A major reason? Academy alumnus Cole Harris.
Harris, who graduated in 2015, recently opened Central Florida Aircraft Services, a full-service aircraft maintenance company. Harris, 23, operates the company out of a hangar at Lakeland Linder International Airport. Central Florida Aerospace Academy was great, Harris said. Nobody in my family is involved in aviation, so if I hadn t gone to school there, there s no way I would be doing what I do today.
Airport Director Gene Conrad said Harris is the first academy graduate to open his own business at Lakeland Linder. [Cole] brought everything full circle, Conrad said.
Although Harris was on the pilot track at the academy, he started working for Aircraft Engineering Inc. in Bartow while still in high school. Harris shifted around a few other maintenance companies and discovered he could make a pretty good career in maintenance rather than flying.