| September 2011 Congratulations to Dave Thompson, Chief Engineer at Scone Aircraft Maintenance. Dave is an experienced pilot already, but in the space of a month he has qualified for a RAAus pilot certificate and, at the heavy end of the spectrum, a Chieftain endorsement. | image coming soon |
| August 2011 Congratulations to Joel Avery of Scone who has completed his PPL in record time. Joel did all his GFPT on the Grob and then completed his Cross-country training on the Cessna C182 including a 2-day trip to Broken Hill and back. Joel is working on his Night VFR now with a view to completing his Instrument rating and Commercial. | image coming soon |
| May 2011: With the Scone Horse Festival just finished we have just a few moments to talk about all the hard work and the achievements of the first half of 2011. Airspeed's students are quickly racking up the hours and passing the milestones towards their licences, and now that Ben has been approved by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority we are conducting all our flight tests in-house. There have been several GFPTs (restricted licences), PPLs and first solos recently - read on... | |
On Thursday 19th May, RAAus Pilot Examiner Paul Crowfoot came to Scone to complete a full RAAus audit of our school facilities and check Ben's form as a Chief Flying Instructor. Our premises at Scone and Singleton were both checked over and we are expecting our approval to be confirmed in writing before the end of the month. |  |
| Garry Dee of
Aberdeen has finally finished his PPL, completing his flight test on
Sunday 15 May. Garry chose to finish his PPL (rather than the RAAus
ticket) even though he has built, and flies, a lovely Savannah XL. Garry is also a shareholder in our Grob VH-TGL. |  |
| Cameron Quinn, of Newcastle, has reached the first major milestione in his quest for a Commercial Pilot Licence, doing his first Solo flight at Scone on Monday 16 May 2011.. Well done Cameron! |  |
| Joel Avery of Scone has been pushing hard to complete his Private Pilot Licence and completed his First Solo flight on the 13th May. Within a week he has now completed his exams and is about to do his GFPT. |  |
| Nicolas Luitingh, of Brisbane, has been travelling to Scone periodically over the last 12 months to complete his PPL. In March he committed himself for a full 10 days and completed all his cross-country flights, travelling as far afield as Wilcannia, Broken Hill, Ivanhoe and Parkes. |  |
| Lachlan Lamont, of Gundy, is heading for his Commercial Pilot Licence and, after a fishing trip to Karumba, is finally approaching his GFPT. |  |
| James Symonds of
Willow Tree transferred to Airspeed Aviation from another school back
in July 2009 and in early April 2011 he completed his GFPT in Grob
VH-TGL. James is now on a 6-month sojourn to Canada but we hope to see him back before Christmas to finish off his PPL. |  |
| Airspeed
Aviation's first commercial graduate Tim Avery has been hired to work
at our Broken Hill base, conducting scenic flights over Lake Eyre and
Menindee. Tim (L) is pictured with Drew Withers, our Broken Hill Senior Base Pilot, where they operate a Cessna 206 and Cessna 210 on scenic flights in partnership with our agents, Silver City Scenic flights. |  |
| August 2010: Chris McKernan joined
us in September 2009 and his professionalism has impressed everyone who
has flown with him. It has also impressed the Jetstar pilot recruitment
team, who have called him up as a First Officer. Chris' efforts have improved Airspeed Aviation and he will be missed - We wish Chris good luck for his Airline career. |  |
| August 2010: Our first Commercial Pilot Graduates! Tim Avery of Lane Cove in Sydney has come to Scone from Sydney to complete his Commercial Pilot Licence. In the process he has completed his CPL Navs in our C182, passing through Broken Hill and logging about 10 hours in the C206 while he was there. Tim passed his CPL flight test and is now set up for his first job as a Commercial Pilot - Well done Tim, and good luck with your career! |  |
| In July 2010 we attended the Scone Chamber of Commerce and Industry's local business awards. Airspeed Aviation was nominated in four categories, and we were Runners-up in "Best New Business" behind Scone Motor Inn. SMI went on to win Best Standard Accommodation in the Australian Tourism & Hospitality awards - Well done to the Kratzmanns! |  |
| November 2010: Chief Flying instructor Ben Wyndham accredited by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority as an Approved Testing Officer (ATO) | |
January 30 2010:
Big weekend of flight testing: our students kick a goal!
Big weekend of flight testing: our students kick a goal!
A
group of Airspeed Aviation's students have passed through flight
testing this weekend, marking the start of their final phase of flight
training.
Isaac Belfield led the charge with a pass in his GFPT on Friday morning, followed by Malcolm Warwick on Saturday morning an Nicolas Luitingh on Saturday afternoon.
Judy McKenzie, a veteran pilot examiner based in Tamworth, came to Scone to conduct the flight tests. Judy is expecting shortly to recommend Airspeed CFI Ben Wyndham be appointed as a government-approved Testing Officer in his own right.
"I am thrilled for this weekend's test candidates" Mr Wyndham said, "they have risen to the challenge, demonstrated an excellent standard of airmanship and with experience and time will become excellent pilots. We are proud of them."
Isaac Belfield led the charge with a pass in his GFPT on Friday morning, followed by Malcolm Warwick on Saturday morning an Nicolas Luitingh on Saturday afternoon.
Judy McKenzie, a veteran pilot examiner based in Tamworth, came to Scone to conduct the flight tests. Judy is expecting shortly to recommend Airspeed CFI Ben Wyndham be appointed as a government-approved Testing Officer in his own right.
"I am thrilled for this weekend's test candidates" Mr Wyndham said, "they have risen to the challenge, demonstrated an excellent standard of airmanship and with experience and time will become excellent pilots. We are proud of them."
January 7 2010: School
Holidays "Fly Solo" program
a big hit!
In the first week of
January, Airspeed Aviation ran a
"Learn to Fly" program for High School Students.
On Day 5 both Maddy and Luke reached the required standard and, after a couple of words of guidance and advice from their instructors, completed the course by successfuly completing their First Solo flight.
Congratulations to our young pilots!