and 40 kids enrolled at any one time,” says Allard. 

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