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Sikorsky’s S-38, an eight-seat amphibious aircraft, first flew in 1928. Initially designed for Pan American Airways, some were used by the military, while others were used for adventure travel by wealthy individuals—enough that the model sometimes was called “The Explorer’s Air Yacht.” None of the 111 flying boats originally produced survive today; this is a replica.

WHAT: Sikorsky S-38 (replica)
WHERE: Lake Mead
PHOTOGRAPHER: Mike Fizer

Holy matrimony at 8,000 feet

Flight instructor holds unusual nuptials

Josh and Lauren Henderson of Kernersville, North Carolina, recently celebrated their first wedding anniversary. Chances are November 11, 2012, wasn’t nearly as exciting as 11/11/11, the day the Hendersons were married aboard a Cessna 340 at 8,000 feet over the North Carolina countryside.

Josh is a flight instructor and former line service worker who first floated the idea to Lauren. “We both sort of joked about it at first,” he said. To make it all happen Josh pulled in some favors from friends and former coworkers who found him the 340 and a pilot willing to do the job.

The next problem was finding someone who would officiate the ceremony, Josh says. “I called a few churches and they weren’t too keen on the idea.” One day Josh mentioned the predicament to his kickboxing instructor, who happened to be ordained. He gladly said he would give it a shot. Then came the issue of the marriage certificate.

“In North Carolina you need to list a county on the marriage certificate,” he said. So the kickboxing instructor spoke with a magistrate who, after some thought, said they could list the county of the airport where they took off and landed.

The ceremony itself was pretty traditional, Josh said. He, the kickboxing officiant, and the pilot waited as Lauren walked to the airplane with her mother and others. Josh and Lauren were in the back with the officiant, while the pilot and Lauren’s mom sat up front as witnesses. “We both wrote our own vows and did the ring ceremony,” he said. “We had to raise the mics on our headsets to kiss.”

Everything went smoothly, Josh said, except for him being distracted. As any young pilot would naturally be, Josh was interested with what was going on in the cockpit. “I was kind of jealous of her mom,” he said. “Lauren kept having to remind me that it was our wedding.”

Cessna Pilot Center program undergoes changes

CESSNA PILOT CENTERS will see their aircraft requirements ease as part of a number of changes the venerable manu- facturer unveiled recently. What has historically been a requirement to have a two-year-old or newer Cessna on the flight line is being reduced to six years or newer. The network of Cessna-affiliated flight schools has shrunk considerably in recent years. As schools struggle to make balance sheets a little more balanced in a down economy, the move to reduce the age requirement is no doubt an effort on Cessna’s part to make being a member of the program more palatable. But not all the changes are being taken as positive from the schools’ standpoint. Among the benefits of being a CPC has been the opportunity to exclusively offer the Cessna-branded training course, produced by King Schools. The significant reduction in affiliated schools has meant a reduction in sales for King Schools as well. Under pressure from the course maker to recoup lost sales and development costs, Cessna is now allowing the course to be sold to students outside the CPC network. Initial reactions to the changes have been mixed. One school owner who declined to be named said the loss of the exclusive right to sell the training program was enough to make him want to pull out of the program. Others have been more guarded. Steve Graham, owner of Sunstate Aviation in Kissimmee, Florida, said he doesn’t agree with the decision to sell courses outside the network, but that maybe it would bring new students to the Cessna brand and the CPC program. Cessna’s Jodi Noah, the senior vice president of single-engine/propeller aircraft, said, “Expanding access to the Cessna Flight Training System simply expands the training experience to a broader audience and allows more new pilots access to learning the Cessna model.”