New $6.2 million facility at Bowers Field will help CWU Aviation grow into the future

Anyone familiar with Central Washington University Aviation knows the program is long overdue for a facility upgrade.

For the past two decades, the College of Education and Professional Studies (CEPS) has been trying to secure funding to design and build a central hub for one of the university’s signature programs.

And, thanks to the Washington State Legislature, CEPS’s wish finally came true last year. Lawmakers delivered a $9.9 million appropriation during the 2025 session to help CWU Aviation build a stand-alone facility at Bowers Field that will bring all the program’s operations under one roof for the first time since the program was founded in the 1970s.

Design of the $6.2 million Flight Training Center (FTC) Annex started last fall, overseen by LMN Architects and Corgan. The remaining $3.7 million from the state’s funding package will be used for design, permitting, furnishing, and specialty services. The permitting process got underway this fall, while the construction phase is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2027.

“The building we’re currently using is really old, and it’s not meant to handle our current level of usage,” said Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator Anthony Davis, who helped CEPS leadership develop plans for the 8,800-square-foot facility. “We don’t have enough office space for our flight instructors, and everyone is spread around in different buildings, which creates a major disconnect for our faculty, staff, and our students.”

The Aviation department currently occupies four separate buildings at the airfield northwest of campus, plus one on campus. Some classes are held in the 4,568-square-foot Aviation Training Center (ATC), which is also home to all the flight simulators, a briefing room, and office space. A couple blocks down the road is the 20,000-square-foot FTC, which is comprised of a dispatch office, instructor offices, and a 16-aircraft hangar owned by Kittitas County.

Across the parking lot from the FTC is a third facility, the 1,280-square-foot “Brown Building,” a postwar-era structure that houses half of the flight instructors. A secondary hangar adjacent to the FTC provides space for three additional aircraft, while Black Hall hosts a department office and a variety of classes for the Aviation Management and Professional Pilot tracks.

Under the project master plan developed by CWU Capital Planning and Projects, the Brown Building is scheduled to be demolished in spring 2027 to make room for the FTC Annex on the site adjacent to the main hangar. If everything goes according to plan, the new annex will be ready for use in the fall of 2028.

“We’ve been needing to do this for a long time,” said Davis, who noted that the Aviation program has been looking to secure funding for the upgrade since the 2000s. “It’s important for the future of the program that we are all in one space because that proximity for our students, staff, and faculty will allow for better communication, better operations, and better outcomes.”

The program could receive a boost in the coming months if it is able to gain ownership of the hangar, which is currently owned by Kittitas County. A proposed three-way land swap between CWU, the county, and the City of Ellensburg has been in the works for a number of years.

Having the hangar under CWU control could open up new and exciting opportunities for the program, according to Capital Planning and Projects Director Delano Palmer.

“We will still lease the land from the county, but by taking ownership of the hangar, we will be able to do major capital improvements on the parcel if we need to,” he said.