SW Ohio races to ready next gen of aviation pros
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Oliver Panyko works at Warren County Airport in Lebanon (where this photo was taken) as he works his way through school at UC Clermont. Photo: Casey Weldon/Axios
For Oliver Panyko, flying started with a birthday present as a teenager. Now he's among hundreds of Southwest Ohio students looking to turn an interest in aviation into a career.
Why it matters: Greater Cincinnati's $6 billion aerospace industry supports nearly 19,000 jobs and 185 manufacturers, according to REDI Cincinnati, making young talent critical to its growth.
The big picture: Aerospace companies need that pipeline as they expand.
- Beehive Industries, which makes 3D-printed jet engines, announced in July plans to invest $70 million and create more than 200 jobs here.
- "Our success is fundamentally tied to the caliber of the workforce we are building in Southwest Ohio," chief product officer Gordie Follin says.
State of play: Local colleges offer paths from the cockpit to designing aircraft. The University of Cincinnati, for instance, offers aerospace engineering programs where students work with companies such as GE Aerospace on jet engines and autonomous flight.
Zoom in: At UC Clermont, Panyko is studying aviation technology and training to become a professional pilot through Sporty's Academy at Clermont County Airport.
- The West Chester native was a high school sophomore when his dad, a pilot, began giving him discovery flights.
Meanwhile, demand is especially acute for aviation mechanics.
- A 2025 report by consulting firm Oliver Wyman estimates North America is short about 24,000 aviation maintenance technicians, a gap projected to top 40,000 by 2028.
- Cincinnati State says employers around CVG alone need about 1,300. Enrollment in its AMT program more than doubled from 2020 to 2025 to 185 students.
The college is spending $10.7 million to expand its Harrison Campus and open a training center near CVG, which will make room for 350 students.
- "In my 47 years in this industry ... I have never seen the demand for aviation maintenance technicians that we have today," program chair Jeff Wright tells Axios. "This is happening all over the country, but particularly here in the Greater Cincinnati region."
Zoom out: Newer technologies are creating more paths.
- Sinclair College in Dayton is partnering with CVG to train students on unmanned aircraft systems and advanced air mobility.
Starting younger: Butler Tech's aviation program moved into a $15 million center in Middletown this year after years of turning away applicants, helping enrollment grow from about 50 students to 110.
- Students start in 10th grade exploring flying, maintenance and engineering.
- Principal Adam Snoddy tells Axios many arrive thinking aviation means becoming a pilot, only to discover there are a lot of other career possibilities.
"There's so much opportunity in this area within the aviation industry, but students aren't going to pursue it if they don't know about it," Snoddy says.
The bottom line: Panyko is training to make flying his career. But he does it for the same reason he started.
- "It's just for fun," he tells Axios. "That's why I started this whole thing and that's what I hope to continue doing for the rest of my life, in one way or another."