WHS students had the opportunity to listen to Nick Beluardo, a co-founder of Avit Flight Academy, talk about the different career paths in the field of aviation. 

Beluardo graduated from Kent State University in 2015 and has worked a variety of jobs in aviation since then. 

While at Kent, he worked as the manager of Wadsworth Municipal Airport. He then went on to work as the manager of Jefferson County Airport and as the Planning Coordinator for Burke Lakefront and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. 

“My role was looking at which flights are coming in, how much craft is coming in, what is the demand of an airport,” Beluardo said. “And what does an airport need to build to accommodate the demand?” 

Airport planning is one of the many career paths that is available in the world of aviation.

“I think a lot of times we think ‘pilot’ and we think commercial airlines,” Beluardo said. “And that’s a great job as well, flying for United and American, but there’s so many different types of pilots out there.”

He talked about the many different kinds of pilots, which include commercial, private, recreational, cargo, military, emergency, corporate, business, agricultural, news, and wildlife management. 

“No matter what kind of job you want as a pilot, it all starts in the same spot, whether you want to go fly a space shuttle, or a rocket ship, or a commercial airliner, or for fun,” Beluardo said. 

Beluardo explained the different steps that can come after getting a private pilot’s license. 

It starts with a private pilot’s certificate, then a pilot can go on to get an instrument rating, a commercial certificate, or be certified as a flight instructor. 

“I think there’s so many different jobs out there in the world of aviation that are worth looking into and pursuing,” Beluardo said.

He included other careers in aviation such as air traffic control, airport management, public safety jobs like the police and fire department, and many other occupations. 

Many students came to hear about potential career paths and stayed after the presentation to speak with him.

“I thought it was really cool,” said Bella Schoonover, a senior at WHS who attended the presentation. “I want to be a teacher, but I’m still open to the idea of other careers so I think it’s really interesting to just hear different perspectives and different stories.”