Aviation Industry Continues to Grow in Dallas Co.

From the West Alabama Newsroom–

Good news coming out of Selma and Dallas County tonight.

Another aviation company is opening a facility at Craig Field. And that means dozens of new high paying aviation jobs — are on the way to the area.

The aviation industry is really starting to take flight in the Selma area.

Resicum International announced plans to bring an operational hub and training facility to Craig Field.

The company provides flight training and maintenance support to government, commercial and general aviation customers.

Robert Baird is the company’s co-founder and Chief Operating Officer.

“We’re looking to build kind of a small Fort Rucker here, ” he said.

“With a center of excellence where you can learn anything from working on an aircraft, to aviation safety, air traffic control, to actually piloting the aircraft.”

Baird says one of main reasons Craig Field was chosen over other potential sites for the facility — was it’s location.

“The geographical location of Selma is perfect for us. It’s the center of America. And it is key to our plans.”

But Baird isn’t the only one with plans in the works.

Craig Field Executive Director Jim Corrigan — has a plan to make Selma — an aviation center.

“There’s a lot of cities that have small airports. But there’s not many cities in Alabama if you look around that have an 8000 foot runway — with 62 acres of parking — three large hangars,” said Corrigan.

“We’ve got to leverage that in order to bring business and jobs and economic prosperity to Selma.”

Resicum plans to invest $1.3 million dollars — and create 70 new jobs over a three year period.

The jobs will pay an average wage of $30 dollars an hour.