Flight Training - December 2014 - 17

NEWS

BY SARAH DEENER

AOPA recognizes
training excellence

AOPA ﬂight training
scholarships awarded

Florida's Paragon Flight takes top spot

High school senior raises livestock to pay for ﬂight training

AOPA HAS AWARDED its third annual
Flight Training Excellence Awards to top
ﬂight schools and ﬂight instructors ranked
by more than 3,600 ﬂight students who
voluntarily reviewed their ﬂight training
experience through an AOPA online poll.
AOPA recognized Paragon Flight of Fort
Myers, Florida, as the 2014 Best Flight
School, and Spencer Watson of Manassas,
Virginia, as the 2014 Best Flight Instructor.
Ten additional ﬂight schools and 10 instructors were named "Outstanding" by AOPA
based on the poll results.
"All of us at AOPA would like to extend
our heartfelt congratulations to this year's
award winners," said Brittney Miculka,
AOPA senior manager of pilot community
development. "We created these awards to
recognize those who instill a lifelong passion for aviation among their students, and
who exemplify the best the ﬂight training
industry has to offer. It was clear from the
customer reviews that these professionals
are providing a superior ﬂight instruction
experience."
AOPA has also named an Honor Roll of
62 ﬂight schools and 75 ﬂight instructors, all
of whom demonstrated a high standard of
accomplishment and received at least three
nominations. The complete list is on the
Flight Training website (http://ﬂighttraining.
aopa.org/awardwinners/2014winners.html).
In addition, a Student's Choice Award was
given to the ﬂight school that receives the
highest number of positive nominations. For
the third year in a row, Aviation Adventures of Virginia won that award, with 198
nominations.
The 2014 President's Choice Award winner is GIFT Academy of Vernon, Texas. This
award is given by the president of AOPA
for signiﬁcant and innovative contributions to the ﬂight training community. GIFT
Academy is aimed at helping female pilots
ﬁnd success in ﬂight training in a supportive
setting (see "Women with Wings," March
2013 Flight Training magazine).

AOPA PRESIDENT Mark Baker presents Anna Weilbacher with the Noe-Singer Flight
Training Scholarship at AOPA Headquarters in October.

COMPETITIVE SHOOTER AND raiser
of champion livestock Anna Weilbacher is working to add another
title to her résumé: private pilot. The
high school senior has been named
the winner of the $12,000 NoeSinger Flight Training Scholarship.
Weilbacher, of Leona Valley,
California, said she's always been
interested in ﬂying-her father
used to ﬂy, and her great uncle
ﬂew in World War II-and that
her parents surprised her at age
16 with an introductory ﬂight at
Van Nuys Airport. Since then, she's
paid for her ﬂight lessons with odd
jobs like babysitting and the sale
of champion sheep and goats she
raised in 4-H. She is studying for
the knowledge test and said the
scholarship will help her ﬁnish her
private pilot certiﬁcate and move
on to instrument and multiengine
ratings. The further she can progress in her training now, she said,
the closer she'll get to her end goal
of becoming an Air Force pilot, and
later moving on to the airlines.
Other recipients for 2014 include:
* Kurt Clemenz of Fishers, Indi-

ana, and Ian Kapit of Orange City,
Florida (Richard R. and Gretchen E.
Harper Scholarship in memory of
Richard Harper).
* Veronica Trujillo, West Covina,
California (Gina Santori Flight
Training Scholarship).
* Ryan Huebler of Buckley, Washington (Richard Santori Memorial
Scholarship).
* Sarah DeRemer, Easton, Pennsylvania (Jimmie Allen Flying Club
Scholarship).
* Kevin Berg, Concord, North
Carolina (Ceci Stratford Flight
Training Scholarship).
* Christine Olson of Huntington
Beach, California (Erral Lea Plymate Memorial Scholarship).
* Dennis Parker, Seabrook, New
Hampshire; Lance Fisher, Huntington Beach, California (AOPA
Foundation Flight Training
Scholarship).
Complete details are on the
Flight Training website (http://
ﬂighttraining.aopa.org/training/
articles/2014/141003AOPA-ﬂighttraining-scholarships-awarded.
html).

DECEMBER 2014 FLIGHT TRAINING

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Flight Training - December 2014

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