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Reedley (Fresno County) CA 93654 | 50 cents Reedley College welcomes flight science program
Vol. 129, No. 20 | Thursday, May 17, 2018
Curriculum will teach students to become pilot or flight instructor
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
Reedley College’s new flight science program took a big step toward takeoff this fall, holding an Open House May 11 for interested students and community members at the college’s Aeronautics Building.
College and community lead- ers and industry representatives participated in a ribbon-cutting for the program, with students from schools in the region attending. Those students had the opportunity to operate flight simulators and lis- ten to airplane and jet engine dem- onstrations. They also received de- gree and financial aid information
about the program — which puts students on track to become flight instructors in just two years.
“It is great to see this many people out here to be involved with a program like this. We need pilots,” said Paul Langston, a pilot with Sky- West Airlines who also has instruct- ed students in flying for many years. “My gosh, you guys have the oppor- tunity here at Reedley College to get a degree. Get all of your ratings, and go on and get these wings.”
Sandra Caldwell, Reedley Col- lege president, said establishing the program has been “a labor of love” for her and school partners.
“This is about economic develop- ment. This is about high wage jobs,” she said. “This is about making sure that the Central Valley is taking care of our region and making a big im- pact on the state of California.”
John Johnson, coordinator for
the college’s flight sciences program, told students during degree and fi- nancial aid information meetings that progressing to be a pilot will be a fairly quick process.
“You come here for two years and receive federal financial aid to cover the cost of flight training,” he told students at one of the meetings. “After two years, you’ll have an [as- sociate’s science] degree and all the pilot’s certificates and a flight in- structor certificate. The next thing is work for a year or two as a flight instructor.”
Johnson said that students need about 1,500 hours of flying time to become a co-pilot with an airline. Classes in the program provide about 250 hours, but the subsequent work as a flight instructor enables students to get the additional needed hours.
See RC FLIGHT on page A2
Jon Earnest / The Exponent
Paul Langston, a pilot for SkyWest Airlines, checked out a bypass turbofan por- tion of a jet engine before the start of the May 11 Reedley College Flight Science Open House at the college’s Aeronautics Building.
Fun in the sky at airport
Reedley postpones renaming splash park By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
The city of Reedley has post- poned plans for a contest to name a splash pad being built on the former site of the Luke Trimble Memorial Pool.
The facility, located at the north- east intersection of Reed Avenue and 8th Street, is expected to be complet- ed by August.
Council Member Ray Soleno said at the May 8 council meeting that he has heard from senior resi- dents — some involved in the nam- ing of Luke Trimble Memorial Pool in May 1984 — that they wanted to see the name to be Luke Trimble Splash Park.
“They don’t want to lose the name of Trimble,” Soleno said.
Sarah Reid, interim director of the Community Services Depart- ment, made a presentation to the council on May 8 and gave a history about the site. She said the pool was developed in 1931, and went through renovations in the early 1980s before eventually closing in 2011.
Reid said the pool was named for Trimble because of his contributions to the community as a coach and teacher. Most important, she said, was Trimble’s involvement to bring a swim program to the city.
“Over the years, he taught many young people how to swim,” she said. “To this day, the city still focuses on swim instruction in the summer.”
Council members Mary Fast and Bob Beck echoed Soleno’s comments to support keeping Trimble in the park’s name.
“Mr. Trimble was a pretty neat man, and I think that the history of having learned about him and why something is named, that is impor- tant,” Fast said “I think we should keep that name in whatever you want to call it.”
“When I first came to work for the city, he was still teaching and
See TRIMBLE on page A3
About 300 people enjoy free flights at annual Korky Kevorkian Fly In
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
Twelve-year-old Asa Faus- naught enjoys swimming, water polo and 4-H among his school and extracurricular activities.
But one thing the Reedley resi- dent had never experienced was an airplane ride. That changed May 12, when his father brought him to the annual Korky Kevorkian Memorial Barbecue and Fly In at Reedley Municipal Airport. After a long wait, he caught an open seat as a single passenger.
“It was really neat to see all of Reedley from above. You can see where Reedley is,” Asa said. “It was like ‘Oh, there’s my house.’ There’s fields as far as you can see, and you can see everything like on a map.”
Asa was one of 300 people who enjoyed free plane rides from pi- lots volunteering their services. Denise Phariss, with the city’s Community Services Department said the tickets were passed out to people who pre-registered. Reg- istration was cut off at 11 a.m. so pilots could hear the guest speaker, Dick DeKoning, deliver his noon presentation.
Asa Fausnaught Sr. said it was a spur-of-the-moment decision to vis- it the Fly In. The family lives north of the airport, and Fausnaught was taking his daughter to a volleyball match in town. He and his son stopped off on the return trip.
“I knew he could go through quick as a single [rider],” Faus- naught said. “It would have been cool to get video, but we would have had a much longer wait.”
The popular rides were just one of the attractions at the Fly In. The attendees enjoyed a free hot dog lunch provided by the members of the Reedley Airport Commission. A first time attrac- tion was the arrival of one of the Pipestrel Alpha Electro battery electric training airplanes, part of the $1 million sustainable avia- tion project partnership between Reedley and Mendota.
Joseph Oldham, director of the San Joaquin Valley Clean Air Trans- portation Center, took the plane up for a brief demonstration flight and flyover. Attendees experienced the relative quiet of the airplane, with the propellors providing the bulk of the noise.
See FLY IN on page A8
TOP PHOTO: Joseph Oldham, director of the San Joaquin Valley Clean Air Transportation Center, prepared to take a Pipestrel Alpha Electro battery electric training airplane out for a demonstration flight during the May 12 Korky Kevorkian Barbecue and Fly in at Reedley Municipal Airport. One of the four experimental electric planes will be housed in Reedley as part of the sustainable aviation project partnership involving Reedley and Mendota.
ABOVE: Guest speaker at the Fly In was 92-year-old Dick DeKoning, a longtime Fresno teacher who for two years in the 1940s worked to help build the Hughes H-4 Hercules, more famously known as “The Spruce Goose.”
Photos by Jon Earnest / The Exponent
Final phase of Reed Avenue roadwork to start June 1
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
The final phase of the Reed Avenue im- provement project — including the actual repaving of the road itself — is set to begin on Friday, June 1.
At its May 8 regular meeting, the Reed- ley City Council unanimously approved two
resolutions to fully fund the Phase 2 im- provement from Manning Avenue to South Avenue and award a construction contract to American Paving Co. of Fresno.
The first resolution amends the 2017-18 budget to set aside $2.262 million for Phase 2. The construction contract with American Pav- ingCo.isfor $2.486million,andcanbeadjust- ed up to 10 percent of the contracted amount.
John Robertson, city engineer, told the council that the final portion of the project should take about three to four months to finish.
“During the summer session there will be a time period where we have worked it out with [Reedley] College to stop work for three weeks at the beginning of the school year,” Robertson said. “We’ll then come back
to do the rest of the road project.”
Council Member Mary Fast, who initially pulled the two resolutions from the consent agenda, said she was happy to be the final phase begin and that work to place power lines
underground was being done in advance.
“A big part of the job is to get the poles
See ROADWORK on page A3
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