Thursday Tour

(If you haven't seen my other new post about the rally, read below)

I apologize that these posts will come out of order. But I realized that I also should be writing about the field trip that took place last thursday, the 8th. Dan, our director, arranged an all day tour to Flight Safety International in Wichita, and then the Cessna Single Engine Factory in Independence, Kansas. Both were extremely enriching experiences!

In the morning we headed to Flight Safety at the bright hour of 7oclock in the morning. Flight Safety International is like one massive flight school. Their clients are pilots with thousands of hours under their belt who need to get type ratings in specific aircraft. They have training centers all over the U.S, Europe, and Asia, with their headquarters being Wichita with six training centers. We went to the Hawker Beechcraft Learning Center where pilots come to get type ratings in all of the Beechcraft King Air series (C90, 200, 350), the Beechjet, the Premier, as well as all of the Hawker Jets (400, 750, 800, 900, 4000) and some with a variety of avionics (like the ProLine 21, or Honeywell, or Collins EFIS 85B.

Training pilots in the actual airplane, with as many trainees as they have, is not cost effective. So flight safety has full motion flight simulators. On our tour by Mike Wallace, program manager of the Beechcraft 350 training and a 1993 Hesston Aviation alum, it was made known that a client can train all of their hours in the simulator, get their checkride in the simulator, and fly a real Beechcraft home. We were thrilled to discover that we would be given a chance to test out the simulator after the tour. At the bottom you can see me in the cockpit of a Beechcraft 350, taking off from JFK International. I am proud to say I can log 0.1 of an hour in a Beech 350! We were also excited to learn that Flight Safety offers internships mainly to Hesston and K-State aviation students. The pay is only about $15/hr, but you get free type ratings in a Beechcraft 350, and Hawker 4000, each worth about $25,000 each! I'd say thats a good deal!

After the exciting tour of Flight Safety, we headed 2 hours south to the Cessna factory. Unfortunately they didn't let us take pictures but the experience was incredible! We got a tour of the factory floor where the Cessna 172, 182, 206, 350 Corvallis, and Citation Mustang were being hand built. The manager that gave us the tour was a very friendly guy who answered all of our questions willingly. One thing that stuck out to me was what he said he looks for in a worker. He looks for the worker who goes out of his or her way to help others, and go the extra mile. He also pointed out that the floor supervisors were in there working with the workers, and weren't there just to "oversee." It was incredible for me to see a basic principle at work amongst a very powerful multi-billion dollar company: servant leadership. That really stuck with me.

We also had the chance to tour the tower facility and met a test pilot there who instructed at Hesston for a number of years. Hesston Aviation connections are everywhere! If I wasn't convinced before, I am now.

At the end of the day we climbed into the van exhausted from a tiring but rewarding day. I only hope that someday I can work as a pilot at either one of those places. I sure would be tickled pink.

Aviation Rally

Last Saturday was the annual Larks Rally for Hesston Aviation. The entire weekend we had speakers talking about missions in aviation, not necessarily missionary aviation. One speaker shared about his witness as a captain in the airlines and how he sees opportunities to share Christ ever day. He also gave a glimpse of what the airline structure is like and how that relates to his faith.

Saturday was a nice sunny day and we were getting fired up for the flour drop and landing competition. We had seminars in the morning with various speakers. One of them pulled up mid noon in a beautiful Beechcraft Bonanza, which made our Cessna 172's look that much smaller. After a delicious barbecue lunch in the hangar, we started to preflight the planes. The wind had started to pick up, and so we hoped it wouldn't go over Hesston College standards. Unfortunately it went past 20, the limit gusting to 30 or so. After waiting 30 minutes or so it was decided that an instructor would go up with each team to ensure safety. Our team was the second off the runway. We stayed in the pattern, fighting a stiff crosswind, and made our first run in the flour drop. Needless to say dropping flower bags out of the window of a Cessna at 300 feet is a lot harder than it sounds. My teammate found it difficult to judge where the bag would fall. Sadly, none of our bags on our three runs hit the target. Travis was on the ground judging, and our team would later help him judge as the second group went up.

After we dropped our last bag we came around the pattern to do the landing competition. Once we were abeam our landing spot we were to do a power off landing. No throttle adjustments after that point, safety permitting. But the wind was so strong we needed to make our turn to the runway immediately even though it looked as if we were going to get there too soon. And boy did the wind factor in. With no power, the wind practically pushed the plane down. It was extremely hard to judge. Of our three landings we only had points on one of them. Our team came in last, but the day was still a fun experience! And I got to log 0.7 hours of free time, which is always a plus. What a day!

Piaggio Aero P180 Avanti II

A recent assignment for Instrument Ground School has peaked my interest in a very unique aircraft. I am currently writing an article on the Piaggio Aero Avanti II, one of the most intriguing business aircraft on the market. Its bold design and five bladed "push" turboprop engines give it an unmistakable look. I remember seeing it for the first time in FLYING magazine and at first I couldn't decide if I liked it or not. But that undecided feeling soon turned into a full blown fascination with the aircraft. Sure, there are the powerful and luxurious Gulfstreams, and the sleek Learjets to gawk at. But the Avanti II introduces performance, luxury, and style to the world of VIP turboprop aviation, maybe even spilling a little into bizjet territory.

I will post my article at a later date, once written. But for now I encourage you to take a look at this airplane and its features and see why I have fallen in love with this most alluring aircraft.

http://www.piaggioaero.com/#/en/products/p180-avanti-ii/overview