Hey guys I'm a mid at Notre Dame and while we don't have an aviation club, I think it'd be great to start one. I ran the idea by my LT and she was all for it, just gotta get some details set up before we pitch it to our CO. Do you guys have any info regarding the nuts and bolts of the club (ie structure, how to get it as a legit billet, how much dues are, etc etc). Any info would be great. Thanks
Our club president last year turned the Aviation Club at Jacksonville around and it turned out to be quite a successful year! Since Jacksonville University already has a flight program and most of the club members are "Aviation Management and Flight Ops" majors, they're earning their private and instrument FAA certs through the university, so the club mainly focuses on Naval Aviation since everyone is already learning about FAR/AIM, aeronautics, radio comms and getting flight time in Cessnas.
Things we did last year, with tons of help from our LT, were:
-Weekly swim training in base rec pool to prepare for the water survival training needed for MIDN cruise and the water portion of API. We swim in flight suits and practice the strokes/tread water to get comfortable in the flight suit.
-ASTB tutoring by MIDN who have already taken the test.
-LT sets up group appointments at NAS Jax so everyone can get their medical upchits so they can backseat flights if the opportunity arises.
-Volunteered for every airshow that is reasonably close by. We have been the aircraft marshals at the Flagler County airshow for two years now.
-Meet with IPs and SNAs who fly to Jax from NASP and talk with them and tour the T-34 or new T-6. We were able to tour the tower at Jax too.
-Took a trip to Pensacola over spring break. We met with Jacksonville grads at Pensacola, toured the classrooms and flightlines, interviewed IPs and SNAs in all parts of the training. We got some stick time in the T-6 and TH-57 sims with IPs. We also talked with a realty office to really get a feel of what it's like to live in Pensacola. One grad used to be a Blue Angel maintainer and he set up a meeting with the Blue Angels for us!
-We are also constantly bugging the squadrons at Jax and Mayport for opportunities to backseat some flights. Some of us got rides.
As for structure, we have a President, a VP, a treasurer, and then the people in charge of the individual activities. A swim class OIC, an ASTB OIC, an airshow OIC, a medical upchit OIC, a flight time OIC, and so on. They all keep the President in the loop, but mostly are completely in charge of their own activity, from planning to executing.
We are funded mostly by Battalion member dues, not by the university. The biggest expense was the three-day trip to Pensacola, but for the most part everything else is free. It's a great opportunity for MIDN to gain exposure to not just aviation, but naval aviation. I'm sure you could fluff up the pitch to the CO.
Aviation Club President an actual billet in our BN along with drill team commander and Semper Fi. I've been assigned the year-long billet for next year and plan on trying some new things and changing what didn't really work in our club.
PM me if you have questions.