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NEW
Ground School
The next session of our popular Private and Sport Pilot Ground School started on January 10th. Class meets every Wed at 6
pm. You can just drop in for any one class or join for the
course at any time. |
February 2007
- Jeremy Zawodny earned his Private Pilot certificate in his own Citabria no less. Well done Jeremy.
January 2007
- Another new fledgling leaves the nest. Luther Johnson successfully flew his first solo in Champ 2805E after expert instruction from Vess. Well done Luther. Here he is after Vess cut his shirttails off. Apparently it was Luther's wife's favorite shirt, Oops!
- Congratulations to William Scheibner on earning his tailwheel endorsement in three intensive days with Eric in the back seat. William came all the way from Luxembourg to fly a taildragger and says he had a blast doing it.
- We have a second flying Luvara! Mike Luvara followed his brother's example and has flown his first solo. No wonder Len looks a little nervous. Congratulations Mike.
- Another Jeff flies the coop. Jeff Frederick flew his first solo, in his own airplane no less, while Eric Ruhe watched nervously from the ground. Pilot and plane performed flawlessly and we have another New year's fledgling! Well done Jeff.
- Congratulations to Jeff Laughrey who soloed Champ 05E under Patrik Rosenast's watchful eye. Well done Jeff.
- We are delighted to announce that Mike Forsyth will be teaching at Amelia's. Mike has retired from TWA and has over 25,000 hours under his belt, in every sort of airplane from the big jets to a Piper Cub.
- Yo, ho, ho and greetings of the season to everyone! We already have two new certified pilots this year:
- Congratulations to Aaron Lepold for passing his Private Pilot checkride in 5032G. The blue and white Citabria proved lucky, the checkride went smoothly and Mike Shiflett was very complimentary. Well done Aaron and his instructor Patrik Rosenast.
- Well done to James Alexander who earned his Private ticket in the Cessna 172 61637. Rumour is he lands it like a taildragger, thanks to the patient instruction from Jim Grant. The weather caused James' ride to be postponed several times, but a fine stretch opened up and he took Mike Shiflett up to demonstrate his skills. Duly impressed, Mike produces the certificate. Congratulations James!
- We have a brand new Zlin Savage Cub on line as a loaner. Come and try it out. Give us your feedback. If we get enough positive feedback we may consider putting on on line permanently. See the Savage Cub Web Site
December 2006
- Mark Hamilton Peters took his checkride in a CItabria and earned his Private Pilot License on the first try. Well done Mark!
- Sukarno Mertoguno passed his Sport Pilot checkride in Champ 05E. Congratulations Sukarno!
- We have a brand new Zlin Savage Cub on line as a loaner. Come and try it out. Give us your feedback. If we get enough positive feedback we may consider putting on on line permanently. See the Savage Cub Web Site
- Sidney Lee has been putting up with Patrick in Champ 91E and finally had enough;-) Booting Patrick out, he took the Champ up on his own and three landings later taxied back to Amelia's with a huge grin on his face. We even have the pictures. Congratulations Sidney!
- Robert Erhart came all the way from Alaska to work on his tailwheel endorsement. After working with Vess Velikov for a couple of days in Champ 05E he successfully did it and soloed a taildragger for the first time. Robert is returning to the frozen North to thaw out his own Champ now. Well done Robert
- Tom Joy has been learning to fly with Roger Standley. Something must have gone right as he flew his first solo recently. His shirttails are pinned to the wall to prove it. Congratulations Tom.
November 2006
- We have two pre-Thanksgiving fledglings to congratulate. Vadim Dagman and Ralph Leseberg both did their first solos this week. Well done both.
- Sergei Sinyackin successfully hoodwinked the Examiner (get it?) and earned his Instrument Rating. Congratulations Sergei.
- Our FAA Safety Program (WINGS) Seminar series continues on the first Tuesday of December, the 5th. Come to the RHV terminal at 7pm to hear Jim Jensen, one of our tower controllers, tell us all about his job and how we can make it easier for him (and for ourselves).
