Fasten your seatbelts. This school is sending Cincinnati students skyward

Carly Gist

Cincinnati Enquirer

Updated July 17, 2026, 11:05 a.m. ET

• Cincinnati’s Lunken Flight Training Center is the latest to join California Aeronautical University’s Reach Flight Center network.
• The partnership offers a three-year online bachelor’s degree program for students taking flight lessons at Lunken Airport.

This story has been updated with more information.

A roaring whir slices through the air as students at Cincinnati’s Lunken Flight Training Center conduct a precheck of their airplanes. Aspiring pilots take off into the sky most days and nights at the airport, usually in two hour blocks, but soon they’ll have the option to pair their hands-on flight lessons with a degree in aeronautics from California Aeronautical University, known simply as CAU.

Lunken Flight Training Center is the third flight school added to CAU’s Reach Flight Center network since the partnerships launched in October 2025. The network hopes to make aviation education more accessible by letting students attend flight schools in their local community instead of relocating, while earning an online bachelor’s degree.

Aviation is a large industry in Ohio. But while several universities and colleges in the state offer aviation programs, no Cincinnati schools have offered a bachelor’s degree program – until now. The CAU partnership, which offers academic resources and federal financial aid, could make aviation education more affordable and students more competitive, according to officials at both schools.

The first cohort will begin with the fall semester. Just two Lunken Flight Training Center trainees are currently confirmed, but owner Jay Schmalfuss expects the new program will draw more students.

“Throughout your classes, you are taking your general education courses, but you’re also going more in depth on the aviation side of things as well,” said Melissa Johnston, director of aviation operations at CAU. “So you’re studying the core concepts of aircraft systems, weather, airport operations, really just to make sure that you have that holistic knowledge going into a job at the airlines or cargo or corporate world, wherever they choose.”

Lunken training chosen for unique resources, location

The partnership evolved after Schmalfuss and Shooby Herrmann, manager of operations at Lunken Flight Training Center, met CAU staff at a conference. The university was looking for partners with strong quality and safety records, Johnston said.

“Their operations are very streamlined and how they run their program is efficient, and it’s really what we’re looking for in a partner,” she said.

Lunken Flight Training, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary in September, is the only Cessna Pilot Center in Ohio. It provides one-on-one training for students starting at age 15. Based in the historic Lunken Airport, the center’s facilities include two hangars, classrooms, simulators and 10 aircraft. They’re also a Part 141 flight school, meaning they operate at a fast and structured pace under the Federal Aviation Administration, and have self-examining authority – an FAA designation granted to less than 80 schools nationwide. That’s just 15% of FAA-certified pilot schools.

Schmalfuss also said the airport’s location made them a strong contender, as Cincinnati is within 600 miles of 60% of the United States’ population.

CAU students may enter industry sooner

The global long-term demand for new pilots will reach 660,000 over the next 20 years, according to Boeing’s Pilot and Technician Outlook 2025-2044. But the market is competitive, and training is costly.

While adding a college degree to their training will raise the cost a student is paying, Schmalfuss said students will enter the field earlier. They’ll become eligible for the Restricted Airline Transport Pilot certificate, known simply as RATP, allowing them to be hired with 1,000 flight hours instead of the industry’s standard 1,500-hour requirement. Also, the partnership presents scholarship and federal financial aid opportunities.

CAU also has air carrier partnerships that will offer direct pathways to the industry, which is one aspect that motivated William Sayre, who recently earned his private pilot license, to enroll. “Airlines are going to – from what I’ve heard – start hiring from more of their partnerships or cadet programs,” he said.

Sayre said he looks forward to having structured classes through the university and hopes to enter the industry earlier through RATP. Herrmann said he wants students like Sayre who leave their center to be “safe and competent when they step out, go pilot by themselves.”

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2026/07/17/california-aeronautical-university-partners-with-cincinnati-lunken-airport/90875685007/