Jackson Community College

News Home

Photo Galleries

The Phoenix

Press Release

JCC hires new director of aviation

Jackson Community College is pleased to announce that John Feldvary, commercial airline pilot, will be the new director of aviation overseeing the JCC Flight Center and aviation program.

Feldvary has flown for U.S. Airways for 20 years, starting as a first officer flying Boeing 737s in 1985 (at what was then Piedmont Airlines), and becoming captain four years later. He will retire officially from U.S. Airways on Sept. 1, which will coincide with his start date at JCC.

Feldvary earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1969 from the University of Houston, and he completed a Master of Business Administration degree from Long Island University, Long Island, N.Y., in 1971. The son of a commercial airline pilot, Feldvary began taking flying lessons, after finishing his undergraduate degree, at Republic Airport in Farmingdale, N.Y., on Long Island, where he earned his license and ratings and worked as a flight instructor from 1970-'72. He was hired by Consumers Power, now Consumers Energy, in 1973 and worked as a corporate pilot for 12 years, until 1985. He then went to work with Piedmont Airlines in Winston-Salem, N.C. Piedmont later merged with U.S. Air out of Washington, D.C., creating U.S. Airways.

Now, he is looking forward to the next step in his career.

"As I approach a new point in my life, I wanted to be associated with an educational institution so that I could benefit the students with the experience that I've had," Feldvary said.

In addition to his experience in three areas of flight - instruction, corporate flying and commercial pilot - Feldvary served for four years as the national treasurer of the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA), a union representing 66,000 airline pilots from the U.S. and Canada. An elected position, Feldvary served a four-year term as treasurer, from 1999 through 2002. Prior to that, he served as an executive vice president for ALPA.

Directing the College's flight center and aviation program should be a "great fit," he said, and brings him back full circle to his early days working as a flight instructor.

There will be a number of job opportunities for airline pilots in the coming years, and Feldvary believes it's important to educate students for today's rapidly changing aviation industry, especially since the tragedies of 9-11. "I think our No. 1 goal is we'd like to get as many students as possible interested in a career in aviation," Feldvary said. "It's a challenging industry, and it's not your everyday, 9-to-5 shirt and tie job. Every day you have different weather, you work with different people."

The Jackson County Airport and JCC Flight Center have great facilities for students to learn in, he said, and he would like to increase visibility of the College for both the aviation programs as well as flight training for those wishing to become pilots.

Feldvary resides in Jackson with his wife of 33 years, Joan. They have two adult children, Kyle and Keri.