Student Pilots

Dale Crumpton, one of our Associate members, achieved his Instrument rating in his Cessna T210 on 12/17/07. Dale began flying in 2000 and at the time he got his instrument rating had accumulated over 500 hours of flying time. For his Instrument ground school instruction, Dale studied under the direction of Dennis Mathis and Harry Andonian.

Dale took his successful Instrument check ride with Harry Andonian. Harry is one of our instructors, a Club Board member, and an FAA Designated Examiner.

Dale has wanted this rating for a very long time and finally was able to make his dreams come true. The most challenging part of the instrument course of instruction was "changing my VFR habits, making sure to hold altitude and heading -- can't fudge with it on IFR." "The most fun part of the course was was learning to fly under the hood,then getting to do the approaches." "What I most look forward to doing now that I have my instrument rating, is to be able to come back from Pagosa Springs Co. and land at Greenville even if it has a 1000 ft ceiling, not having to go back to Gainsville to land."

"I would like to thank Dennis Mathis for putting up with me and my schedule. I was out of town a lot but he stuck with me and we got it done."

"The Majors Flying Club has a lot of very good members and I would like to thank them for letting me be an Associate member and look forward to using the PC trainer to stay sharp on my IFR flying. Thanks to all of you." - Dale

Mike Zimmerman achieved his Private Pilot license on August 15, 2007. His instructor was Dennis Mathis.

Mike began flying on May 31, 2006 and at the time he got his license had accumulated 50.4 hours of solo and dual time. For his ground school instruction, Mike studied numerous books he found lying around the flying club. He also found no shortage of club members willing to share their knowledge and experiences with him. Of course, when he got off track, Dennis was there to pull him back in. The most challenging part of the course of instruction was communicating effectively on the radios. With Dennis's patient help, he was able to get through it with minimal drama. The most fun part of the training for Mike was the recovery from unusual attitudes. Dennis suffered several panic attacks and possible spine injury from his experiences training Mike, but Dennis persevered to successfully coach Mike to reach his dream of becoming a pilot.

What Mike most looks forward to doing, now that he has his license, is flying.

Joseph Bennett achieved his Private Pilot license on May 17, 2007. His instructor was Dennis Mathis.

Joseph began flying on June 27, 2006 and at the time he got his license had accumulated 42 hours of solo and dual time. For his ground school, Joseph used the Gleim Online and Study Materials. Joseph has wanted to fly all his life and was able to make his dreams come true. "When my family got back from Africa with World Relief, I signed up to learn how to fly."

The most challenging part of the course of instruction was "getting my flying "legs" under me and not wanting to get sick in the beginning. The rudder/aileron practice was the killer. Also, remembering the written material later on in the course when I was completing the practical was sometimes challenging."

"The most fun part of the course was "the view." It opened up a whole new world in the sky. It was no longer a two dimensional perspective -- it was now a three dimensional one. The stalls and the steep turns were very exciting too."

"Being a part of the flying club was very enjoyable with it's trips, fly-in's in and get-togethers. The members treated me as an equal and constantly encouraged me."

What Joseph most looks forward to doing, now that he has his license, is taking his family on cross-country trips! "I also love the opportunity to take friends up and show them the perspective from the sky."

"The planes at the MFC are "second to none." I looked at various flying schools and found that the costs, condition of the planes, and level of Instructors (at the Majors Flying Club) was "head and shoulder's" above the rest. This flying club is professional, very reasonable in cost, and takes great pride in general aviation and producing and promoting safe, qualified pilots!!"