- More Cessnas! When our Skyhawk is booked, or when someone wishes to fly a Cessna 152, we have made arrangements to sub lease additonal airplanes. One of the 172s is equipped with a Garmin GNS430. Please call the office or email us and we'll book them for you.
- Congratulations to Ronny Rohse who came all the way from Scotland and earned his tailwheel endorsement in just three days.
- Our first fledgling of November is Tyler Harden, who soloed a Citabria under the watchful eye of Dave Gray. Or as Tyler explained it, he scared Dave so much that Dave jumped out and Tyler had to fly on his own! In any case, the landings must have been great, since not only did Tyler walk unaided afterwards, we can use the airplane again ;-)
- The first checkride honors of November go to Aine Roberts who earned her Commercial Pilot License from examiner Mike Shiflett. Congratulations to Aine and we look forward to working with her on her tailwheel and CFI training.
- Winter is coming! Even in our mild climate, it is not hard to find really cold wintery weather. Whether you would like to fly to Lake Tahoe for some skiing, or plan a long cross country to some cold state, it is wise to be prepared for the challenges that flying in winter can present.
Our free FAA Safety Seminar series on November 7 featured the well known Aircraft Broker, FAA Accident Prevention Counselor, Airshow Announcer - Narrator, Aviation Writer and Humorist, Larry Shapiro, talking about "VFR Flight in Winter". Presented with a comedic touch, everyone is guaranteed to learn something new. If you don't, you get the price of your admission back!
For more about Larry, check out his Web page on http://www.larryshapiro.com/larry.html
Larry also writes a regular column for In Flight USA Magazine.
October 2006
- Shane Glynn is the last October pilot! Shane successfully earned his Private Pilot License after training with Allen Thomas. Well done Shane.
- Conrad Pienaar successfully flew Champ 05E solo with his instructor Eric anxiously watching from the ground. Well done and congratulatiions Conrad!
- See KTVU's Lloyd LaCuesta interview Zdravko about airspace procedures in the Bay Area: http://www.ktvu.com/video/10056927/index.html . Hopefully some balance in the wake of the hysteria after the recent Cirrus crash in NY.
- Congratulations to Tom Szoboszlay for his first solo in a Citabria. Well done Tom.
- Luca Bertagnolio successfuly passed his Commercial Single Engine checkride in Arrow 53S after working with Tristan. Well done Luca.
- Another fledgling flexes his wings! Congratulations to James Alexander on a succesfully first solo in Skyhawk 61637 while his instructor, Jim Grant, watched from the ground with bated breath. Well done James.
September 2006
- Congratulations to Ted Pierson for passing his Private Pilot checkride, earning rare praise from the Examiner, Mike Shiflett. Well done Ted.
- New Instrument Ground School starts Oct 5th: We are starting a new session of our Instrument Ground School starting Thu, Oct 5th. Come and learn all that you need to take and pass your IFR written test. Click here for more details. Of course we can also off you flight training for your instrument rating. Send us a note or just come along.
- FAA Safety Seminar Tue Oct 3. Watch Rod Machado's video "Defensive Flying". By kind permission from Rod Machado we are showing his entertaining and thought provoking video - "Defensive Flying". Hear about strategies that will help you fly safer, listen to an ATC recording of a real in flight emergency and sweat with the pilots as they deal with a major problem. Come and join us - Tue Oct 3, 7pm in Reid Hillview Airport terminal room. For more about Rod Machado, who learned to fly at Amelia Reid - see his Web site
- Sarah Coniglio successfully pushed her instructor, Tristan, out of the airplane and went off for three flights around the pattern on her own. Well done Sarah, keep the stick back!
- Congratulations to Beata Kukucka!
She passed her Private Pilot checkride after expert instruction from Len.
Well done Beata!
