So you are most likely wondering what is Fly Corona doing about this? Well, I can tell you that we have been working very hard to stay ahead of the curve in developing a Professional Pilot Program that is different that all the other programs. How can we do this? Well, we have a program that is written by a current United Airlines Captain and will be taught by current airline crew and retired airline captains. This program will include pilot career planning, interview techniques / preparation, crew resource management, airline operations, jet transport systems, flight technique analysis, Electronic Flight Management Systems, Airline flight crew procedures, seminars offered by the FAA and more. Not only are we in talks with partnering with a local University to meet the 1,000 hour ATP requirements, we are also building connections with major airlines to interview our students.
You might be wondering if the flight school atmosphere is going to change? Well, I can tell you that it is not. The Corona location will still have the friendly staff, laid back atmosphere that you are used to. We will still offer all the current programs and ratings. We are very interested in teaching people to be safe while enjoying their flight training. We will continue to add aircraft and staff to meet the needs of the customers / students. If you are interested in knowing more about the professional pilot program, I encourage you to talk to Matt (our chief pilot), Steve, Bill or myself. We are in the process of adding a second location for the professional pilot program and a new fleet of aircraft. I will disclose more information as it becomes available.
Since I mentioned new aircraft, we have some great news. We are expecting 2 more aircraft to the Fly Corona fleet. On Monday July 16th, we anticipate the arrival of another 172N, this one is beautiful. It has an engine upgrade to 180hp, Garmin 430GPS, Garmin 495GPS coupled with traffic, auto pilot, very clean and low time hours. This will be an IFR favorite. The other aircraft will be a brand new, 2012 Cessna Skycatcher. We will have 2 skycatchers on the line.
So, here is what is going on in Maintenanceland. You may already know, but Waypoint Maintenance has move to a great location in Riverside. We purchased the maintenance shop and we will continue to provide excellent, high standard maintenance to the aircraft of the school and to other customers.
Aircraft roll call.....
526 - In for 100hr, should be back and flying by Wed.
241 - Is going into 100 hr on Tues
68U - is still flying strong
739 - Is in for 100hr inspection and will be ready on Tue.
4DT - is flying great
556 - is enjoying all the new attention being the new kid on the block
94M - finally had some downtime today for a spit and polish. She is ready to fly some more
63B - has been on a lot of day trips and even passed an IFR checkride last week!
17J - Back from 100hr and ready to rock
182 - is enjoying life and the many renters it has. Come on in for a checkout to see what all the fuss is about!
387 - The Seneca is enjoying new students. Gone to Philadelphia and back and also passed on a check ride
0DA - 'Yoda" is back from its annual inspection and flies better than ever.
Looks like I remembered them all. It is getting tougher all the time to remember the entire fleet... whew!
This past week, we welcomed the Deaf Pilots Association to Fly Corona! I have really enjoyed getting to know all of them. We kick started the week off with a bbq and aircraft wash fundraiser. They met their donation goal and did a fantastic washing job! They might have a second career as line guys! They met every morning at Fly Corona, or at the Ayres Inn to have safety meetings and then they went out flying to different locations. This Saturday, July 14th, we will have yet another bbq on the observation deck at the airport and a banquet that evening. If you want to know more about the organization, their website is: http://www.deafpilots.com/
This year, I have also really enjoyed all our international friends that came and flew with us. We had Vlad from Ukraine who did time building and Roman from Italy, then we had Steven and his posse from France who always made us laugh, David and Pierre from France was also here for time building. Steve from Australia stopped by for a month and added 100 hours on a 150 and about 20 hours on a 182. He also did a video of his time here and you can see it on our facebook. At the moment, we have Christian and Daniel from Spain. I wish all of you the best in obtaining your flying dreams, some are airline bound and others are flying skydivers up to the limits. We look forward to seeing you all again someday.
Our instructor roster has changed as well. We have:
Matt - our chief pilot
Nick
Asa
Brian
Bill
Andrew
Steve: he started 6 weeks ago and has already completed 1 student through the private pilot test. Akheel made it through in record time, 3.5 week. Steve is a retired United Airlines captain and has significant military time and flying.
Maria: She has been instructing at Pinnacle Aviation in Carlsbad the past 6 years and we are looking forward to having her on the Fly Corona team.
Whew, it has been a very busy month or so and we will continue to do our best to keep you informed on school and industry news.
Fly safe and blue skies
Kevin.
