With the start of a new mod, New College Fitness Center Head and certified flight instructor Colin Jordon is offering a private pilot tutorial for the second semester in a row. By the end of the class, students will be armed with an arsenal of technological knowledge concerning planes and aircraft equipment and will be well on their way to passing the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Private Pilot written exam — one of the key prerequisites to attaining a pilot’s license.

It was only last year when Jordon first heard an interest for flight from New College students. When he mentioned he was a certified flight instructor, a student asked him if he could teach a class and by fall semester, Jordon managed to organize one that counted as a mod credit. Since then, Jordon has gotten in contact with members of Cirrus Aviation, the flight training center at the Sarasota Bradenton Airport and they have been working in conjunction ever since. Students are able to take tours through the airport’s control tower and instructed trips inside a plane’s cockpit. Jordon even managed to get the manufacturer’s price for the textbooks sold by Cirrus.

“They get to walk around and ask questions,” Jordon said. “It’s actually a very helpful part of the class.”

Whether or not participants want to make a career as a pilot or if they just have a penchant for aircrafts, the tutorial is open to all without perquisites. Jordon claims the only thing the students all share in common is an interest in aviation.

“There’s no pattern as of yet as far as more male, more female as far as type of major, nothing like that,” Jordan said.

At the end of the class, the final exam is a mock Private Pilot test in which students can see if they are ready to take their first step in attaining their license.