Alora Nick of Newport took pictures of the displays before the opening of the North Idaho College Aerospace Center of Excellence on Thursday. (SR photo: Kathy Plonka)

The fast-growing aerospace industry needs skilled workers across the Inland Northwest, and North Idaho College has opened a new training center in Hayden to prepare students for those manufacturing and maintenance jobs. Forty students are enrolled this fall in the Aerospace Center for Excellence, which operates in a converted pole barn near the Coeur d’Alene Airport. They are learning composite materials fabrication and repair, which ties into much of the aerospace business in Spokane, Kootenai and Bonner counties. Over the next two years, NIC will roll out three more aerospace programs: quality assurance and nondestructive testing; manufacturing and machining operations; and airframe maintenance. Total enrollment is expected to hit 80 to 100 students/Scott Maben, SR. More here. (Kathy Plonka photo, inset: NIC Aerospace Center of Excellence students James Pabst, front left and Spencer Rhodes, front right, at opening of the center in Hayden)

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