GRAND FORKS — A new degree will allow future helicopter pilots more flexibility in their education at the University of North Dakota. There’s a big need for commercial helicopter pilots in the United States, said Wesley Van Dell, helicopter chief flight instructor, and UND is one of the few universities with any kind of helicopter program. The new helicopter operations degree was launched this summer, following 40 years of helicopter flight training being under the commercial aviation degree program. “Helicopters, in particular, we get a lot of non-traditional students — students who come out of the military, or they’re looking for a change of career. There are around 1,400 flight students in the fixed-wing program and about 70 in the helicopter program.