Campus Updates, Hagerstown & Youngstown

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A Lifetime of Influence

HAGERSTOWN

A Christie RF80-M Aircraft Battery Charger/Analyzer was purchased to replace a GE battery charger, an older model from the Pittsburgh campus that had been in use since the Hagerstown campus opened in 2011.

“The new Christie is a top-of-the-line automatic charger that is used in the industry today. Most airlines use it, so students are using equipment they’ll see in the field,” said Hagerstown Campus Director Bernard “Butch” Adams.

Christie refers to its NiCad battery charger as "the worldwide industry standard." It charges more efficiently and has a long list of user-friendly features.

At his retirement dinner in October, Mr. Hoyle was celebrated by former students and colleagues from past and present. “[Gary] taught me a lot. We may not have always seen eyeto-eye, but he always had my back,” said Al Simon Jr., retired PIA instructor.

Jason Mongan, Executive Director for Academic and Student Affairs, went on to say “When I was new at PIA, Gary took me around to show me how everything worked and why we do what we do. I was completely new to aviation, and I always appreciated him taking me under his wing.”

PIA was founded in 1929, so Mr. Hoyle has been around for more than half the institution’s existence. He has experienced, firsthand, PIA’s impact and has played a huge part in the success of PIA over the years. He has also made it possible for others to succeed at PIA. Although it will be an adjustment for Mr. Hoyle to move forward in this next chapter, he is proud of all he has accomplished with PIA. “It will be different not doing the same thing I’ve always done for all these years, but I am ready.”

In her farewell speech to Mr. Hoyle, President Suzanne Markle noted, “Gary is a well-known, highly regarded member of the aviation community through his travels and affiliations over the years. Mr. Hoyle was instrumental in establishing our Myrtle Beach campus, as well as leading us through the growth and development of our Youngstown and Hagerstown campuses, and most recently during our renovations at the main campus. His influences are everywhere, whether in the equipment he acquired, the buildings and training areas he helped design and maintain, or in the people he taught as students or developed as colleagues. I extend our most heartfelt thanks to Gary Hoyle for a lifetime of being here for this organization. And even though we won’t see you every day, never forget, we will always be your PIA family.”  Every August break, one-quarter of the interior of the Hagerstown building is painted. This summer, the men's and women's bathrooms, part of the hallway, and Room 108 (the electronics shop) were all given a fresh coat of paint..

“It’s important to me to keep the appearance of the building up,” Adams said.

YOUNGSTOWN

You have to look up to see the building upgrade at the Youngstown campus and even then, it is not visible from the ground. An overhaul of the hangar roof was completed in the summer.

"With the warranty up and some minor leaking that needed to be addressed, it was time for remediation of the corrugated metal roof," said Youngstown Campus Director Joseph DeRamo. The project included scraping off the old rubber coating, replacing screws and fasteners that had rusted, and applying a fresh coat of sealant.