Each year, ten of our nation’s top performing aviation universities are invited by Textron-Cessna to apply for the Top Hawk program. Of those ten, only five are selected for Top Hawk Program.
The Top Hawk program is designed to reward exceptional universities through a partnership internship by providing them with a brand-new Cessna 172 aircraft, equipped with the latest technology, at no cost to the school. This aircraft is used throughout the year to help the school promote aviation around the nation via airshows, university open houses, static displays, recruiting events, and more.
The application process is by invitation only. Selected schools must submit a lengthy packet comprised of business and marketing plan for use of the aircraft, standard operating procedures, and a five-minute video on why they should be selected. At CAU, we took a different approach to the video, shying away from a standard school produced media.
Since this aircraft would be used by our flight students, we elected to give this project to our young pilots and provide them with any resource they needed. Our students developed a plan for the video clip down to the second. Creating scripts, scene details, and editing of hours’ worth of footage.
In the end, CAU was selected as a 2018 Top Hawk university and will be receiving our aircraft this month! If you would like to learn more about our professional pilot program and see the video our students produced, please visit YouTube search “California Aeronautical University Top Hawk” or click https://youtu.be/jKJ_uu5okZg.
Ready to soar in your aviation career?
Mr. Matthew A. Johnston has over 23 years of experience serving various roles in education and is currently serving as the President of California Aeronautical University. He maintains memberships and is a supporting participant with several aviation promoting and advocacy associations including University Aviation Association (UAA), Regional Airline Association (RAA), AOPA, NBAA, and EAA with the Young Eagles program. He is proud of his collaboration with airlines, aviation businesses and individual aviation professionals who are working with him to develop California Aeronautical University as a leader in educating aviation professionals.
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