Salinas
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New Private Pilot – Stephen Sun
Jan 26 2023Private Pilot Checkride: January 21, 2023
Instructor: Tyler Peck
Aircraft: Cessna N9027H
School Location: San Jose, CA (KRHV)
Another pilot earns his wings! A big “waaahoooo” to Stephen and CFI Tyler on a job well done. We hope Stephen enjoys his first set of wings and exploring the countryside from the air. That $300 hamburger tastes so good when you didn’t need an endorsement to fly there!
New Instrument Pilots – Noah & Jonah Sniffen
Jun 01 2022Instrument Checkrides: May 20 & 21, 2022
Instructors: Sara Stumpf & Skyler Tan
Aircraft: Cessna N54102
Training Location: San Jose, CA (KRHV)
Congrats to our twins Noah and Jonah for earning their instrument ratings on back-to-back checkrides with DPE Eric Cook! Earning a first-time pass of this challenging rating is no easy feat. Well done, guys!
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- Jonah with DPE Eric
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- Noah with DPE Eric
New Private Pilot – Scott Davis
Nov 06 2020Date: October 29, 2020
Instructor: Stephanie Procive
Aircraft: Cessna N968RC
Thank you for helping make my dream become a reality.” ~ Scott
New Private Pilot – Philippe Martin
Jul 16 2019Date: July 13, 2019
Certification: Private Pilot
Instructor: Dick Chang
Aircraft: Cessna N54102
Nailed it! Congrats to Philippe for a first time pass! Philippe journeyed to Salinas to meet with Pilot Examiner Eric Cook. His instructor, Dick, flew down to cheer on his pupil. Now time to head off on exciting trips. Keep us posted!
New Private Pilot – Thao Do
May 15 2018Date: May 9, 2018
Certification: Private Pilot
Instructor: All of Us!
Aircraft: Cessna N915L
For Thao’s birthday in 2015, her brother gave her a gift certificate to fly aerobatics at Aerodynamic Aviation with Chief Instructor Jen. It was the greatest experience of her life. Jen took her up in the Decathlon 8KCAB and they flew aerobatic maneuvers like hammerheads, Cuban 8, Shark’s Tooth, Humpty-Bumpty, barrel rolls, stalls, and spins. She even taught Thao how to perform a loop. Thao was hooked. Thao returned to AeroDynamic as a student pilot and has “flown” through her training like a women possessed by aviation. As icing on the cake, just after her checkride in Salinas, Thao met her idol – airshow performer Sean Tucker. What a way to finish up her license! Thao is already continuing on to earn her ground instructor certificates. We hope she will come teach for us one day 🙂
New Multi-Engine Pilot – JP O’Dell
Dec 31 2017Date: December 31, 2017
Certification: Commercial Multi-Engine
Instructor: Jen Watson
Last November JP earned his Instrument Rating with us. In March he earned his Private Pilot Multi-Engine Rating. Today JP added Airplane Multi-Engine Land to his Commercial Pilot License! Talk about coming in under the wire for a New Year’s Resolution 😉 JP is a full-time student of aeronautics at Cal Poly in Santa Barbara and often gets to fly cool airplanes with his dad, who is an airline and corporate pilot. It has been such a pleasure to be part of your journey. Maybe one day soon we will see you teaching in our Twin Comanche, aka “Twinkie.” Good luck out there and keep the dirty side down.
Examiner: Eric Cook
Aircraft: Twin Comanche N40DA
Checkride Location:
Salinas, CA (KSNS)
New Private Pilot – Joonwoo Cho
Sep 05 2017Date: September 3, 2017
Instructor: Ron Vlastelica
Certification: Private Pilot
Congrats to Joon and his instructor Ron for a first-time checkride pass! The following is Joon’s write up of his experience with us:
“My name is Joonwoo Cho, one of the student pilot flying in Aerodynamic Aviation. I achieved my private pilot license in 3rd of September. Thanks to my instructor Ron and aerodynamic.
The checkride was pretty much expectable. My DPE Eric Cook is a very thorough examiner. He did not assume anything. If you are good, then you are good. If you do something bad, then you are bad. It is that simple. I felt if you pass the checkride with him, you can definitely be proud of yourself as a safe pilot not having any luck to pass the exam. I really think all the FAA DPE should be like him. He also always tried to make the flight circumstance comfortable as possible because he knows all the students are nervous in a checkride. On the checkride, he was sure a ‘polite passenger with aeronautical knowledge’ I really recommend other students to use him as a well know passenger. Do not think as he is looking for something you do wrong. Use the DPE for safe flight and smooth exam. This will help students a lot.
Instructor Ron was a great instructor. His knowledge and flying skills are good, but the best thing about him is he really take care his student until the last moment. To pass the checkride, the flying is not everything. I think the flying portion is just a basic that you should be able to pass by yourself. The more important thing is how you prepare it. Is your plane suitable? Didn’t you miss something like maintenance book? CRM, decision makings, etc. To be a good pilot, flying skill is nothing. Just like driving a car, if you fly more, you will fly better someday. But, the mind for the safe flying is the most important thing. To mention about the way of his teaching, he does not just give you the answer, he gives you time to think and come up with an answer of your own. With this method, you can develop you decision making and this is not something you can develop by just building the flight time. I would also like to give my thanks to aerodynamic aviation. They gave me a pleasant time, and comfortable circumstances for flying. It is really a shame that I cannot stay at US and fly more since I have to go back to my country this month.”
Examiner: Eric Cook
Aircraft: Cessna N62244
Checkride Location:
Salinas, CA (KSNS)
Follow us on Social Media
Feb 22 2017Like anyone, we love our social media!
Did you know you can post your ForeFlight routes on Facebook and then tag us @aerodynamic or @flyaerodynamic? If you have cool videos you’d like us to post to YouTube, we can do that as well. We’ve recently moved our Twitter account from @goodflying. For those of you who follow us or want to follow us, we are now at @flyaerodynamic.
We also have a **new** newsletter coming out once a month with upcoming events, seminars, articles, scholarships, local news, and more. Watch for the first issue to hit your inbox on March 1st!
To Like or Follow Us on social media, click on the links below:
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First Solo – Wes Hayward
Aug 24 2016Solo Date: August 16, 2016
Aircraft: Cessna 172
Instructor: Carol Tevebaugh
Location: Salinas, CA (KSNS)
Wes completed his first solo flight in our newly painted Cessna 968RC out of Salinas airport despite smoky conditions caused by the Soberanes fire in Big Sur. His flight instructor, Carol, watched proudly as he completed his first series of landings without her onboard. Congrats to them both for their hard work!