Message from the PRAA Leadership
by Phil Corman
Adopt a Road
This month the
PRAA adopted
Airport Road from
Highway 46 all the
way past the
airport to Tower
Road. We will be
cleaning up the
litter for the
foreseeable future. Please let us know if you would like
to volunteer to help us on any given month. We will be
publishing our schedule of cleanups.
Airport Restaurant Update & Progress
The RFP for the long awaited Airport Restaurant yielded
three (3) written responses.
1. Big Red Smoke & Catering Company
2. LaGuardia Homemade since 1912
3. EastWest Dining
At Doug’s you can get your Private Pilots Certificate to
start with. Or if you already have that, you can move
onto a Commercial Pilot or even an Airline Transport
Certificate without leaving Paso Robles. Not interested
in those advanced certificates, you can also get a Tail
Wheel endorsement, multi-engine, or an Instrument
Rating. Heck, you can even get a Helicopter rating.
Doug tells us that people learn to fly for lots of different
reasons. Many learn just for the love of it. Or they have
been dreaming of flying since they were kids. There’s
no greater joy than taking off, flying, and landing your
own airplane. And the places you can go!!!
Others learn to fly as a career in the military, or fire
fighting, maybe law enforcement, or airlines. In our
area, there are a lot of different ways to make a living
flying including crop dusting, pipe patrol, defrosting
crops, firefighting and law enforcement.
The Selection committee consisted Roger Oxborrow,
Doug Monn, Meg Williamson, John Hamon, Ed
Steinbeck, Jason Diefenderfer, and Angel York. The
Selection committee chose LaGuardia Homemade as
the best response and will enter into Leasing/Contract
negotiations. If an agreement is made, then we are on
the doorstep of having a restaurant at the airport for the
first time in several years.
I have referred several people to Doug and all are
currently working towards their certificates. One of
Doug’s students, a fellow named Scott, said that there
are two things he is getting from his training. “Doug is
both a very good pilot and an excellent instructor. It’s
valuable to have both. And as you know, flying is
expensive, but Doug is by far the least expensive in the
county!”
Please feel free to forward this newsletter to any friends
or business associates who may find it interesting. And
please help us with our membership drive by having
them join us by Clicking Here. All we need is their name
and email address.
Doug has more than 8500 hours of flight time and more
than 3500 hours of instruction time.
Airport Business Spotlight
Doug Erway’s Flight
Instruction
Doug Erway Flight Instruction
has been a fixture at the Paso
Robles Airport since 1993.
To start your flying career or simply get your wings, you
can contact Doug at (805-459-7547 or browse the
website at: http://www.dougerway.com/
Airport Advisory Committee (AAC) Update
There was no Committee
meeting in July, due to
summer scheduling
issues.
Student’s Earn Wings despite Pilot Decline
Seventeen year-old Kevin White never wanted to be a
firefighter, a police officer, or any of the popular
professions children dream of growing up. Instead, he's
only ever wanted to earn his wings. “I always saw them
flying and I said that’s something I want to do," said
White. "As a kid, people see Superman, all these
heroes flying around, who doesn’t want to fly.”
In fact, these dream of his has been narrowed down to a
very specific profession which keeps him in the air most
of the time. “I would hope to fly a transport aircraft, for
probably like Fed-Ex or something like that because it’s
a decent job, it pays well and it’s something stable,” said
White.
He's not alone. Fifteen-year-old Donegal Chin found her
interest in flying from her father, a pilot. She was able to
make those dreams a reality when she joined the
Coachella Valley Youth Aviation Education Program.
Local pilot Rafael Sierra started the program four months
ago. The class teaches the young students everything
that makes the plane work on the ground all the way to
preparing them for a solo flight. “All of the different
components inside, and how to judge the weather, and
all the things you’d need to fly, to get up in the plane
especially," said Chin.
While these young pilots are unable to test for their
private pilot's license until seventeen, the idea of
preparing for it so young is certainly exciting. “It’s pretty
cool because we can start early, and some of us we can
get our pilot’s license before we get our car license, our
driver’s license," said Chin.
The program is not only to help the students fulfill their
dreams, it is also helping to combat a steady decline in
people pursuing a career in the air. Numbers from the
Federal Aviation Administration show a nearly 40% drop
in the number of people studying to become pilots over
the last thirty years.
“We’re down by about 200,000 pilots from 1980 and
nationwide there’s been attention paid now to developing
youth programs so that we can have enthusiasm from
the youth and create more pilots. It is anticipated by
2030 we’ll need an additional 400,000 pilots. “
The aftermath of the 9/11 attacks paired with the rising
cost of flight school is keeping hopeful aviators on the
ground.
“It cost me $837 to become a private pilot, the G.I. bill
paid for the rest of it," said Sierra. "Kids nowadays have
to come up with $10,000, $11,000 to become private
pilots. To become professional pilots, they would have to
spend $60,000-$70000 dollars, it’s very expensive.”
Expensive for a few reasons:
-The post 9/11 G.I. bill does not cover stand-alone
flight training.
-Few loans are given out to students for flight school
-Pay has decreased steadily for pilots
-More pilots are choosing to stay in the military, rather
then going to the private sector
While other flight schools exist across the country, this
one is different, because it's free. Students do not pay
anything because it's funded by private donations and
scholarships. This reason prompted a huge response to
the young program. “We never expected as many," said
Sierra. "We can’t possibly give instructions to all. We’ve
seen what the reaction is, the numbers, and we intend to
do it again, the next year, and the next year."
These students are ready to lead the next generation of
pilots. “It is declining, there’s not as many but I think it’s
a great opportunity for all of us," said Chin.
Safety Corner
Fly-In Events near KPRB
Aug. 18-19: Wings Over Camarillo air show,
hosting 325 FGÕs 67th annual reunion, expanded
airshow, vintage, experimental, warbirds. Mass flyover. See www.WingsOverCamarillo.com or
call (805) 419-3530.
Aug. 18-19: Wings Over Wine Country Air Show,
Santa Rosa, CA fea- turing F/A-18 Hornet, warbird
gathering. More than 30 aircraft. Tickets at
www.wingsoverwinecountry.org or
call (707) 575-7900.
Aug. 31-Sept. 2: 48th annual Watsonville Fly-in
and Airshow “Salute to our Heroes”. For more
information see www.watsonvilleflyin.org
Links to Local Associations
SLO 99s Newsletter
We have a great 99s Chapter in San Luis
Obispo that sponsors or participates in many
events over the course of each year. Click
Here to go to read their latest newsletter
Click Here to read the FAA Safety Newsletter.
Local Safety Tip
The Rule of Two is a rule that I live by. It’s
not based on any scientific data, but in analyzing most
aircraft accidents or incidents, the vast majority of them
could have been avoided using this rule. It essentially
goes like this, “If one thing isn’t right, consider landing.
If a second thing isn’t right, land.” Essentially the rule
states that most incidents are not caused by a single
thing. So if one thing goes wrong and you don’t
reconsider flying, then please make sure you do when
the second thing goes wrong…
11
First photo of Vic Falls from the air 1920...
From "Silver Queen
Thought for the Month
The ultimate responsibility of the pilot is
To fulfill the dreams of the countless millions of earthbound ancestors
Who could only stare skyward and wish.