To support the state’s growing advanced manufacturing cluster, Trident Technical College has constructed the S.C. Aeronautical Training Center on Thornley Campus in North Charleston. The new facility provides training for well-paying jobs in expanding advanced manufacturing industries with diverse workforces and excellent upward job mobility.
“The South Carolina Aeronautical Training Center will help sustain the state's economic expansion by supplying the highly skilled workforce required by manufacturers and related industries that have made substantial investments in our region and state.”
-Dr. Mary Thornley President Trident Technical College
The $80 million, 218,000-square-foot facility includes a ramp, two hangars with high bays to accommodate large aircraft training aids, 22 classrooms, an advanced manufacturing lab, a mechatronics lab, 23 specialty labs, six flex-space labs, 37 faculty/staff offices, meeting spaces, a café and catering kitchen.
The training center promotes economic development in the region and, as a statewide asset, will assist the S.C. Department of Commerce in attracting more aeronautic and advanced manufacturing suppliers to the state.
This three-story facility increases Trident Tech’s capacity to provide an educated and trained pipeline of workers with the skills required now and in the future. Students on group tours can see modern advanced manufacturing training first hand.
The center houses high-tech manufacturing programs, aeronautical studies programs, engineering technology and engineering transfer courses, readySC’s Boeing training and advanced manufacturing training.
Offerings include programs leading to associate degrees and noncredit certificates as well as specialized training, apprenticeships and seminars for major manufacturers in the region and state.
An estimated 5,370 students and 120 faculty and staff will use this facility annually.