Preflight News: Making dreams com true

The scholarship is valued at more than $18,000 and consists of $5,000 cash toward obtaining an initial flight instructor certificate or added ratings and free lifetime access to all King Schools courses, including flight instructor refresher courses, for life.

“I love making the phone calls to our scholarship winners. Letting them know that they are going to get help in making their dreams come true is just plain awesome,” said Martha King, co-founder and co-chairman of King Schools. “What really stood out was that Anna has made good friends every step of the way and those people have been passionate in supporting her. The letters from her mentors were incredible.”

In lieu of a honeymoon, Stanphill and her husband both pursued their private pilot certificates after getting married. She resigned from her job so she could accumulate ratings and worked through to an ATP. But even with loans and savings, she could not get her CFI rating.

“This scholarship is exactly what I needed to complete the flight training, and the timing could not be better,” she said. “It is an absolute honor that King Schools has chosen me for the scholarship. Martha’s certificate and rating accomplishments are amazing, and she stands out in every way as a role model to women. To me, the Martha King scholarship is more than just the money and courses. It is an extraordinary compliment and confirmation that leaving an established career to pursue aviation was a decision well made.”

Stanphill is the fifth recipient of the scholarship, donated by King Schools. Applications for the 2021 scholarship will be available on the WAI website in mid-2020.

WAI.org/education/scholarships

Industry News

Clean cockpits

Safe training environments amid a pandemic

Flight training providers faced special challenges with the onset of the coronvirus pandemic—among them, whether to stay open as state restrictions increased and, if so, how to keep their students safe.

With checklists and protocols already standard operating procedure in aviation, incorporating beefed-up aircraft-disinfecting measures has been woven into the routine. In the early weeks of the pandemic’s spread in the United States, several large flight training organizations reported moves to reduce the risk of coronavirus exposure for their students and flight instructors, although by April most had temporary halted flight training operations.

Batavia, Ohio-based Sporty’s Academy implemented enhanced procedures for the use of company aircraft and aviation training devices. The school made its customers aware that when an aircraft or ATD is dispatched, they should expect a disinfecting wipe and a screen wipe to be issued along with the keys. “Disinfecting wipes may be used to clean major surfaces, controls, and knobs that may be touched during the flight,” it said, adding that only certain approved screen cleaners should be used on avionics.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, with residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Prescott, Arizona, ramped up its “already stringent health precautions through intensive communication, disinfection protocols, and temperature checks for all students, faculty, staff, and visitors” to prevent the spread of coronavirus on its campuses and communities.

As of mid-March, students in flight training and aviation maintenance programs “with federal requirements for in-person instruction” had the option to continue studying on the main campuses after passing screening and consenting “to follow all prevention protocols.”

“Educational equipment, including aircraft, must undergo frequent disinfection,” Embry-Riddle said. “We have increased the availability of hand sanitizers, and to promote good hand hygiene, we have launched a communication campaign on both campuses.”

Flight training continued at California Aeronautical University as of mid-March. The school, based in Bakersfield, noted that Flight Training Center students were using distance education resources for classroom instruction. The flight department remained operational with enhanced health precautions including “regular disinfection of facilities, aircraft, and equipment.”

American Flyers, a flight school with locations in the Northeast, South, and Southwest, said it was monitoring coronavirus developments and was “following guidelines from the government and relevant health authorities.” Its measures included “practicing extra caution” with sanitary procedures on its premises such as frequent cleaning of “common touchable surfaces such as countertops, doorknobs, computer screens, keyboards, and other surfaces.”

In aircraft, commonly touched surfaces are being sanitized by fueling and maintenance personnel, and “we are encouraging all students to bring their own flight supplies, especially headsets, during this time.” Headsets provided by the school are being sanitized before and after use. “American Flyers is certain that we will all persevere during this health crisis, and the key to that is to support one another,” school officials said.

A flight school and FBO in southern Maine concluded on March 17 that it was time to shut down instruction and aircraft rentals. Southern Maine Aviation emailed its customers that “the most important thing we can do at this time is spend the next few weeks laying low. We need to beat this virus and to do that we need to slow down the rate at which it is spreading. We need to isolate ourselves as much as possible, which the CDC recommends.”

For the latest updates on COVID-19’s effects on the aviation industry, see AOPA’s resource page.