Elisabeth Maas Awarded Aviation Scholarship
The
$10,000.00 scholarship from Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 485
and Ray aviation will be used
for flight training instruction.
Elisabeth
is our chapter's fourth Scholarship recipient.
The Ray Foundation’s Aviation Scholars program — administered by the EAA in Oshkosh, Wisconsin — provides up to $10,000 scholarships to young people who are seeking to learn to fly. The scholarship supports flight students through both written and practical segments of flight training that are part of successful Federal Aviation Administration private pilot certification.
The foundation has provided $1.2 million annually nationwide to fund the scholarship program, which seeks to improve the flight training success rate from the current industry standard of 20 percent completion rate to 90 percent for program participants. The initiative is designed to help meet the tremendous future demand for pilots and associated aviation careers.
Our Club House Presentation
Watch the 21 minute Video of the presentation
to Elisabeth.
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Elisabeth's First Solo! July 8th, 2021 dawned warm, with scattered clouds and light and variable winds. Perfect conditions for first solo at Fairhope, AL airport (CQF). And Elisabeth did just that! CFI Ali Coeur did the honors. They flew some dual patterns, then Ali signed her off, stepped out, and away she went! After the flight, Ali cut off Elisabeth's shirttail to add another “trophy” to the Lightning Aviation Flight School wall. Three Chapter 485 members celebrated with Elisabeth after her big milestone.
Ray #4 goes to Air Venture To prevent “training burnout”, two members of the Chapter 485 Ray Committee decided to treat Elisabeth by flying her to and from the world’s largest airshow! We flew up July 25th, back July 30th, allowing four full days at the show. A good time was had by all.
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Elisabeth Maas finishes in record time!
On
September 11th, 2021, our fourth Ray scholar passed her private pilot check ride
! It was flown from Lightning Aviation at Foley, AL airport, and witnessed by
Bill Diaz and Craig Spoke of our Ray Scholarship committee. FAA DPE Ken Spivey
said “she did a fine job”. Simultaneous with her flight was our monthly
chapter meeting. We were able to break the good news mid-meeting via a text
message. Major applause followed the announcement! Two new program records were
set: Quickest start-to-finish (3 months), and first Ray scholar to solo in two
different aircraft types (Cessna 172 and Piper Warrior). Thanks are due to
Lightning Aviation manager Roger Watkins, chief flight instructor Corey
Kirkwood, primary flight instructor Ali Coeur, and everyone else involved in her
training. WELL DONE, ELISABETH!
 Elisabeth’s final prep flight, displaying the complimentary Lightspeed headset she received as part of the Ray program.
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 Elisabeth and her primary CFI Ali Coeur
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 Check ride profile on FlightAware.com.
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 I’m done. Let’s debrief!
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 DPE Ken Spivey signing Elisabeth’s logbook.
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 Elisabeth signing her temporary Private Pilot Certificate
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 Chief CFI Corey Kirkwood, Elisabeth with her fresh certificate, examiner Ken Spivey, and CFI Ali Coeur. |
 One happy new private pilot! |
