Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — A $3.4 million federal grant will fund an aviation technology program at Mid-South Community College in West Memphis, the school announced Tuesday.

MSCC said it would develop a Federal Aviation Administration-certified airframe and power plant program with federal stimulus funds through the Department of Labor.

“Employment in the field is expected to grow from 122,000 to 135,000 by 2016, and many current workers are expected to retire in the next decade,” said Gibson “Sunny” Morris, executive director of the school’s Arkansas Delta Workforce Innovations in Regional Economic Development (ADWIRED) initiative.

FedEx will provide internships and will donate an aircraft, tooling and test equipment, Morris said.

Arkansas Northeastern College in Blytheville would receive $851,136 of the grant to add an instructor, equipment and pay student tuition to expand its existing aviation technology program, Morris said.