From President Randy Leys

It was two years ago the end of May that I started instructing at the Auburn Airport. I could not have predicted this incredible experience and meeting such great people over the past two years! The most fun has been to see pilots in the making and receiving their certificates and ratings.

Full Circle My first summer here, I helped Diane Hammer, Ben Foss, and their volunteers with Friday Flydays. It was at those events that I got to meet Auburn’s finest and saw what made this such a great airport. I met Christian Watt, one of the Friday Flydays crew. I sat down with Christian to find out a little about his journey. He told me that about four years ago he had taken an intro flight, but at that time he was just starting to attend college with his focus set on a degree in mechanical engineering.About three years ago, a young private pilot named Camile Tricomo invited Christian on a flight. He got the bug. He knew then that he wanted to become a pilot and direct his engineering studies towards aerospace. After attending a AAA Interview Training course and eceiving a letter of recommendation from Don Wolfe, he got an internship with Icon Aircraft at Vacaville Airport. In the meantime, Camile was advancing her ratings and Christian was advancing his credits. Six months ago,Camile earned her flight instructor certificate and Christian went on to be her first start-to-finish student pilot. Just last week, Christian received his private pilot certificate and a few days later he graduated with a masters in mechanical engineering/aerospace. He will be moving to Maryland to work for Lockheed Martin as a power plant flight test engineer.Both Camile and Christian have been recipients of AAA scholarships. Camile in turn has served on the scholarshipinterview team. (Full Circle) Tierra Bickford took Camille under her “wing” to pursue aviation and was mentored by Shawn Bickford, Don Wolfe and many other AAA members.

Where are they now?  Renata Mackenroth was one of my first private pilot students here at Auburn. I am proud to say that she was my first start-to-finish to receive her private pilot certificate at the age of 17. She took flying very seriouslyand that translated into becoming a skilled aviator. She then followed with getting tail wheel and high-performance endorsements. Renata is also a AAA scholarship recipient and has been on the interview team for scholarship applicants.Renata is now a freshman attending Utah State studying aviation technology. She is currently competing on the Utah State intercollegiate flying team in Colorado in a Garmin 1000-equipped Diamond DA-40. While aspiring to fly competition aerobatics, she plans to continue adding certificates and ratings. Renate also enjoys raising and showing dairy goats and competing with her thoroughbred mare.

Getting started!A few weeks ago, a young man named Andrew Chubatenko came to check on flight schools. I did not know at the time that he had received a scholarship from Local EAA 526. Instead of my interviewing Andrew, he essentially interviewed me by asking great questions about flight training, type of flight school, our training program, average hours to solo, length of time to achieve a private license, etc. Last week Andrew signed up and will start his training with Peter Hastert. You can read more about Andrew Chubatenkoin last month’s AAA news. I’m proud to have been a part in Peter’s instrument and commercial training. There is more about his recent achievements in the following pages.It’s very exciting to see AAA and EAA partnership in providing aviation training, mentoring and scholarships to Auburn’s aviation dreamers. You all are a big part in this through your membership, donations and time investment.This letter has highlighted scholarship achievements and successes. There are many more hard-working students, pilots and instructors achieving and having success stories of their own. I look forward to hearing their stories.In the meantime, please join us for our exciting monthly (Zoom) meeting Wednesday June 3rd@ 6:00pm. Hopefully soon we will be able to meet again at the Barnstormer for our great potluck dinners!That’s my story Eh! And I’m sticking to it.

Randy Leys, President