Nov. 08--The fast-growing aerospace industry needs skilled workers across the Inland Northwest, and North Idaho College has opened a new training center in Hayden to prepare students for those manufacturing and maintenance jobs.

Forty students are enrolled this fall in the Aerospace Center for Excellence, which operates in a converted pole barn near the Coeur d'Alene Airport. They are learning composite materials fabrication and repair, which ties into much of the aerospace business in Spokane, Kootenai and Bonner counties.

Over the next two years, NIC will roll out three more aerospace programs: quality assurance and nondestructive testing; manufacturing and machining operations; and airframe maintenance. Total enrollment is expected to hit 80 to 100 students.

Among those in the first class is Marcus Torres, 27, a Coeur d'Alene High School graduate who earned a photojournalism degree at NIC last May. Now he plans to earn a two-year degree in advanced manufacturing and use those skills to become a mobile repairman specializing in fiberglass and carbon-fiber parts. He wants to get his pilot's license, too, so he can fly to jobs.

"It gets you on all levels -- intellectually, you get your hands dirty working with material, see how different materials lay up, their properties," Torres said. "It's so interesting."

The aerospace center was established with a $2.97million federal grant and is expected to create 520 new jobs by 2015, with the average salary estimated at $43,500, according to the Idaho Department of Labor.

"The outlook for the aerospace industry is really bright," NIC President Joe Dunlap said.

Twenty-five aerospace businesses have sprung up in North Idaho alone, Dunlap said. They are part of an industry that anticipates sharp growth in passengers, cargo and airliner replacement in the next 20 years, he said.

"We want to do our part to contribute to that," Dunlap said.

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter and Lt. Gov. Brad Little stopped by the aerospace center Thursday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Otter paid tribute to those who made it happen.

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NIC Program Trains Students to Meet Needs of Regional Aerospace Businesses