“Gunter gleiben glauchen globen”…no we aren’t counting down the start of a Def Leppard song, we are getting your attention to announce Jurgen Hirt is a soloed pilot!! This amazing young man soloed this morning in N752DW, runway 26 at KRTS. Jurgen squeezed the incredible achievement in right before he takes off to Germany (not by soloing all the way there in a C172 though). Plus, same day he earned Pilot of the Month!! Gute Arbeit! Wie komme ich dorthin, you may ask? Lots of focus, hard work, hitting the books, and consistency in his flights. When he comes back, there is no doubt he will be able to complete his requirements and be ready for checkride. When Jurgen is not fliegend, he a music teacher, studying at UNR, and working hard on whatever life throws his way. Plus, heavily focused on earning his private Pilot Certificate. Sehr gut Jurgen!! Gluckwunsch as well to his CFI Ryan Mill! Enjoy your trip to Germany then get back and get finished up. Prost! ​

​Kentucky is home to horse racing, bourbon, moonshine, coal and much more. It is also home to Northern Nevada’s newest CFI, Josh Blackburn! Normally we would pun the heck out of Josh, being from Kentucky and all, but we have tortured him enough in his last couple of rating/certificate emails. Today, instead, we will focus on the hard work he put into this certificate. Josh works full time (plus). He is taking phone calls before he hops into the plane, then as soon as he lands. Meetings, extra hours, you name it, he juggles a lot. Plus, he is back and forth to Kentucky to see family, including his grandkids, who he adores.  Somewhere in between all that, he managed to study, fly, and successfully pass his CFI checkride. If successful time management was a living/breathing person, it would be Josh. And an impressive work ethic to boot. Huge congratulations to Josh Blackburn on this impressive milestone!! I would say take a break, but something tells me he is not done yet. CFII? Maybe get your “shine on” just a little Josh.  Congratulations again to Josh and also his CFI Danny Britson!

A rolling stone gathers no moss. And neither does Ben Roller!! This high-speed student pilot got the ball rolling this morning, completed the oral exam portion with the words rolling right off his tongue, then heard “let’s roll” and he and the examiner hit the sky. No barrel rolls, but some sweet rolled on landings. Landed back in KRNO and we rolled out the red carpet as this brand-new private pilot rolled out of the plane (not really, it was more a step) with a pass! Passing his checkride was as easy as rolling off a log, well maybe not that easy but we got to keep it rolling. Ben has been working hard, rolling up those sleeves and managing training, studying, working full time, ang relieving stress by hiking in gorgeous rolling meadows, all to hit his goals. Ultimately, he wants to be rolling through the airport with his roller bag, rolling up to that commercial cockpit he is Captain of. Based on his success so far (and tolerating our terrible emails), Ben can definitely roll with the punches and have great success in this industry. Let the good times roll and celebrate!! Huge congratulations to Ben and his CFI Matt Helleckson! Next step, roll right into his instrument rating!


Ben rolled out before we could snap a picture, so here he is at solo. He looks the same, just a bigger smile :)