Dubois County Airport pitches aviation careers to local eighth-graders

Huntingburg Regional Airport used its April meeting to press a workforce pitch: the airport is not just moving aircraft, it is trying to move Dubois County students into aviation jobs. Airport Manager Travis McQueen said the airport’s countywide eighth-grade career cruise drew 29 students who expressed verbal interest in aviation careers, a sign that local exposure is already reaching beyond curiosity and into the pipeline for pilots, mechanics and support staff.

That pipeline is already tight. McQueen and Dustin Betz interviewed 17 of 18 applicants for 14 available seats in the aviation program, which is run with the Patoka Valley Career Technical Education Co-op. The selection process weighs GPA, attendance, tardiness and extracurricular activities, making the program as much about school habits as flight paths. Previous local reporting showed 28 area high school students in the aviation program in 2024, and 14 students toured UPS Worldport facilities in Louisville, giving the effort a direct link to airport operations and logistics work.

McQueen brings his own aviation background to the effort. Before joining the Dubois County Airport Authority, he worked for INDOT’s Office of Aviation and Indianapolis International Airport. He holds a Purdue University degree in Aviation Administration and is certificated as a private pilot and aircraft dispatcher, credentials that fit a county trying to connect students with real industry roles rather than abstract career talk.

The airport itself already operates as a substantial local facility. Dubois County Airport Authority runs Huntingburg Regional Airport, which traces its roots to a grass-dirt airstrip founded by Frosty Jones in 1938. The airport reports more than 14,600 annual takeoffs and landings and says it houses more than 30 aircraft in 13 hangars. It also provides refueling, hangar space and maintenance, the kinds of services that require trained workers on the ground as well as in the air.

The authority’s April discussion also fit into a longer pattern of investment. In 2014, the Dubois County Council and airport authority jointly constructed a T-hangar with a $450,000 grant, and runway expansions in 2021 included Indiana’s first public airport tunnel. The airport also promotes the Huntingburg Airport Technology Park as a site-selection resource for aerospace and aviation businesses, suggesting the student outreach is tied to a broader economic strategy. If Dubois County can turn eighth-grade interest into training seats, then Huntingburg Regional Airport could become a local gateway not just for flights, but for careers that stay in the county.