Miami-Dade County, Florida officials presented funding of $100,000 to a new aviation training center at Miami-Opa locka Executive Airport (KOPF).
The Barrington Irving Technical Training School is the brainchild of Captain Barrington Irving, in partnership with The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), and local and national organizations, including Bombardier.
Capt. Irving announced the initiative last fall at the NBAA at the Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition in Orlando. Irving achieved global recognition in 2007 for being the first Black pilot to circumnavigate the globe, and at the time, set the record for the youngest person to fly solo around the world. Irving also heads Experience Aviation, a global STEM initiative, and Flying Classroom, a supplemental pre-K to 12th-grade supplemental digital curriculum program.
Captain Irving’s training center helps address the need for workers in business aviation in Florida and beyond. Aerospace and Aviation is Florida’s biggest industry. The center “will develop skilled workers from diverse backgrounds” and “help students from the Miami area and around the world develop technical skills that enable them to have careers in aviation, but which are also transferable to fields outside the sector,” according to a release.
The check was presented to Irving by Oliver G. Gilbert III, Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners chairman. “This center will transform lives,” he said. “It will unlock curiosity in our youth to imagine what’s possible…and for adults, it will provide a new start in a viable career that can increase their livelihood.”
“This funding from Miami-Dade will help us launch an innovative training program to get more students from a variety of backgrounds into business aviation and other industries where they can achieve their professional dreams,” Irving said. “I am grateful to Miami-Dade County and the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, and the center’s other partners: Atlantic Aviation, Bombardier, Concours Club, NBAA, and Signature Flight Support.”
