WATCH a video about KSU flight students.

For Kent State flight students it’s doing things like landing planes that make their training unique.

“When you’re up flying thinking I’m in class right now and I’m at three-thousand feet and it’s a beautiful day, that’s much better than sitting in some English class,” said Michael Oxley, a graduate of Kent’s flight program.

Kent State’s aviation program teaches students how to fly.

KSU added instruction in air traffic control this year to join four other areas of concentration.

Newly appointed program director Maureen McFarland says students receive top notch instruction.

“They kind of get a leg up,” she said. “We’re also pretty unique among aviation schools around the country because we have those five areas of concentration.”

All that training in the classroom really means nothing. It’s the training here at the Kent State Airport that really matters for the flight students.

Flight instructor Tyler Khan says giving that hands on instruction can be a daunting task.

“I like teaching and I like flying so it makes work kind of easier to enjoy what you’re doing,” he said. “But at the same time it’s pretty tough taking someone who doesn’t know anything, especially a private pilot from the very beginning, and teaching them everything they need to know.”