- AIRPORT DAY Saturday Sep 23rd. All day airplane rides, display aircraft, FBO exhibits, model airplane airshow. Come and join us! See http://www.rhvaa.org/
- New Instrument Ground School starts Oct 5th: We are starting a new session of our Instrument Ground School starting Thu, Oct 5th. Come and learn all that you need to take and pass your IFR written test. Click here for more details. Of course we can also off you flight training for your instrument rating.
- Our monthly series of FAA Aviations Safety seminars continues on Tuesday Sept 5th. Jack Hocker, the FAA Safety Program Manager from the San Jose FSDO will talk to us about setting and using your own Personal Minimums as an important part of your go/no go decision making. A Personal Minimums checklist can be an invaluable tool in helping the pilot in his or her decision to make or postpone a flight. It also helps reduce the pressures associated with so called get-there-itis as well as the pressure due to expectations of our passengers. Come to the talk and take away another tool to make you a better pilot. Where and when: Reid Hillview terminal lobby at 7pm, Tue, September 5th
- Super Decathlon now on line! We have added a Super Decathlon on our rental line. Capable of a whole range of acrobatics up to Intermediate level competition, the Stressed for +6/-5G, the Super-D will allow our pilots to enhance their skills and expand the range of maneuvers they can learn and perform. Not only that, but it is a great cross country machine capable of 150mph TAS. (Image copyright and used by kind permission of Eric Van Gilder, Van Gilder Aviation Photography)
August 2006
- Under Jim Grant's watchful eye, Richard Kwant successfully soloed a Champ and got the shirttail cut off his back to prove it. Well done Richard!
- Rob Meyer achieved his ambition and passed his CFI checkride with an FAA Inspector. Congratulations Rob.
- Another instructor joins us! Congratulations to Vess Velikov who succesfully completed his Sport Pilot Instructor checkride. Vess has many hours in a variety of airplanes, including a Fairchild KR2, Taylorcraft, WACO, Aeronca Champ, Citabrias, etc. Vess also won 1st place in last year's acrobatic competition in Paso Robles and he helped his team, the San Jose State University Flying 20s, place in the top 10 teams in the US at the precision flying competition in San Diego. We are proud to welcome him as an instructor.
- Not content with simply earning his tailwheel endorsement, John Morgan completed the acrobatic course and got signed off for solo acrobatics. Congratulations John!
- Well done to Sean Mackey who completed a three day tailwheel course in the Taylorcraft with Eric.
- Our best wishes go with Patrick Cabral who is starting boot camp with the US Marines. Good luck and thank you for all your hard work, Patrick.
- Flightdesign CT promotion - fly it 5 hours in a month and receive 10% back on your block. You can use the credit for instruction or rental of any of our airplanes. Call the office on 408-251-4939 to arrange a checkout.
July 2006
- A big welcome to Boris Deianov who is joining us as an instructor. Boris has many hours in tailwheel airplanes and gliders and is also a glider CFI. When not teaching from the back seat of a Citabria, he can sometimes be found towing gliders, or ocassionally even working at his day job - writing software for a Silicon Valley company.
- We now have our other acrobatic Citabria back on line. N1701H, the yellow and white Citabria 7KCAB is back after having her wings recovered. Available for normal and acrobatic rentals and instruction, give her a whirl. She sports metal wing spars allowing her to carry an extra 100lbs and we left the original thinner cushions in giving that bit more space for tall people.
Taylorcraft N50839 is back! Our genuine Second World War liaison, observation and target spotting airplane now sports a new Millenium engine and a shiny new prop. Its 65 horses are ready and raring to go.
- Well done to John Morgan for getting his tailwheel endorsement. John is now building tailwheel experience to that glider towing job he has his eyes on.
- Congratulations to Chris Palmer for soloing in Champ 05E at Frasier Lake. Well done Chris.
Come and fly with us in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area of California. Our flight school is located at Reid Hillview airport in San Jose (KRHV), at the south end of San Francisco Bay and we offer ground and flight training for sport pilot, private pilot and commercial pilot license, instrument rating, CFI (certified flight instructor), tailwheel, acrobatics, and multi engine certificates and ratings.