blindfolds, boxes, bravos

Pilots!

I love spring! Check out some things I know about:

First and foremost, please join me in congratulating the newest IFR-rated Pilot in the world, one Brandon R., who earned his blindfold in his Cessna 150 with DPE Andrea E.

Way to go, Brandon!



In other news...

CFI Marlon C. is off to spin turbines and cargo boxes for Ameriflight and is no longer available for bookings. Good luck, Marlon! We'll miss you!



Cessna 63B is tearing up the skies already, and reports are that she's doing great.

We are considering a Warrior/Archer in lieu of another 739, but the hunt continues on either.

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We have lots of flying to do. And soon the planes and weather to do it in!

Blue Skies,

- Mike

A little happy dance on the tarmac

Pilots!

I know what you were thinking as you read month after month that we were seeking an R model to replace Cessna 1ES. You were thinking "horse feathers! Show me the airplane! How hard can it be?"

Surprisingly, it has been quite hard. As we have navigated a labyrinth of shady sellers, misrepresented damage, logged oddities, unlogged oddities, and a mangy collection of winged contraptions -- we have finally found a winner.



Meet Cessna 63B

She is a Cessna 172 R model, complete with color IFR GPS, Autopilot, and all of the trimmings. 63B fills a key piece of our lineup -- the "best steam gauge trainer aircraft you can get" -- and will be available on the line this week! We are shaking out a few bugs and getting everything right. She sits on the ramp at Corona currently, ready for your eyes and soon your wings.

Whew!





We have 2 more additions to the fleet planned shortly, but it is nice to at least say that there was a decent fish in the sea out there.

63B's rate has not been set yet, but expect her to slot in right where 1ES was. I honestly don't recall what that was anymore, it's been so long.

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In some other news...

Cessna 526 has a new radio.

Cessna 630 has had some radio work done and completed her 100hr.

Cessna 68U will be taking a spring vacation for her new engine in 2 weeks. We anticipate her downtime to be 7-10 days at the most. Yes, this is a pit-stop style engine swap.

Cessna 739 has a new landing light and 100hr.

Cessna 63B just got here. :)

Cessna 17J seems to be enjoying her new transponder.

Skylane 073 has a rebuilt nose strut and shimmy damper.

Bonanza 11N is cruising.



As a few of you recall, we did a recent promotion on GroupOn, and one of the folks that we took flying had such a good time, he made a video about it.

Despite its appearance as marketing fluff, I promise that we had nothing to do with the making of this. Complete and spontaneous -- he emailed it to us as a "hey, thanks" sort of note. We were all awestruck.

Chris and Antonio -- thanks for the ride and the video!

See the video here

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Gas prices are shooting skyward. Our air force is insufficient to stop it, and I'm not even sure who we could drop water balloons on to make it stop. Sorry, flyers. As always, we will do our best to keep the pricing down... but it's not looking good.

The weather, however, is perfection lately.

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More as I know it!

Blue Skies,

- Mike

Woo hoo!

Pilots!

Please join me in congratulating the newest U.S. Private Pilot in the world -- one Pilot Chuck M., who earned his wings yesterday in Cessna 739 with DPE Andrea E.

Way to go, Chuck!



In other news...

We have a new CFI joining our faculty! Please give a FlyC welcome to Matt C. when you meet him -- Matt is definitely "our" personality, and highly knowledgeable about IFR work, including some of the more experimental and esoteric techniques and weather products available to pilots. Matt is a great addition to the Faculty, and we're happy to have him!

Welcome aboard, Matt!



Some maintenance news I know about:

Cessna 630 will go down for 100hr next week.

Cessna 68U completed her Annual on Monday. She will go down in 3 weeks for engine overhaul. We expect no more than a 10 day downtime.

Cessna 739 will go in her her 100hr soon.

Cessna 17J is sporting her 9th transponder now. We have mailed middle-fingers to Garmin over their uncanny ability to sell us 7-month transponder with 6-month warranties.

Bonanza 11N will go in for Oil Change today.

Skylane 073 has a new ELT battery.

Cessna 526 has a new Radio enroute, due Friday.



We have plans for another Tracon tour, possibly in mid-April. This means that if you missed the last one due to citizenship/security theater, now is the time to get some clearances going. Please email the office at fly@flycorona.com to start the process.

We will select dates based on how long the clearances will take. We understand typically 30 days.

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We're tired of wind, rain, and hail. Bring out spring already!

Blue Skies!

- Mike